My First Elk Story to my Next Elk Story (Fly In?)

[Redmt]

He said expensive not TOO expensive. I agree they are expensive compared to other brands.

 

[mtmuley]

He said expensive not TOO expensive. I agree they are expensive compared to other brands.

Yeah. Maybe. Tarriffs hit them hard also. Funny how guys complain about the nuts and bolts while spending a shitload on other gear. mtmuley

 

[Redmt]

Yeah. Maybe. Tarriffs hit them hard also. Funny how guys complain about the nuts and bolts while spending a shitload on other gear. mtmuley

Yeah, I agree. I have thousands in my #1 but I try to trim corners anywhere else I can..

 

[cgasner1]

Yeah. Maybe. Tarriffs hit them hard also. Funny how guys complain about the nuts and bolts while spending a shitload on other gear. mtmuley

A carbon savage I think is around 1500 bucks now. That’s the main reason I don’t have a new rifle is what I want would cost me about 5k to put together and the one I currently have has killed everything I’ve pointed it at.

 

[Hammsolo]

I get it. I’ve shot Hammers for a minute. I love them and Steve is awesome. I love supporting “locals.” It’s tough paying over double. A sample pack of 15 of the bullet I want to try are $48. They’re the most highly engineered and precisely built bullets on the market.

I bought a Seekins to support local, and not another Tikka. Also, my goal has been to consolidate two nice rifles into one great rifle. I’ve worked hard and am wise with my money.

I really want to get into shooting steel. I didn’t throw out any “cheapy” ideas. Berger and Nosler aren’t entry level. I really want one bullet for NRL style shooting and hunting if game. What are your ideas?

 

[mtmuley]

Bergers are cheap enough to practice with. mtmuley

 

[Redmt]

One thing that steered me towards Barnes is that they were affordable, copper legal monos and didn't fragment. Everything I have shot has been one shot dead. I don't think a cheaper or more expensive bullet would have made anything any deader.

 

[cgasner1]

I get it. I’ve shot Hammers for a minute. I love them and Steve is awesome. I love supporting “locals.” It’s tough paying over double. A sample pack of 15 of the bullet I want to try is $48. They’re the most highly engineered and precisely built bullets on the market.

I bought a Seekins to support local, and not another Tikka. Also, my goal has been to consolidate two nice rifles into one great rifle. I’ve worked hard and am wise with my money.

I really want to get into shooting steel. I didn’t throw out any “cheapy” ideas. Berger and Nosler aren’t entry level. I really want one bullet for NRL style shooting and hunting if game. What are your ideas?

Seekins has been throwing some support at great things. If I was rifle shopping it would be on my short list and they make a phenomenal gun

 

[Hammsolo]

Reloading update. I found a good sale on a three piece Redding die set on Midway, and ordered them. I also found 175 grain Berger Elite Hunters on Spokane Gun Broker for $70 for 117 bullets. Any thoughts on powders to try? I will be consulting load data and doing ladders of course.

 

[Hammsolo]

Brass? I usually buy a couple boxes of Hornady Whitetail or the like for break and then use them for reloading and load development. Is it worth buying Peterson, ADG, Starline, Lapua, or whatever?

 

[Elktrack]

Brass? I usually buy a couple boxes of Hornady Whitetail or the like for break and then use them for reloading and load development. Is it worth buying Peterson, ADG, Starline, Lapua, or whatever?

Yes

 

[Hammsolo]

What brass would people recommend?

 

[Redmt]

What brass would people recommend?

I sort my brass into manufacturers. You will find different rifles like different brass better than others. One of my 6.5's absolutely will not eject nickel plated. After you find a load, my humble opinion is that it's not that critical which brand brass makes any difference for my shooting parameters. Some brass lasts longer than others but your not dealing with brass that is $5.00 each. Reload, shoot and repeat until the brass goes FUBAR then replace.

