i've never been elk hunting so experienced to me means if you been once when it comes to recommendations. there is a good chance i'll be going to colorado for an elk hunt next fall, and i'm in need of a new rifle. i just bought savage weather warrior in 7mm-08 for georgia whitetails, but i did get permission from the little lady to buy a new one sometime between now and when i go next fall.

that being said, i have been really, really impressed with the shooting and the price of my savage, so i'll probably be leaning towards that make. from what i understand, more important than the make of the gun is the quality of the optics. i'm not planning on skimping on the optics. now that that's covered, which caliber? i think i want a short action. after you guy's input that idea might change. i know that the old .300 win mag is a given when it comes to elk hunting, but what are the thoughts on calibers such as the .270 wsm and .300 wsm? i'm open for any other suggestions as well. i have a .30-06 as well, but it's a semi-auto and isn't particularly accurate. even if a .30-06 was the only gun allowed by law, i'd buy a new one in a bolt...catch my drift? thanks in advance.

What kind of elk will you be hunting? Cows? Spikes? Mature bulls? There is a huge difference between these. The 7mm-08 is a great round for closer shots (under 200 yards). My brother has shot a TON of elk from cows & spikes to a couple of great big mature bulls. He uses a .280 with great success. I know hes had to put a couple of shots into a couple different woozy bulls though to anchor 'em though.

Popular elk rifles around here are the 7Mag, .300Win and the .338Win mags. I shoot a 7STW which is like a 7mag on steroids. I personally would avoid the WSM's. They are like a fast burning match, becoming extremely popular quickly but interest seems to be waining as time goes on. You can bet almost every mom & pop store in the west will have a box of .300Win for sale in a crisis situation.

My advice for elk is this: the biggest caliber you can reliably and accurately shoot. What caliber that is varys from person to person. I hate the recoil of the large 300's and 338's... I shoot them poorly, but maybe you shoot them fine.

If you go with hyper fast smaller calibers like the 7STW, 7WSM, .270WSM ... absolutely use PREMIUM bullets... or they will not penetrate deep enough. I had a bad experience once learning that the hard way, oh I recovered the elk but I was really lucky. I shoot A-Square's AFrame bullets now, I'll let ya know if I ever recover one


-DallanC

Like DallanC said for shots under 200 yards the 7-08 will do fine!

If I was you I'd go with the 300Win Mag if I was going to get a maginum rifle. No need to get something like the 300Rem Ultra Mag. Sure you get 20% more performance with the RUM but the 300Win Mag will do the job just as well and save your sholder from unnessisary pain!

Dimitri

see above post...'elk rifle'...i screwed that up somehow.

My .338 is my favorite big game medicine... It's a BAR in .338 Win Mag with the BOSS system. Heavy gun and recoil is like a .270...

I did, however, pick up a Savage in .300WSM this year and it is SUPERB. Blueing is less than perfect and stock is a bit rough but shootability AND more importantly the cartridge is SUPERB! The 20" barrel is only a bonus to a SWEET shooter!

I would suggest the .30-06 if you're concerned with recoil. My REM7600 has killed consistently over the years.

I have not killed elk with a rifle, only a bow... but I have been on many moosehunts where the .30-06 has been the ticket! Stick with 180 grain premium rounds and you'll not be disappointed.

Good luck!

REM7600

The biggest bull I saw when guiding was taken with a 300 Savage. It was a well placed shot under 100yds using Barnes X bullets. It used to be that the heavier bullets and larger calibers were the domain of elk hunters, but, today's premium bullets have changed that significantly. My grandsons have taken two superb bulls using 243 Win and Barnes 85gr TSX, not the best choice, but, for them it worked well.

Remington's 7-08 is a ballistic equivalent of the 270 for all practical purposes and either are fully capable of taking elk within the 200yd range where 99% of bulls are killed. Use good bullets. Like AccuBond, TSX, Nosler Partition, Bear Claw, etal. Practice. Practice a lot until you can hit reliably an 8" paper plate @ 100yds from hunting positions.

Rest assured you have enough rifle.

Hey Capt. I know a guy from Saskatchewan who'll swear by the .30-.30 Marlin. I guess it's not a bad piece.

tracker wrote:

Hey Capt. I know a guy from Saskatchewan who'll swear by the .30-.30 Marlin. I guess it's not a bad piece.

