What is your favorite bigbore Elk medicine???? ... (.375 or larger). How much rifle weight do you carry into the field (without a hired porter involved)?? I have a M70 Super Express in 375 that might get the nod for the fall and am wondering how much rifle weight you other 'rifle-loonies' are sporting in the field this fall.

Thanks,

I've packed a 375 H&H for elk on several occasions, but never again. It kills no better than a 300 or 338, doesn't shoot as flat, and it's too heavy to carry. The ammo's too heavy to carry as well.

I use two cartridges for elk hunting anymore: 300 Win. Mag. and 338 Win. Mag., and if I wanted or need a rifle that's lighter in weight than those two, I'd carry a 30-06...........

AD

My favorite a .45-2.6" - weighs in at 10.6# w/o being loaded.

Brent

quote:

Originally posted by allen day:
I've packed a 375 H&H for elk on several occasions, but never again. It kills no better than a 300 or 338, doesn't shoot as flat, and it's too heavy to carry. The ammo's too heavy to carry as well.

I use two cartridges for elk hunting anymore: 300 Win. Mag. and 338 Win. Mag., and if I wanted or need a rifle that's lighter in weight than those two, I'd carry a 30-06...........

AD

Exactly the way I see it except I've backed way back to the .30-06 over the 300 mags.

I'm building a light weight .375 H&H for this task but then recoil takes it's toll.

There's no free lunch here.....thank god for horses and scabbards.

My vote goes to the 338 Win Mag. It has served me well in the Alaska Tundra and Rocky Mts.

Vapodog,

What is your target weight for your light .375? Are you building it around a bolt action?

Others, thanks for the reply. I have a Safari Weight .375 in addition to 'normal to light weight' 300WinMag, 35Whelen, and 45/70 rifles, and am wondering if the 'Dream of Africa' is worth the tote with 9.5lbs of thunder. I know our fathers/grandfathers carried 9.5lbs of 30-06 and 300 back in the day, and light weight rifles do come at a cost in ft-lbs of recoil.

Thanks again.

Marlin 45-70 with heavy loads, rifle loaded with scope about 8 lbs, otherwisw I would use my Model 70 .300 H&H .

I hunt Elk and have taken several with a couple of .358 STA's. I have taken several Elk with three different .300 Win Mags, several with a .340 Wby and one with a .338 Lapua. The STA while not bigger than the .375 H&H in caliber is superior to it when viewed as a total package. I can push a 270 grain North Fork or 280 grain Swift A-Frame 2950 fps, the bullet has a better Sectional Density than the .375 and is much, much flatter shooting. As you can see I like a big bullet going very fast for Elk sized game. Good shooting.

I tend to agree with Allen, but, the original question specified calibers larger than .375 which are not necessary for Elk, IMHO. All of my Elk hunting is done in country with a serious Grizzly problem, so, I prefer a larger cartridge and consistently use one of my .338 Win.-250 NP combos. I have packed a .375 H&H many mountain miles and my partner is taking his next week, but, the extra pound bothers me now, in my 60th year, more than it used to as I backpack hunt and seldom use horses.

If, I only hunted Elk where cows and any bull were legal and Grizzlies were not as aggressive and numerous as here in B.C., I would carry one of my .06, .270 or my favourite .280 Rem. rifles which are perfectly adequate. Since we have a six-point law and hunt during the bugling season when Elk are at their toughest, I consider the .338 to be optimum even though it's recoil bothers me more than it used to.

I have a fairly light Mauser actioned .375 9.2 lb with scope, that I wouldn't hesitate to take elk hunting, mostly because I've always shot it well and have a bunch of confidence in it. I doubt it kills elk better than a .338 or 9.3x62, but the ones I have weigh close to the same anyway.

I go all the way down to the 7mm Remington Magnum and .270 Winchester now, forget the big boomers! The largest I cold practically go with respect to recoil in an 8.5 pound "all up" rifle would be an 8mm Remington Magnum or a .338 Winchester Magnum. That's about it. Anything over that and I just don't enjoy it anymore...

I have killed elk with 30-06, 8mm mauser, 45-120 Sharps, .62 cal round ball, 300 H&H, and 375 H&H. All of them did the job just fine. So many guns and elk, not enough time! My all time favorite rifle is the Model 70 push feed in 300 H&H. The rifle is not for sale at any price. Use what's comfortable and what you shoot best with. Bullet placement and terminal performance is the main consideration as most shots on elk are certainly less than 200 yards.

I have killed elk with a 300 WBY with 180 Nosler Partitions, and with a 340 WBY with 210 nosler Partitions. Both worked excellent.
This Oct when I hunt elk in WY I will use my 300 Win Mag Blaser R93 Synthentic stock, with a Leupold 3.5x10 LR M3 [the one with the Ballistic Cam].
I hope to shoot my elk at 30 yards, However with this rifle, shooting prone off of my pack, I can hit a 9" steel plate at @ 415 yards [I even hit a Coke can at 400], and a 15"x15" steel plate at 535 yards, this of course if the wind is not too bad. I do not like to shoot game that far away, but in calm conditions a good 300 Mag can do it.
If I was hunting in thick country I would probably use my 9,3x74R double rifle or my Blaser Tracker 375 H&H.
This is a back country horse back hunt, and I just hate to put the 9,3 on a horse.

For a Big-Bore..Definately my 45-70 Guide Gun.Last year a 300 grain Barnes XFN penetrated 90% of his body with an excit to boot with immediate death.Went in just in front of the left rear quarter and out through the front right shoulder..

Very impressive for a .300 Win mag and .270 guy!

Jayco

My 444 Marlin in thick timber---although I have yet to get an elk with it. The 265gr Hornady Light Mag ammo shoots like a dream through my Marlin 444SS (sub 1 1/2"). I kinda want to try Grizzly Cartridge's 275gr or 300gr Bonded Core loads too.

quote:

Vapodog,

What is your target weight for your light .375? Are you building it around a bolt action?

It's being built on a Mauser and should come in at about 7 1/4 pounds without the scope etc.

35 Whelen.

beyond .375 I have nothing. Near .375 I prefer a .358 Norma Magnum throated out to shoot at .358 STA velocities. I just worked up a load that throws 275gr. Barnes Originals at 2680 fps. If that isn't close enough to a .375 H&H, I think we are splitting hairs!

I've used my Rem 700 (horrors, a pushfeed) in .375H&H just for fun on several elk hunts. So far, taken four elk with it. Have used the Barnes 210 and 235 grain bullets. Both worked great, dropped the elk right there, and had flat trajectories. Oh, and were loaded at about 2800-2900fps.