Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting how many guys have tried a wide variety of elk rifles?

how many guys have tried a wide variety of elk rifles?
I started out hunting ELK with a 760 Remington slide action 30/06 and 220 grain Remington bullet ammo,as that was almost the standard among my mentors when I was younger back around 1968-1970, but I just KNEW that I needed a 340 wby after reading ballistic charts and dozens of magazine articles so I saved up and got one, and it works great! in fact its been my constant companion for most of my opening day hunts for 40 plus years (I did use a 378 and 375 H&H) several years) but I've generally had a second lighter to carry shorter rifle, on most hunts to use after the first few days when the elk retreat to the timber, Ive used a 45/70, several 300 mags, 375 H&H carbine,338/06, 35 whelen slide action,378 wby, 358 win BLR, 6.5mm Swedish Mauser,257 wby, 270 win single shot ruger,even a 257 roberts, now I may not have killed elk personally with all those rifles, but I have with several,most of them in fact, and I hand load for almost everyone in elk camp and do most of the dressing out chores, so I sure have seen the results as every one of those rifles in my or other peoples hands have accounted for elk killed.
so the one thing Ive found is that while the heavier calibers seem to do a bit more consistent job, its more where you hit the elk than what your using in a rifle that counts, as long as you use decent projectiles and that bullets that shred on impact are a total P.I.T.A. and not dependable. sometimes resulting in trailing jobs, even with good shot placement.
you sure don,t need anything larger than a 270 with a 150 grain bullet to kill elk effectively, but the heavier bullets do tend to penetrate a bit more consistently on raking angle shots

You contradict yourself.... your 340 has been your constant companion on opening day, blah, blah, blah, but then you finish up by saying nothing larger than a 270/150gr is needed to kill elk effectively.

Just kind of killing time, huh?

I have killed elk with the 7mm rem mag, 30-06, 300 win mag. This year i have the 7mm rem mag and a 300win mag sighted in and ready. I have carried the 308win a few days. Having killed and processed about 15 elk, most with my tags on them. I like to hit them hard, breaking bones to anchor them. The bullets of choice for me are 200gr partition, 220gr hornady in the timber, 180gr Etip, 175gr sierra in open country.

hmmm.... I count 8 rifles, 5 cartridges that I've actually killed elk with.

416 Rigby
375 X2
338 X2
3006
270 X2

4 rifles, 3 calibers in order
Savage 110 7mmRM
Remington 700 7mmRM
Sako AV 338WM
Remington 700 338RUM

All of my elk have died via 270 or 300 WSM. I did cause the demise of a moose with a 30-06. He was about the size of a large bull elk. I could have used any of the 3 rifles on all of them with equal results.

300 Win mag

300 WSM

338 Win mag

30-06

These cartridges account for the 17 elk I have killed.

I don't see how he contradicts himself one bit there.

To answer the question, I have hunted elk with:
6mm Rem
25-06 Rem
6.5X55 Sweedish
.264 Win Mag
.270 Win
.300 Savage
.300 Win
.303 Sav
.340 Wby
.375 H&H
.450 Marlin

I have killed elk with only about 1/2 those rifles plus my bow. My .340 Wby and .300 Sav have accounted for the majority of my elk. The rest are onesies and twosies.

IMO, can't go wrong with .300 win mag or 7MM rem mag. I have killed one with .257 wthby mag. I knew a man who killed at least one with a .243. Shot placement important there.

If by 'tried' you mean carrying around on the mountain but not pulling the trigger yet, then a 700 ADL in .270 Winchester in B&C stock and a Model 70 Sporter LT rebarreled by Redneck to .300 H&H. 3 elk hunts, seen some, even up close and personal like, but haven't had a chance to pull the trigger yet. Next year I'll 'carry' my Kimber .308.

Have never hunted elk, but most guys I know that do, use
a 338WM.

I started in the 70's with my (grampa/dad's) 270 2 elk, then bought a model 70 300wm and probably killed 10-12 elk, then kind of went on a whim and killed a couple with the 338wm, 3 with the 375 H&H, a couple with the 300wsm, one with the 325wsm, and finally one with the 300RUM. If I get a chance to go anymore I'll probably just keep packing the A-bolt 325wsm.


Bart

nine elk..7 with 270 and 150 nosler PT and 2 with 06 and 180 gr partition. Tons more rifles, just those two for elk even though I have had many different ones with me over the years, those two were the early killers when I was younger and willing to chase em all over the hills..

I use a 340wby most years because Ive found NOTHING that works better, and some calibers I feel work, but don,t work nearly as well, (example the 270/150 grn) but that doesn,t mean that a single well placed (example the 270/150 grn)won,t kill elk just as dead, it just means I don,t see them drop when hit as consistently or calibers like my 378 wby, its just as effective as my 340wby, but it will knock you silly shooting from a prone position

Elk have never been hard for me to kill, 7 mag for bulls and 243 for cows, but I shoot all year round.

Have successfully used:

270 Win
270 WSM
280 Remington
308 Win
30-06
300 Win
338-06
338 Win

Haven't noticed much difference between any of them when I hit the animal "right".

I've killed a number of elk with the 280AI, 7RM and the .30/338. They all work, but I harbor the notion that the 300 mags are about perfect. However I just can't handle the recoil of a 81/2# 300mag anymore. Maybe I should say that I choose not to. The last four bulls fell to my .280AI shooting a 160gr. NP at about 2950fps. I had no trouble convincing them to spend the winter in my freezer.

I have killed them with , 30-06, 338-06 AI and 257 STW

I have used .................

7mm REM Mag
300 Win
30-06
450 Marlin
45-70
300 RUM
378 WBY
416 WBY

I've killed right around 30 of them with a 30/06 Model 700 LH with a 2.5 x 8 Leupold VarX-III. Using 180 grain bullets mostly "Core-lokts", a few with Win PP or Hornady interlocks. I did kill a spike years ago with a 54 Hawken Renegade.

I see no reason to change. CB