Minimum Elk Caliber. what do you think it is.

[6mm Remington]

6mm Remington for me using great Nosler bullets like the 100 gr. Partition, 90 gr. E-tip, or 90 gr. Accubond.

 

[rjthehunter]

Is this a list of every cartridge ever constructed? My preferred cartridge is a suppressed 22 short at 10 yards right through the cornea. Works 67% of the time all of the time.

It definitely isn't every cartridge. But most of them larger than a .223 Shoutout to Chat GPT for making the list.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Have enough respect for the animal to risk scoping yourself with a rifle, common guys

 

[slatebuilder]

Personally I have no opinion on what hunters choose to use, as long as they are proficient with that tool. If a 30 cal with FMJ’s, I mean monos, works for you great. There are others who choose to use other means, rather effectively too.

I do however despise some idiotic legislation that is an attempt to compensate for poor skills on the part of hunters.

 

[Vic Colfari]

I am going with a new strategy. All big game must be taken with iron sighted express rifles, aka Safari rifles, min caliber .375 for deer, and nothing less than .470 Nitro Express for anything bigger. If the African safari hunters can do it, so can we. #halfserious

 

[2rocky]

whatever delivers a lethal and legal projectile at 2000 fps and 1500 ft lbs of energy at the distance required.

Should be pretty easy for Chat GPT to develop a list of calibers, loads and ranges that meet that threshold. Or if you find a chart that you can paste into Excel and do a pivot table. Could also use Recoil Energy and further refine it.

I took a few stabs at it but here is the result....you could expand on this with better data...

Good call. Here’s an updated, more focused table that includes 7mm-08 and .308 Winchester, showing: cartridge, representative load, muzzle velocity, retained velocity at 300 yards, retained energy at 300 yards, and an estimated maximum distance (yards) at which the bullet would drop to 2,000 ft/s (i.e., where you fall below your 2,000 fps speed threshold).


I include reasonable “popular modern deer / elk” cartridges (but not every possible one) in the ~.24 to .46 cal range. The “max distance to 2000 fps” is based on published or interpolated velocity‑vs‑distance data.

---

Assumptions & Data Sources​

• For 7mm‑08: used data from BallisticStudies and GunnersDen. (Ballistic Studies)
• For .308 Win: used data from Hornady / broad-side ballistic tables / gunmag data. (TargetBarn.com)
• Representative bullet weights: 7mm‑08 (140 gr), .308 (150 gr) — common hunting loads.
• For “max distance to 2000 fps”: I used published retained velocity numbers (or interpolated between data points) to estimate where velocity crosses ~2000 fps.

---

Table: Cartridges Including 7mm‑08 and .308, with Retained Velocity, Energy, and 2000 fps Cutoff Distance​

Cartridge	Bullet / Weight	Muzzle Vel (fps)	Vel @ 300 yd (fps)	Energy @ 300 yd (ft·lb)	Estimated Max Distance (yd) to 2,000 fps
.300 Remington Ultra Magnum (RUM)	180 gr	~3,200 fps	— (not listed here)	—	Very > 300 yd (magnum retains high velocity)
.300 Winchester Magnum	180 gr	~2,960 fps	—	—	> 300 yd
.300 PRC	212 gr	2,860 fps	~2,589 fps (Hornady data)	~2,315 ft·lb	> 300 yd
.30‑06 Springfield	165 gr	~2,800 fps	~2,344 fps (Petersen’s) (GunMag Warehouse)	~2,134 ft·lb (GunMag Warehouse)	~~350+ yd (approx; 300 yd still well above 2000 fps)
.280 Remington	140 gr	~3,020 fps	~2,455 fps @ 300 yd (Remington)	~2,159 ft·lb (Remington)	> 300 yd
7mm‑08 Remington	140 gr	~2,860 fps (GunnersDen) (Gunner\'s Den)	~2,206 fps @ 300 yd (GunnersDen) (Gunner\'s Den)	~1,296 ft·lb @ 300 yd (GunnersDen) (Gunner\'s Den)	~300 yd (velocity just above ~2,200 at 300)
.308 Winchester	150 gr	~2,820 fps (Broad Side chart) (TargetBarn.com)	~2,211 fps @ 300 yd (Broad Side chart) (TargetBarn.com)	~1,627 ft·lb @ 300 yd (Broad Side) (TargetBarn.com)	~350‑400 yd (by interpolation: 2,000 fps drop around there)

---

Interpretation & Notes​

1. 7mm‑08 Remington
   • With a 140 gr bullet, at 300 yards the velocity is ~2,206 fps and energy ~1,296 ft·lb (per GunnersDen) (Gunner\'s Den).
   • The “max distance to 2,000 fps” is roughly ~300 yards, because it’s already not that far above 2,000 fps at 300.
2. .308 Winchester
   • Using a 150-gr bullet, at 300 yards its velocity is ~2,211 fps and energy ~1,627 ft·lb per the Broad-Side chart. (TargetBarn.com)
   • Because it’s decaying from ~2,820 fps muzzle, it takes maybe 350–400 yards to drop to ~2,000 fps, based on interpolation of published chart data.

---

Caveats / Limitations​

• The “max distance to 2,000 fps” is an estimate based on published tables and interpolation; real-world retained velocity depends on bullet BC, environmental conditions, barrel length, etc.
• The bullet weights chosen (140 gr for 7mm‑08, 150 gr for .308) are representative, but other bullet weights (or high‑BC bullets) might retain velocity better or worse.
• My sources are a mix of manufacturer / independent ballistic tables — differences exist.

---

If you like, I can recompute the full “modern deer & elk cartridge” list (like before) but only include those that retain ≥ 2,000 fps at 300 yd, and show exactly what that retained energy is, using a consistent solver model (or published data). Do you want me to do that?

 

[Stretcher_Jockey]

So many variables. .243 through the boiler room will kill one quicker than a .338 through the guts.

 

[Forelix]

There is a "Big 3" for a reason: the .300 Winchester Magnum, .30-06 Springfield, and 7mm Remington Magnum are the most popular and versatile elk cartridges for good reason. But which one leans where depends on the hunt.

 

[Doublecluck]

Went all the way down to 6mm 108’s, the 6.5 PRC w 156’s is sitting at 6/6 1 shot kills this season. The 25 creed killed one w 133’s. If I was hunting property lines and wanted to be 100% sure it would dump where it stood without risk of making it back to the kings place I would use one of the 7’s. Usually whatever I’m in the mood for, depends how far I’m walking. All the same, they fall over dead. Whatever.

 

[rjthehunter]

So many variables. .243 through the boiler room will kill one quicker than a .338 through the guts.

 

[buffybr]

In some states, it is codified, and, on some forums, a 223 is all you need for anything in North America…

About a year ago I replied to that thread simply saying "There are better choices" and I got royally flamed.

I'm a .30 caliber guy, but one of my quickest elk kills was on my 2nd best 6x6 bull that just dropped dead where he was standing with a 117 gr Sierra GameKing bullet from my .257 Ackley.

I've had friends (one who worked on one of Turner's ranches) that killed multiple bull elk with their .220 Swift and .22-250s. They were all excellent shots.

 

[MTLabrador]

View attachment 393434

100% sure about that… There’s no flies on the .243 for killing elk.