Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting WHY AREN'T THE 6.5s MORE POPULAR ??

Well with the .264 Win Mag being the Best Elk Cartridge in The World, the situation will slowly change, just have to give it a little time.

Amen brother!

Alan

There ya go....its a 6.5mm for the purists and its a magnum for the short pecker crowd.

Quite a few seem to have taken offense to the small pecker magnum thing, huh?

Logcutter, do you ever take your own advice?

A little quiz for the Elk experts here.Who wrote these quotes out of guns magazine.

1-Elk live in remote, hard-to-reach places. In other words, horseback to get there, horseback to hunt. Jostling around for six hours a day in a saddle scabbard, knocking against trees, brushing against rocks, banging into brush, demands a rugged rifle.

2-The third and last requisite of an elk rifle is the same criterion that makes heavyweights popular in boxing -- raw power. Elk require a hard hit to knock them down. Weighing in the 700 lb. class, elk are heavily boned and thickly muscled. Yes, you can shoot one in the ear with a .22 LR, but the idea is not to see how small a caliber you can get away with; the idea is to match the gun to the game to ensure positive, humane kills.

For an elk rifle, life begins at .30 caliber.

3-For most experts, "elk rifle" means .338 caliber. We concur most enthusiastically.

Who was that guy or guys as he said we?

Jayco

Umm well that's nice and all...

Experts..huh.. I'll bet there are quite a few here who would qualify. Funny thing is these writers were/are self proclaimed experts. Or they were appointed experts because until the computer age you had to have a way of letting people know you were afield. That was in print or word of mouth. The guys who were "in country" and getting it done didn't have the means or methods to get their word out. Many here have just as much if not more time afield that would more than likely say you don't need a .338

Wonder what these experts would have to say about "the swede" and all the Stag and Moose it has killed over the years???

I've 1000's of mountain pounding miles under saddle. Yes, I've slipped a stick in the scabbard time or 2. Those who are serious about poking an Elk with a rig will more than likely outfit themselves with optics/mounts than can take a bump or two.
More often than not your scabbard is under the stirrup which is under your leg so your leg is gonna take the brunt of the impact.

All this muse about your prophecy and the "standard" caliber and having to hunt high and hard for the monarch makes me wonder...

Where in the hell are you gonna get a quick "box of 20" of ole aught six or the .338 WM in the back country? After all if you're gonna ride in 6 hours ('bout 15-18 miles) you ain't getting back to the trail head that night.

I started pounding horse miles hunting in the back country in 1951 and I concur,but things can and do happen and we all have learned the do's and dont's probably the hard way.

As to your question on getting ammo 15 miles back in,it's like getting beer you didn't bring for the fire after the kill,the next camp just might have some and for the right price,bingo,it's beer time(example only)..

Meaning,your way/way more likely to find ammo way back in during back country Elk season with a standard caliber than an oddball and for a price,bingo,you have a few more rounds to get you by.

And back to the opps question...Why aren't the 6.5's more popular.I just mentioned a few with ammo availability being the biggest, in my mind as believe it or not,the majority of hunters do not reload.

Did I say that..The majority of hunters do not reload...

Jayco

Jayco - am I saying this ?

I think you have something there. Not that there are not other reasons to limit
the 6.5s popularity.

Afterall whether you are in back country or not, non reloaders have to have access
to ammo.
Jerry

My .02 ...

if you can ride over to the next camp to get you a box of boolits.. you ain't where you need to be.

Also, if you need to ride over to the next camp to get you a box of boolits.. you ain't where you need to be.

This hunting season my wife and I took a day off and loaded the dogs and headed to a back country resort and landing strip on the Salmon river via a fairly rough narrow and steep road.Go figure..Flat tire way back in..No problem right? Wrong...

I had forgot I changed rims going to a spoked mag rim that had lug nuts that were not standard for my pick-up.My star wrench didn't even have that size on it.So there we sat atleast 20 miles from the nearest place with only two rigs coming by with neither having the oddball size lug wrench.

The owners of the back country ranch came by and when they finally got back to there ranch,they used there satellite phone to call my son who left work and brought me the right tool.The wife/myself and my two dogs sat there for about 7 hours before we got it done finally, in the dark.

Just goes to show you what oddball things can do when things go south way back in.Had I had standard sized lug nuts,not a problem even if I forgot my lug wrench as the two others that passed by had standard wrenches that would have worked.

I had the 6.5 of lug nuts.

Jayco

My .02 is this: If you're stupid enough to pack into the backcountry and not bring a few extra rounds "just in case," then you deserve to go home empty-handed.

My other .02 is this: Most elk hunters don't use horses, so for most elk hunters, scabbards are not an issue.

I heard custom wheel guys had short pecker syndrome, too...

Not as bad as .338 magnum proponents though.....

Here's my opinion about those experts.

I've hunted for elk since the late 50's. I've never needed a horse to do it, and my success rate is way above average. Those guys probably hunt with outfitters, and a horse is the only way they can get their out of shape fat azz to the elk. The rest of us hike in.

A .270/30-06 is more than enough for elk. Magnums have more range, and don't always need a perfect shot. What does that say to you? For me it says they can't get close enough, or hit the kill zone. It's a crutch for not working hard enough on marksmanship and hunting skills.

Elk are killed every year with handguns and muzzleloaders at under 100yds. I'd be embarrassed if I needed a big magnum to do the same thing.

My .02.

Man, first we get reminded of what the question was, then we get all manner of dissertations on the .243, the .338, lug nuts.....

Wait a minute, I think I'm seeing a pattern here.......lug nuts, wing nuts.....

Wow... The guy advocating the use of a common, standard cartridge due in large part to it's availability everywhere doesn't even pack the right size lug wrench to change the tires on something he, assumedly, uses way more often than a rifle. It's not a wonder he's worried about not having is ammo with him...

Maybe,but we get into places others can't.



Jayco

I'd be embarrased if I had to buy chrome wheels, just to pick up chicks and feel younger.....

No lie, personally I'd put the need to be able to change a tire at the top of the list, and running out of ammo. near the bottom. How hard is it to bring a whole box of 20 rounds?