How many of you have taken or will hunt your elk this year w/ something smaller than the .270? What caliber & bullet combo did you/will you use?

My wife will use her Remington Model 7 in 7mm-08 again this year for cow elk. It worked last year on a fair sized cow at about 100 yards in lightly wooded forest. One shot in the ribs, it went 35 yards, fell over and died. 140 grain Partition bullet. roy p.

I have shot Elk with many chamberings, and have taken elk with the 6.5x55 and the 7x57. Nosler partitions did the job in each case. No animal went further than 60 meters after the shot. Regards, Eagleye.

I'll be shooting a .260 with 120 Gr. X bullets this year for the 1st time. Just got to get on a cow that will cooperate.

Good luck guys! My "light" rifle is a .280REM w/ 160gr NP. Now if the weather & elk will cooperate?

My wife took a nice cow a few years ago with her M70 "compact" model in 7mm-08 and 160 Speers at all of 2500 fps. Her cow ran downhill maybe 50 yds and piled up.

I've guided two hunters who shot .260 rems with 120 Noslers and both killed cows as easily as my wife.

My "light" rifle is the same as my friend Fred; a .280 Rem, but I use 150 grain partitions at 2950 fps. I've killed three bulls with my .280 , one of them the best 6x6 I have ever taken. PLACEMENT is the key, plus I'm in no hurry for a bull and can pass on bad angles, long distances etc. A light rifle will certainly work with good placement. But not everyone is blessed with elk in their backyard, a $13 over the counter elk tag, and a five week season.

When your one and only shot at an elk may be one requiring some penetration then the thirty calibers or even better a good .338" is a much better choice.

FN in MT

My older brothers hunted elk for many years with a .243 and a 270. They didn't, and still don't, reload, so it was factory ammo of some sort. They both got plenty of elk with those rifles; I think the older one had a streak of a bull a year for 12 years straight. That was back in their younger years, and they used horses and went back in aways, and I think they were pretty conservative about their shots.

My family and I used 30-30's and 25-35's to hunt elk back when you could ride a horse up to 50 yards of them...I also used a 250-3000...We never wounded anything...

But that was then and this is now..I use a 338, 375, 9.3x62 and even a 416 Rem which is a favorite...I take the shot that is presented at long range or in the thick stuff of Idaho.

Today I have little use for lighter rifles and Ii have seen a lot of wounded elk because of misused light rifles and from shots that are on the fringes...Those fringe shots are where the big guns shine...

Elk rifles begin with the 300 magnums..The 06 will work fine if used with care, which is not always the case.

I've taken two bulls w/ a 25-06. Longest shot was under 100 yds.

My late uncle took his last cow w/ a 25 Newton, which is roughly the same as the 25-06. His shot was on a cow about 175 yds away.

He's now buried in Gibbonsville Id. and the rifle is w/ his son.

I used a .264 Winchester with 140 grain Noslers on a couple of elk before I owned a "proper" elk rifle. I now use a .338, but if the .264 were my only choice, I'd happily go afield with it again.

In Sweden we shoot about 100.000 moose every year. The most common caliber for moose hunt over here is 6.5x55 Swedish. It is the "lightest" caliber allowed by law. If it is good enough for moose over here i guess it�s good enough for elk over there.

Regards

There is a clear distinction between a 350 lbs cow and 650 lbs plus bull.

Cow elk are routinely taken with 6.5mm, .27s and .28s. Big bulls with .28 Mags, .30s and .33s.

Bull elk are particularly tougher to bring down. While 6mm and 1/4 bores are touted as sufficient elk guns, I highly dismiss their use on bulls.

Consider shooting a 1200 lbs moose with a 250 grain .33 bullet. The bullet weight and energy per animal weight and mass is equivilant to a 140 lbs whitetail deer shot with a 20 grain .17 Remington. Would a .17 be a prudent choice?

[ 10-26-2002, 00:09: Message edited by: rossi ]

My two nephews got their bulls a couple of weeks ago. They only have one rifle each a 7 MM Rem. They both got their bulls at pretty long range. They have both decided this is about minimum caliber.

My .270 is a great medium range Elk rifle. I have past up some beautiful bulls because I didn't have a heavier rifle. Do I wish I had a heavier caliber? Sure, but I also have other things on my wish list that have priority. I am buying two new Elk rifles for my boys, right now I am leaning towards the 7 mm stw, or 30-06.

rossi, I must be the first to disagree with your arguement.

