Favorite Elk Calibers

[BR-549]

Guess I will chime in too since I missed the original survey...
In our group of 8 we have:

2- 7mm RM
2- 300 WSM
1- .45-70
1- 06
1- 308
1- 300 WM
On occasion one of the 300 WSM gets traded out for a .280 R

All of which have taken elk.

 

[Gunner46]

I'm going to make an A$$ outta myself and assume your question is primarily aimed toward Western elk hunters. I wonder how much the responses would vary if Eastern elk hunters chimed in on this query ? (Yes, there Are elk in the east)

I'd bet it would be as different as comparing a monkey wrench to a grapefruit.

 

[shoots-straight]

I'll be lucky to be hunting elk this year. Foot surgery in August to remove bone spurs. But if by some miracle I am able to go I will carry my Marlin in 35 Remington.

Eat a half a pineapple a day, every day, after your surgery and you will be hunting.

 

[TimeOnTarget]

Eat a half a pineapple a day, every day, after your surgery and you will be hunting.

Can't tell if serious???


Please explain....

 

[Ben Lamb]

I'm going to make an A$$ outta myself and assume your question is primarily aimed toward Western elk hunters. I wonder how much the responses would vary if Eastern elk hunters chimed in on this query ? (Yes, there Are elk in the east)

I'd bet it would be as different as comparing a monkey wrench to a grapefruit.

It would still be a 9.3x74R

Or maybe a 35 Whelen.

It would also be an excellent reason to purchase a 9x57 Model B Mauser.

 

[Rooster52]

Nice article in Fur Fish Game mag this month on elk hunting rifle.

 

[idnative1948]

No questions regarding terrain here?? Clear shots or are you in the thick stuff? Until this year the 30-30 has done fine. But, this year will be hunting where we will be able to see a ridge across from us so is totally new. 300 Win Mag with 30-06 as back-up if I fall down again.

 

[MT.PERCHMAN]

I too like my .300 RUM for elk. Perchman, you carry that Sendero in the hills? I've killed critters with the 210 ALR. I like the regular 200 Accubond better. mtmuley

I sure am !!!
Its buy far the best rifle I have ever shot . Its a tad bit heavy
but when I head out on a hunt /hike I move over the standard ones and grab the sendero.
at least for a few more years . My wife shoots one of the other ones ....she dont like to shoot them alot but she knows when she.pulls the trigger there is no tracking !!!
We have 41 mounts and counting !!!

MT.PERCHMAN

 

[blacksheep]

7mm rem mag!

blacksheep

 

[Salmonchaser]

This will be season 55 for me. I started at age 12 with an 06; killed a rag horn. Killed about 20 or so with an 06, played with a few different 300s, 375s even killed one with a 577 nitro. Settled on a 338 Jarret about 20 years ago. Been one and done with that rifle ever time.

 

[Hammsolo]

300 wm for me

06, 7 RM, 6.5 prc, and 300 wsm for the guys I hunt with.

Pondering a Christensen Arms in 338 Lapua as a T-Rex gun and would consider using it for elk!

I killed most of my elk with a 338 wm, and would like another but rifle selection is very limited right now.

I’ve also pondered a Ruger Guide Gun in 375 Ruger…

 

[Sask hunter]

338 win mag for me with 225 Barnes ttsx

 

[brymoore]

280AI

 

[NDhunter43]

300 win mag.

 

[rogerthat]

300 rum

 

[buffybr]

It looks most of this thread was active before many of us joined Hunt talk, but the question still holds...

I shot my first elk in 1965 with a borrowed .30-40 Krag. Back then I was working summers in Steamboat Springs, CO, and the next summer I wanted my own elk rifle so I asked a couple of the locals that I worked with, what caliber rifle to get. They said either a .30-06 or .270 and that only the city dudes in Denver that came to the mountains once a year used .300 Winchesters.

So I bought a .30-06 and that rifle easily put 8 elk in my freezer. In the late '70s I had that rifle re-chambered to .30 Gibbs and then that rifle put another 21 elk in my freezer.

I've shot elk with other calibers and I've had friends that shot their elk every year with rifles chambered in .22-250, .243, and up. It mainly depends on where the bullet hits the elk.

My favorite elk rifle now is my .300 Weatherby shooting 180 grain Barnes TTSX bullets.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I believe 99.9% of elk killed in 2021 died from a single shot out of a 6.5 CM from over 400 yards

 

[EastTNHunter]

I believe 99.9% of elk killed in 2021 died from a single shot out of a 6.5 CM from over 400 yards

And it didn’t go 20

 

[hank4elk]

Still use my 30-06.

 

[375H&H]

I am undefeated against elk with my 375H&H