Nope I use a 45-70 for Elk........... !

1895ss wrote:

tracker wrote: Hey Capt. I know a guy from Saskatchewan who'll swear by the .30-.30 Marlin. I guess it's not a bad piece. Tracker, you're the one that seems to be obsessed with the 30-30, all I did was post an article about a guy shooting an Elk with one. I don't even own a 30-30.

Hey 1895ss old mate......I got a thutty thutty....and its a Win Mod 94. Can't say I've ever had a crack at an elk with it though .

Cheers, Vince

Shot a Forked elk with a .30-30 once..."Once" being the key word here. Not again will I attempt to do that again. As much as I like my Winchester 94 it just isn't enough cartridge to deal with big game. Excellent short range medium game rifle cartridge, but...

I use the venerable .30-06 and haven't had any problem with it using 180 to 220 grain Sierra BTSP Gamekings...

I like the story of the 243 Win taking Elk, but I would not do it. I have heard that alot of old timer Elk guides only carried 243 Wins, and about a 25-06 taking Elk. But I would not go below a 270 Win. The rest don't have enough bullet weight. That being said I would consider these cartridges enough: 308 Win, 300 Savage, 7mm RM(which up in the Northwest is probably the most popular), 7mm-08, 30-06, 30-30. But the only reason that I would use a lesser power cartridge is if you were realativly close. Wayne Von Swoll took a huge Elk with a 30-30, but he called it in below 100 yards. I don't think that any bullet below a .277 caliber can hold enough weight to "For Sure" kill an Elk. 100grs isn't enough for me to feel comfertable with, at 100fps or 4000fps.

I used a Browning A-bolt in 338 Win Mag pushing a 210gr Barnes XLC at 2890fps, I think that that is enough to dispatch an Elk quickly. Hunted hard this year, in the lightning and thunder and hail and rain...all of it. On the way home I saw a buddy hanging an Elk in his shop. He had shot it in his field with a Rem 700 Youth 7mm-08, Nervous, he hit it in the spine above his boy parts. He was about 85 yards away. He got lucky but if I was up in the hail and had a cartridge that I didn't trust beyond 200 yards then I wouldn't take that long of a shot.

Sorry to preach but I think that the fact is: If a shot presents it self and the range is too far for the cartridge or bullet weight or velocity or just too far.....that most people will take the shot anyways and just chamber another round.

I personally want to be able to shoot my gun well as far as my 9 power Leupold will let me...which is far enough.

Don't go under gunned.

Joe Oakes

Elk! My favorite subject and in my eyes the most majestic animal on the North American continent (IMHO). There are a lot of good cartridges but the true test for me is will it do a north to south shot and exit the animal. A big bull is hard to find and I want to be able to take the shot that he presents me and know that I can take it, and humanely take the shot. My choice for this is the 338 Win mag. I had it custom built on a Ruger M77 action with a Lilja 26 inch number 5 barrel. Out of the 16 center fire rifles that I own, it is by far my favorite. It pushes a 250 grain Sierra BT at 2905 fps and shoots Sub MOA groups all day long, if you don't mind the recoil ;o). But a 300 win mag with a 200 grain bullet would probably do as well. Other cartridges will work but limit the shots that you can take. A north to south shot is the vary last shot that I want to take, and it would have to be a pretty big bull for me to take it, but I feel that I can do it with confidence. The 338 Win mag for me is #1.

captbrian wrote:

i've never been elk hunting so experienced to me means if you been once when it comes to recommendations. there is a good chance i'll be going to colorado for an elk hunt next fall, and i'm in need of a new rifle. i just bought savage weather warrior in 7mm-08 for georgia whitetails, but i did get permission from the little lady to buy a new one sometime between now and when i go next fall.

Brian: When it comes to elk, all you need to know is: .270 Winchester and Federal Premium/150gr. Nosler Partition ammo...Guaranteed.

Of course, there are others, but that's what works for me. Have fun, a successful hunt, and DO NOT waste that new gun permission.

So, what happened to captbrian? If your out there, what are you leaning toward?
Keep it coming...

A 30-'06 will humanely take any game in the lower 48. I didn't include Alaska because with the large bruins I prefer more gun than the '06. Not to say that the '06 isn't capable - it is! I just prefer a larger caliber when hunting something that would eat me if I gave it enogh time an any reason to do so. For Elk an '06 is all the gun you could need.