 

[Caseknife]

My 20" 7PRC shoots the 140AH at 3200fps with RL-16 and Petersen brass. Haven't had the chance to kill anything with it yet. BTW, the rifle began as a 70's vintage Rem 700 BDL 7Mag that I killed my first few elk with. Will have to work up the story.

 

[Elktrack]

What brass would people recommend?

I’m liking ADG a lot. Very uniform, clean flash holes, and primer pockets.
I’m not into NRL or competitive shooting but I like accurate ammo and crappy brass does effect accuracy.
I’m not a brass snob but if I were making laser accurate loads like your wanting, I’d go with all the same good quality brass. It ain’t cheap though.

 

[Redmt]

I’m liking ADG a lot. Very uniform, clean flash holes, and primer pockets.
I’m not into NRL or competitive shooting but I like accurate ammo and crappy brass does effect accuracy.
I’m not a brass snob but if I were making laser accurate loads like your wanting, I’d go with all the same good quality brass. It ain’t cheap though.

I forgot he was after laser precision?

 

[Irishman]

My first elk story. It was 1988 and I was living in married student housing at the University of Montana. I hadn't grown up where there wasn't any hunting and had only taken up hunting a few years before this. I was working full time in the evenings and going to graduate school during the day, had a wife, two little kids, and no pickup. Hunting opportunities where limited to a weekend day here and there, when someone I knew (with a pickup) would take me.
It was now the last weekend of hunting season, and final exams were the next week, so I was planning on spending the weekend getting ready for finals - no hunting. However, I found myself on the last day having a hard time studying as I was thinking about deer, so I decided mid morning to go hunt. I had a license to shoot a cow elk, but since my hunting vehicle was my Buick Regal, I decided to drive out the highway east of Missoula, park somewhere and hike in looking for a deer.
I hike in and soon come across elk tracks in the snow. I kept following the elk tracks for hours. Finally, about an hour before dark, I see something in the snow, just off the side of the ridge that looks out of place. At first I didn't know what it was, even though it was close. It was the lighter colored rump of a cow elk that was bedded down looking away from me. The elk stands up quartering away, and I shot. I hadn't taken into account the angle of the elk and shot it too far forward. That elk, and all the one's I hadn't seen ran down the hill. There was blood in the snow, but it was more like a spray of blood, that continued as I followed the tracks. I was happy to see that the elk were running downhill towards the highway, and despite knowing that I should probably wait before following the wounded elk, I was running out of daylight. Unfortunately for me the elk turned and started up hill again, I kept following. I knew the elk was struggling as I could see in the snow it had sat down and bled, but it kept going and so did I. I finally catch up with it on the opposite side of the mountain from the highway, and shoot it again in the middle of a steep shale slope - it dies. I'm running out of daylight, had no headlight (not sure that they were a thing then), and had to field dress my first elk. I was tough moving around that elk on the shale slope, especially when I didn't know what I was doing. The process was going too slow, and it was getting dark, so things got sped up. I remember yanking on stuff and blood getting all over me including my face - it was amateur hour, but the guts got removed.
I had to hike a mile or two over the mountain, down to the highway, and then a few miles along the highway to the Buick Regal. I got back to the apartment hours later than my wife was expecting me, so she had saw me pull into the parking area, and was outside the door when I approached. I had blood all over my clothes and face, so I decided it would be funny if I approached the apartment limping or dragging a leg. She didn't find it as amusing as I did.
A friend who owned a pickup helped me get the elk the next day.

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

What brass would people recommend?

I suggest RP for everything. Never lets me down.

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

What’s your secret sauce? The dream would be one round for big game and target steel.

I’m starting to ponder reloading recipes. I have 4831sc, 4350, Varget, and RL 23. I have large rifle and magnum primers. I don’t have any bullets yet. I [we all] love Hammers, but they’re expensive. I would consider Berger or Nosler also. Maybe [probably will go with] Barnes. Hornady Eld-X are okay…

FIFY. I’ll even posit that right between AA4350 to 4831 burn rate is where you belong. Because your new gun will likely bughole 140gr mono just like its predecessors in the 6.8 and 7mm iterations.