As far as the technical aspects of your arguement with the 1200 lb moose being shot with a 250 grn .338 bullet being comparable to shooting a whitetail with a 20 grn .17 bullet, I'm sure you have valid mathematical calculations to verify that. As far as the practical, real life aspects of that arguement; they simply do not hold up. Tell you what, shoot a whitetail with a 20 grn 17 caliber bullet and then a moose with the 250 grn 338 caliber bullet, at similar ranges with similar shot angles. Then compare WOUND CHANNELS. I can assure you that those results will not uphold your statement. We are talking about destroying the vitals of a living animal, not mathematical equations on a chalk board.

Maybe you should dig up some of Jack O'Connor's writings, because he had a few comments about the lines of reasoning that magnum heads like to use. Many like to trash talk what O'Connor wrote, but they can't really trash talk his success as a hunter (if you ever kill as many big-game animals as he did, then you can trash talk him). Maybe some people should lose their magnums and learn how to actually hunt.

Also, consider the 30-06. At 200 yds, a factory loaded 180 grn bullet packs as much punch as the same bullet fired from a 300 Savage at the muzzle. Please tell me, and I'm dying to find out, how many elk couldn't be killed if a 300 Savage was put against their ribs and fired?

Seems funny that before WWII, back when bullets were not as good as they are today, the 30-06 was considered BIG elk medicine. Animals must have evolved since then and now have carbon-fiber body armor under their skin.

AJ,

Reread my post. I said "big bulls with .28 Mags, .30s and .33s." Notice I didn't say ".30 Mags or .33 Mags". Although a .30 Mag or .33 Mag would be fine choice for elk or moose.

Show me how I excluded your beloved 30-06 on elk or moose. My statements were based on bulls vs. cows and the use of 6mm and 1/4 bores used on bull elk.

As it always has, "what's best" depends on a myriad of factors. Generally, in todays' world, I feel the seasoned visiting trophy hunter is best served with a .300 Magnum with premium 200 grain bullets as a minimum, right on up to .416, in his/her quest for trophy bulls. The seasoned resident hunter, armed with solid local knowledge of hunt area and elk, may do as well with something lighter.

rossi, please reread my post. I was not making any reference at all to your list of calibers for cows vs. bulls. Few of us would disagree with those suggestions. I was referring only to your 33 and 17 caliber comparison. The 30-06 comment was not aimed specifically at you, but was more of a blanket arguement. There seems to be a concensus of so-called experts lately that the 30-06 is marginal. My second post was for their benefit. I apologize for any misunderstanding that was caused by my posts.

NIck,
If they ever do a study on the "seasoned resident hunter" I fear it would be terribly disapointing..The only folks I know who believe the resident hunter is something special is the resident hunter....

My observation is they, for the most part, are no different than any of the rest of the hunters, some good and some bad...Most like to trash the non-residents when many of them are the worst game offenders around...check out some of the locals camps sometime...I'm not impressed.

I grew up reading O'conner & if everyone else did, I think you will find that hunting then & hunting now are quite a bit different. Read Leif's post again; he has had to pass on shots he thought he could have made w/ a heavier rifle. I think that's the point. Why limit your hunting especially if your hunting time is limited?
I'm still in the 7mm or above, w/ heavier bullets group. I hope everyone has had a great season!

While J.O. provided some sage advice at times, he also did a lot to diminish such great rounds as the .284 Winchester, which is unbelievably accurate and was possibly ahead of it's time (look now to the Short Mag).

I do not neccessarily believe he was all that talanted in reloading and gun mechanics. He was a good writer and hunted quite well.

Once close associates were polled as to speak of conversations they had with him. One interesting comment that came about by an Idaho Game Warden was that in his presence J.O. was asked to provide an answer to the following question:

"If you had to hunt with just one chambering for North America, what would it be?"

J.O. hating to ever display an answer that boosted his arch rival, Elmer Keith, reluctantly replied, "...the 338 Win Mag would be my choice..."

Don't believe everything Jack wrote, as like so many others in an influential position, its hard to not portray one's self-interest and bias in one's writings. Many who write today suffer greatly from non-objective views.

[ 11-05-2002, 02:59: Message edited by: rossi ]

Several years ago, I killed a very large bodied 6point bull elk, with my 7x57 with a 140gr nosler partition at about 2800fps. The shot was about 90 meters and the bull piled up within about 50 meters. This saturday I killed a average 5 point at 278 meters.
The shot was made with a 7mm-08 with a 150gr barnes xbt at about 2750fps. These canadian bulls are super tough, but if you actually take the time to get close enough, and place the shot properly, no animal can argue with a hole in its lungs or heart, regardless of whether it is 6mm, 7mm, 7.62, 20mm!
I will be rechambering this rifle shortly for the 280 AI. This is mainly because I am shooting a ruger standard length action, and a longer case is a better use of the space, and its pritty trickey wizzy.

Good news bout your 7mm-08 XBT load
I'm having the same thing made right now by my reloader buddy