Elk Rifle Opinions

[StringTwelve]

Just drew my first Elk tag in New Mexico.
Any suggestions on a .300 win mag and scope setup for around the 1500-2500 price mark?

Thanks

 

[WTBguns10kOK]

Yoda say, much money you can save, need a .300 mag you do not!

 

[StringTwelve]

So just use the force then? Try, I will.

 

[MyOpinion]

Having hunted elk in Colo for many years, the magnum 30s are not a necessity.
30-06 works well as does 35 Rem. I have known a few hunters over the years that used 243. Yeah I always thought 243 was light.

I just never saw the need for raising the cost of elk any higher than absolutley necessary.

If you really want a 300 mag, by all means get one. Its your money. There are just other choices.

Good Luck

 

[BrocLuno]

30-06 will do fine

 

[Art Eatman]

Unless you seriously expect to take shots beyond 300 yards, any of the .308/270/'06 class will work. Any decent scope of 4X or 6X. Most any rifle in today's world will shoot groups inside of two MOA.

Yeah, you can spend more and find "better", but what I've outlined will work just fine. I sorta tend toward higher end stuff, tweaking and reloading, but the whole guns'n'huntin' thing has been an avocation for many decades. I'd not feel poorly served with basic gear.

 

[Jeff F]

I have killed a few Elk with the .303 British. It killed them just as dead as the big .30 magnums. Unless your shooting really long ranges those big magnums are not needed.

 

[tango2echo]

I've killed elk with a .270, .308, .30-06, and .300WM. They were all equally dead. The only time I shoot the .300WM is in an area I know I will have shots over 300 yards. 95% of the time I shoot the .308 with 168gr Partitions. A friend in Oregon has a ranch (12K acres). He has never shot anything other than a .300 Savage and has killed well over 200 elk (over alot of years), all but two with a single shot.

For elk rifles I prefer a light, short, easy to carry rifle. My personal choice is a custom gun I built myself on a Howa action in .308, with a light 20" barrel. With a light composite stock, Leupold glass, rings and bases, it comes in around 7 1/2lbs with a full 5 round magazine. It is 27 and 0 on deer and 5 and 0 on elk. All one shot kills from 30 to 400 yards.

If you want the .300WM and are comfortable shooting it, then I would suggest this as a starting point in your search:

http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/models/

...with a swarovski Z3 4-12X50mm. That will come in well under your budget. I would also add a heavy duty airline approved case, extra ammo (Fedex it a week before), a comfortable sling, good binos, and lots of practice. I would also suggest bringing a second rifle that you already have as a back-up. In Montana on a Muley/Elk hunt in 1996 I slipped on a icey rock and cracked the stock on my primary rifle. My back-up was a tried and true deer rifle that I was comfortable with in .270. On the last day of the hunt I took and made a 375 yard shot on a 5X6 bull. He never moved from where he stood.

T2E

 

[janobles14]

my one and only elk hunt was a successful cow-fest. i too was wanting to bump up to a .300 winny but was convinced by our guide to use the .30-06 i have had for 12 years. i simply replaced the 165 grain nosler ballistic tip with a 165 grain nosler accubond. the two cows that this rifle shot went a combined total of 9 feet. one shot was 225 yards and the other was 80 yards.

that being said....one of the gentlemen in our group used a .270 and flat dropped a 5x5 bull at 350 yards across a canyon. this hunt, for me, cured my belted-magnumitis for elk and moose.

hope this helps!

 

[Sunray]

Hi. Any commercial hunting rifle will do nicely. You don't need to spend $1500 to $2500 either. A Savage Model 111 FCNS or a 114 American Classic at under $1,000 with any decent scope will kill an elk just as well as a $2500 custom rifle.
Do forget about the .300 Mag though. If you're not reloading, you'll have to try a box of as many brands of ammo as you can to find the ammo the rifle shoots best. Sight in with that ammo then you'll have to practice shooting at a 9" pie plate, off hand, at 100, until you can hit it every time. Doing that with a .300 Mag isn't fun.
A .30-06 or .308 with 165 grain hunting bullets will kill any game you care to hunt. So will a .270 with 130's or 140's. Or any .25 and up calibre. Any of those will be a lot more fun getting the rifle ready.
"...the .303 British..." It's been killing big moose, up here, since just after W.W. I. Ruger's making a No. 1 Light Sporter in .303 British now. One of the guys on canadiangunnutz.com got 'em to do it.

 

[WTBguns10kOK]

A consensus, reached it has been!

 

[tarosean]

So just use the force then? Try, I will.

Do you not own a hunting rifle? or will this be your first hunt?

 

[Cryogaijin]

++ on the aught six camp. I use mine for moose, no reason it couldn't take an ickle elk.

 

[hardluk1]

Think he is just looking for a reason to buy a new rifle.

 

[1goodshot]

I just got a Remington SPS in 300 win for my elk hunt and I think Im going to put a Zeiss 3.5-14 on it.

 

[loadedround]

I've been very happy with my 7mm Rem Mag's proformance on two Elk that I've taken.

 

[Redneck with a 40]

I think the 30-06 is an ideal elk rifle out to 300 yards, I wouldn't hesitate to use a .308 with a good bullet either, out to 250 yards.

All these guys think they need a big magnum, big machismo. The problem with that is they tend to practice less, because the rifle beats you up. The guy with a 30-06 that puts twice as many practice rounds downrange, will be a much better hunter than the guy with a 300 mag, that can only stand to shoot 5 rounds out of it.

