Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Opinions on 7-08 for Elk?

I am so tired reading about so called "hunters" who shoot our great big game at 700 yards. If you can't get within 300, you are not a hunter, just a shooter.

Within that envelope of 300 yards a 140 TSX will kill any Elk that lives if placed in the boiler room. Remember it's just a 7x57 in a different case.

My first choice ? Heck no, but for a woman or "ute" it is a fine choice IF they can hunt and shoot well enough to hit a 12" pieplate from improvised field positions at 300 yards.

Just bought a Marlin camo 7mm08 right here from another member.
It'll get matching APG NIkon rings and 3-9 and be a perfect "walk about" rifle for Mulies and should an Elk appear, a 140 TSX will do the job.

Yeah, the Barnes superdupermonometal bullets are in a class all their own, but previous posts promote the 140 grain ballistic tip cup/core bullet. Maybe I'm wrong, but if I ever take my 7x57 or 7-08 elk hunting, I guaran-dang-tee it will not be loaded with 140 grain ballistic tips.

A bit fragile IME, nice Antelope bullet. If I were to go Nosler, it would be an Accubond as I have seen them work on large Mulies and Elk and shoot just as well as a BT.

Given the cost of an Elk hunt (especially when they don't live in your backyard) makes the cost of ammo a non-event.

Ask Steve Timm (dogzapper) about BT's and elk.

Heck, talk with anyone who's actually used them (NBT's) on elk...

Common theme here is normal is people who've used them on elk (Flinch, myself etc) are very comfy with using them. People who haven't used them, well they're running around saying not to use them.......zeesh

Dober

So I assume that a 7X57 with a 24" bbl will work as well, huh?

Never shot an elk John but I think you will love the 7-08.

I was lucky enough to sneak in and get a Kimber before they practically stopped making them. I have been absolutely amazed at how the little cartridge using 139 interlocks absolutely clobbers the [bleep] out of deer. Easy to tote and get around with, light kicking and easy to point and shoot. It is an amazing little cartridge and I'll have to be talked out of taking elk hunting if I ever do go.

Will

Yes it would be just fine, but if you've haven't found out for sure just go try it yourself. Sorry don't mean to give off too much Tude here but I get tired of people who haven't done things and yet they sit around and say this or that won't work..

Point being, I see many folks here who talk a ton about say elk rounds and what should be used and yet many haven't even shot elk and or with those rounds.

Or, I see people say this or that bullet won't work and yet once again when it comes down to it they haven't actually used it either...

Gotta run, have a super weekend all!

Dober

Dober speaks much truth...

Funny... I remember one day back when they used to have late season Gardiner hunts- Took my stepson up to Slip & Slide outfitters- they were short on horses so I stayed at the trailhead- Stepson killed an elk with Ballistic Tips, another guy ran his gun and pockets dry shooting around the edges of an elk, guide borrowed my 270, killed that elk with Ballistic Tips, they stumbled onto another wounded elk and the guide used the old 270 with Ballistic Tips to make meat outta that one. When he got back to the trailhead, he asked what kind of bullets I had loaded because they worked pretty darn good.
Thought that was a fairly informative experience by unbiased observer.
Those ballistic Tips outta the 270 were going very little faster than you could push them in a 7/08.

Fred

It takes a very, very tough, and big, bullet to kill an elk. The shaggy wool alone, as evidenced in the picture below, is enough to turn most ordinary bullets.

The equipment, when killing elk, isn't all that complicated; it takes a moderate cartridge and decent bullet that can penetrate well enough. Gunwriters and dudes who have never seen nor killed an elk make this schit soooo complicated.

OF TOTAL IMPORTANCE is that the hunter has the patience to stalk within a distance where he has a 99% chance of probablity of placing the ONE-BULLET perfectly. Then, if the elk is not positioned well, the hunter must again have patience; this time, to wait for the elk to position himself perfectly to receive the shot.

The words above are called .... "HUNTING"

I've killed almost as many elk as I am years old. Elk hunting so resembles antelope hunting. Stalk, wait for the shot ... then kill the smelly old bugger. Big Bull Down!!!

Above is the results of two 7mm 120-grain Ballistic Tips shot from my 7-08 Ackley. Only one allowed per customer.

Steve

Thanks Mark, Steve and the rest.

I got the answer I was looking for. I'm probably about to turn into a 1 gun guy and I sure have enjoyed my 7-08 that Pop's has adopted.

Just wanted to hear from experienced folks whether or not I could use it on elk if I ever make the trip.

My son Ryan is after me to go on an elk hunt with him after he graduates from college, (2 years)

Thanks,

JM

I was definitely not trying to be a smart aleck above. I was just thinking out loud, I guess. I figured if a 708 would do it, then a 140 gr Premium or maybe a lighter weight Barnes TTX moving out at around 2800 would work as well. I could use the old 06 or 280, but I would rather actually hunt an elk a little more "up close" if I ever get another chance to. By using the old Mauser, it would put another element of special to remember into the hunt. My wife definitely like to eat elk, and they do fill a couple of freezers much more quickly than white tails do. I would hunt them with old coke bottles if they would get the job done. Killed more than a couple of squirrels as a kid with those, hehe.

