Elk rounds

[TSK1975]

I am planning on hunting elk next year in Colorado, if I can draw a cow tag. I will be taking my dad's .300 Weatherby for one rifle. I was told by him, I had to take it with me since he never got to hunt elk with it. It is an old Weatherby built on a Mauser action. I know it has plenty of power for hunting elk. I don't have a center fire rifle in anything larger than varmint calibers. Rifles in elk caliber cartridges aren't much good in Iowa since center fire rifles can only be used in the southern part of the state for a late season antler-less only season. We can't use center fire rounds, but we can use a 385 grain sabotted slug at 1900feet/second. We will be fine if Cape Buffalo or Elephant some how displace the Whitetail Deer.

I want to purchase another rifle to take with me. I am thinking a shorter barreled, lighter rifle, a timber rifle so to speak. I think I would like to stay with a barrel no longer than 22" and hopefully lighter the 7lbs without scope. I know that short and light can mean more recoil in a shorter, lighter elk rifle. My question is, what caliber? I will start by saying that I used to own a 30-06, so I have brass and bullets for that round. I found a Tikka T3 Hunter for $499 NIB in 30-06. I can already hear the moans and groans from the crowd about the 30-06 being the one-size-fits-all round or the one-size-fits-none round.

I kind of want to go with one of the new whiz-bang, short-fat cartridges and not the old stand by's. I have been looking at the Winchester Short Magnums or the Ruger Compact Magnums. I have always been intrigued by the 6.5mm rounds, but are they a little light for elk? I also plan to hand load the cartridge. Any suggestions on calibers or even particular rifles? Thanks for the help and suggestions.

 

[ants]

Most of my shots at elk in SW Colorado and up on the Western slope are not in an environment where you need a short 'timber' gun. Most of our shots are 80 to 200 yards over open terrain or meadow, across canyons, occasional aspen stands, fairly sparse scattering of conifer trees. They eat lotsa grass. Find them where there is lotsa grass. ANY decent rifle will do.

In fact, that Weatherby is just about dang near perfect rifle, although you DON'T need a magnum for elk. Regardless of what the Internet says, the last 100 years of evolution did not produce elk with armor plating. Instead, the Internet produced a million wannabe hunters with armor plating in their skulls.

30-06 is just about the right cartridge.
Any 6.5 to 338 works just as well.
Yes, a 6.5 kills elk perfectly dead.
Short magnums are fine, 270 to 300.

My friend and his buddies get elk with archery every year.
My Grandpa's generation used 30-30. Before him they used muzzle loaders.
For nearly 10,000 years Indians used spears, and sinew backed bow & arrow.
I guess you just don't need a magnum, unless you just want it.

Unless you're from the Internet.
Then you need the biggest biggest magnum you can buy,
because your elk will have armor plating surrounding 12-inch thick bone.
I guess.

Whatever you use, please practice with it. As much as you can.
Make it a clean shot, that's really more important than your choice of cartridge or rifle.

At least that's my elk experience. Listen to other people, too. Get lots of opinions.

 

[wlewisiii]

An elk is an overweight whitetail As long as you're within appropriate range, any deer hunting rifle will work just fine. I'd carry a .30-30 as long as I could get within a hundred yards. To paraphrase the real estate schtick - (bullet) Location, location, location.

 

[ms6852]

30-06 will be fine, use a 165 or 180 grain bullet, the 180 grain will rattle your teeth a little but not that bad. As a matter of fact I own the Tikka T3 lite in 30-06 and the recoil is not bad at all.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Ditto.

.30-06 with a good 165-180gr bullet is plenty.

 

[BADUNAME37]

Any quality factory ammo that shoots a decent group - depending on the distances you think you will be shooting.

Myself, I prefer Barnes Solid Copper Triple Shock X Bullets over any others.

Before Barnes came out with them, my favorite was Nosler Partition bullets. Now I only buy Barnes X bullets for my big game hunting needs. I buy the cheapest bullets I can find just to plink with. Of course, the POI is typically different between different bullets, so you just need to adjust your aim accordingly.

 

[Art Eatman]

I have the short-action Rem 700 Ti. With a 3x9x40, it's 6.5 pounds when ready to hunt.

The long-action in .30-'06, IIRC, is .25 pounds more. 22" barrel.

My rifle is sub-MOA and has a decent trigger.

For elk (and, no, I'm not really an elk shooter) I'd load the Sierra 180-grain SPBT or equivalent.

Generally, for hunting success, whichever rifle is most familiar to the user will work better.

 

[Robert]

What unit are you looking to draw for? More important than the rifle and caliber is knowing your own limits. Know what shots you can or can not make. I am not saying you don't already know this, just a friendly reminder.

Last year I hunted a unit that was comprised of Oak brush so thick you could not see 10 feet into it with open pastures thrown in for a good measure. I was with in 15 feet of a nice young bull on a trail. He walked right out of the brush to me, I think he knew I only had a cow tag.

 

[Water-Man]

It doesn't get much better than the .300 Weatherby Mag. I used one on elk and brown bear for years with success. If you're bound and determined to buy a new rifle, I'd get one in .300 Win. Mag. for elk.

 

[BrocLuno]

Tikka T3 in 06. You can use it for all sorts of other western hunts and the practice ammo won't break the bank

 

[Moose458]

30-06 is a fine caliber, however if you want light weight, a Remington mountain rifle in .280 will be worth a look. Basically a 30-06 in 7mm and very mild in recoil. But the .300 that you already have is a prefect elk rifle, and the price is right.

 

[ball3006]

My dad had a Mauser 300 Weatherby. If you think that rifle is too heavy, you might consider going to a gym and get conditioned to carry something that weighs less than 10 pounds, and be able to hike at Colorado altitudes, 5000 or more feet. chris3

 

[jleyring]

7mm Rem Mag is a great round for elk and works well for deer also. Really any North American big game. It is a flat fast shooter.

 

[CoRoMo]

I've also killed elk here, none from more than 100 yards, usually shooting quick and close in dense forest. This is quite different than what ants posted because we hunt in different areas. Anyway, that gun will kill all the elk it properly puts lead into. Our elk camps have calibers that begin with a '2', so you're good to go.