 

[Art Eatman]

I like the term, "Shootability". A rifle which fits my body. One with which I have a good bit of trigger time so that, "I'm all married up with it." It's been tweaked and messed with and handled a good bit, so that it feels sorta like an extension of my body. I'm comfortable with it, just as with an old pair of shoes. Call it a Zen thing, if you like.

Back when I was young and healthy--and good-looking, of course--and before I loaned my pet '06 to Justin, I figured that anything which jumped up inside of 500 yards belonged to me. But, thirty-five years of toting and some 4,000 rounds of trigger-time made it so...

 

[Idaho Slim]

I have killed numerous elk over the last 40 years here in Idaho. I am a fanatic proponent of the .270, our .270's have consistently taken Elk out to the 450-550 range with one well placed shot, and a Rocky Mountain Bighorn Ram @ 550. When you are hunting (ie CLIMBING) the high mountain reachs where the Elk reside, you will be thankful on having a light, flat shooting rifle. As some have said, practice is the key. I only shoot my faithful .270 for all the big game here in Idaho, or for North America for that matter, mine has taken 6 of the 9 big game animals of our state, and also (2) moose in our family with a .270. Snce I have many guns in the safe, but only hunt with this one, My friends have coined me "Beware the man who shoots one gun, he probably knows how to shoot it."
Any of the suggested choices are as good, .270, 7mm, 30.06. On a side note, if you pick the .06, you have a wide variety of cartridge choices to use for all kinds of hunting. I highly suggest against a .243 or the .308. As you can see I too am anti - "belted-magnumitis". Good Luck!

 

[skiking]

Not that you need a .300 Win Mag, but I sure love mine. Mine is a Rem 700 SPS Stainless with a Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40, but I am looking at getting a new scope for it, the Burris has seen better days and I am surprised that it is still working flawlessly. I don't see a need for me to use a 30-06, the .300 WM gives me a performance gain and the added recoil is hardly noticeable to me. I might be able to shoot 50 rounds per day with an '06 vs 45 with my .300.

 

[dldbrandon]

Marlin XL7 in 30-06, .270, or .308. Then put a vortex diamondback on top. If your on a budget that's the way to go.

 

[StringTwelve]

Think he is just looking for a reason to buy a new rifle.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Thanks for all the input.
As a little background, I've been hunting since I was 6 or 7 but grew up in East TN where the biggest animal around was a white tail and the longest shot to expect was about 200 yards. So, my .270 Remington 700 with a $50 Simmons scope was all I needed.
I'm now working in Southeast NM so I put in for all the draws I could and ended up with Elk and Deer.
Now I know that a well placed shot is the main ingredient for a clean kill and I wouldn't mind bringing out the .270, throwing some new optics on it, and heading for the hills. However, after talking to many locals, the gun of choice seems to be .300wmag for both Elk and Deer due to its energy down range. I'm not worried about ammo selections since I do my own reloading anyhow. I'm just looking for a good rifle with out-of-the-box accuracy to build a precision, lightweight, hunting rifle. Those suggesting other calibers make good points, but to be honest I'm not concerned about recoil as I'm used to shooting big bore guns at the range anyhow. I'm more concerned about having that power down range if I want to take a 300-500+ yard shot.

 

[benzy2]

Really, I'd put new glass on the .270 and roll with that. If you know the rifle and have loads built for it currently, you are most of the way through the battle already. Get a $300-$600 scope and enjoy seeing well on that old rifle.

If you just don't want to use the .270, just about any rifle made today in the $400+ price range will hold hunting accuracy out to 500 yards, assuming you can as well. You can spend more or less and get different feature sets, but they all seem to hold 2" at 100 yards at worst, and quite a bit under that at best. All of that will take an elk out to 500 yards if you can shoot well. I won't get into the chambering topic as I think your .270 is more than enough, but buy what you feel comfortable with.

 

[tarosean]

However, after talking to many locals, the gun of choice seems to be .300wmag for both Elk and Deer due to its energy down range.

I was born and raised in Northern NM hunted Elk and Mulies all over CO and NM since I was knee high to a grasshopper... 30-06 was always my gun of choice along with tons of people I know.

 

[Gtscotty]

While I'm also of the opinion that '06 or .270 would be fine, just taking a quick look at cdnn, I see a bunch of choices in 300 win mag, here are a few:

Weatherby Mark 5 synthetic in 300, or 7mm mag - $799

Weatherby Vanguard deluxe walnut in 300 - $599

New model (with pre '64 bolt design) Winchester 70 sporter magnum in 300 or 7mm mag - $679

New model Winchester 70 featherweight magnum in 300 - $649

Of course, a Tikka t3 or if you want to go up scale Sako 85 would fit your bill just as well, as would various Remingtons and Savages. Add on a Zeiss conquest 3-9 for $400 and any of the rifles above (except the Sako) should come in well below your minimum price.... I don't really see a reason to drop $2500 on this rifle unless you're looking for pretty walnut, engraving, etc.

As an aside, I have a coworker who is stationed in Southern NM who has taken his fair share of Elk and Oryx. When I asked him what he uses to hunt big game, he said he has started using 7mm mag across the board. This comes from a man who has an impressive arsenal of big game and dangerous game rifles, he just doesn't think anything more is needed for animals in the Elk/Oryx class. Just some food for thought.