Steve made the most important point about hunting any big game. Being a HUNTER far outweighs being a bug shooter off a bench rest, what rifle you use and so on.

You can't get too close and even a 30-30 with iron sights and 170 gr factory ammo will kill any Elk that walks IF the HUNTER gets close and puts the bullet behind the shoulder.

Having a pile of "tactical" equipment will never be superior to being a HUNTER.

You're obviously new here so I'll give you a tip.

Mark D. is probably one of the best hunters on this site and an honest gent.

Shot distances that seem ridiculous to you and I are made every season by him and a few others that post on this board.

Terrain will dictate how we hunt certain animals.

I've killed enough whitetails with a bow to sink a ship , so I know about being close.

Whether you are killing them at spitting distance or over in the next township, both require a lot of skill, patience and most of all....practice.

Those that have the skill to do it are hunters. Those that don't, but try are not.

JM

I was looking for a 7mm-08 barrel to fit to the Rem 725 SA, but what I came up with was a .260 700 TI bbl. After lapping the bolt, the headspace was a bit tight on the guage, no headspacing work required, but chambered all factory rounds, even if the bbl was exactly upside down according to it's stampings.

150 yards, 140 gr Corelokts. DRT. My son knocked a cow caribou kicking at 200 yards several weeks before, and 2 weeks after the elk(same bullet, factory load) I scored a wolf at 40 yards, ( - part of a pack that was shadowing us in the thick stuff alongside a FS trail. This one came out in the open to invite my Lab to "Come Play".

Don't see why a 7-08 chambering would not do as well.

I�ve got a couple problems with that statement. The first is that I�d rather hunt with someone who is capable of hitting consistently at 700 yards than someone who can barely stay on paper at 200. The second is that �getting closer� isn�t always possible � there are too many variables including weather, property boundaries, terrain, time, pressure from other hunters and so on.

My longest shot elk was 350 yards and it is also the one I am most proud of. We spotted the elk in the sage at 11:30 AM on a hill about 600 yards away. At the time none of us were even close to prepared to take a shot at that range, so we waited, hoping they would move off this hill. We waited through sun, rain and sleet, then a couple inches of snow and more sun. At sundown they started moving off the hill and we were able to get within 450 yards. The last 100 yards I covered on my back, pushing myself headfirst with my feet through snow, prickly pear and barrel cactus. At 350 yards I hit a downslope where I would have been fully exposed in the dwindling sunlight. I sat up and took my time, then nailed the largest bodied bull elk I�ve ever taken. A few minutes later marked the end of legal shooting hours.

Last fall my son-in-law took his first elk at 363 yards. We were on the top on one point and the elk were just below the top of the next point over. The time was an hour before sundown. We knew there were elk in the timbered draw between us but we couldn�t see them and didn�t know exactly where they were. (Every now and then we would get a glimpse of one or hear a bull bugling. He had been sitting watching and waiting for several hours with Daughter #2 and I had joined them about 2PM.) Had we tried to get closer on a straight line we would been fully exposed on the open face of our point, in late but bright sunlight. If we tried to circle around through the draw we would have lost sight of the elk we could see, would have still been exposed as we approached the draw, and stood a very good chance of spooking the elk in the draw. Even though the sun was low and directly over the elk, washing out the scope, the 363 yard shot was his best opportunity. I had my son-in-law use the main trunk of a scrub oak tree to shade this scope. He took his time and the elk was on the ground before he recovered from the recoil. This was his only day for elk hunting and the shot came shortly before sundown.

You may not consider such shots just �shooting� because they are over your arbitrary limit of 300 yards. I would disagree. Being able to consistently make a shot at extended ranges isn�t something that just happens � it doesn�t require fancy equipment but it does require a lot of practice. Over the years I�ve turned down every opportunity over 350 yards and many a ranges under your limit of 300 � including some at a few feet to a few yards. My hat is off to anyone that can consistently make shots at 700. And guess what � they still have to find the game first�

Good post. 300 is my personal arbitrary limit. 500 under perfect conditions, including known range. I do not agree that it requires "a lot" of practice, tho certainly it requires some. Once one knows what the rifle does, and what one's self can do at range with that rifle under (simulated?) field conditions- mere powder down the barrel - especially at the bench - doesn't account for much.

My last turned down shot was at 263 rangefinder yards on a huge bull caribu, with a rifle I was confident in to 400 yards - I'd killed to 375 previously with it.. I had no solid rest and that crosshair was all over the place. One of the proudest shots I never made....

"Range" doesn't matter as much as knowing one's comfort limits on the particular shot. My "general" range is less than some, greater than some. What those are, the circumstances dictate. Sticking with one's comfort/skill levels and not "pushing" the shot at any range is good.

Good post las!