Friend needs opinions on elk caliber

[DeerHuntr]

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A buddy of mine is going elk hunting for the very first time this fall and is looking to upgrade a bit from his .308. The rifle will likely replace the .308 not suppliment so it will be used on whitetails in ND as well. He has narrowed it down to a 300WSM or a 338RUM, apples to oranges I know but those are the two guns he likes although he knows little about either caliber. He said he wants to shoot it quite a bit and i told him not to bring the RUM home without a muzzlebrake on it cause it is gunna kick like a mule judging by the .340 Weatherby dad had. He shot my .270WSM for the first time on Sunday and mentioned the recoil it had in comparison to his .308 and I'm guessing the .300WSM is gunna be a bit more then that for sure. i mentioned the 300 Win Mag and 300 Weatherby mag as excellent elk/deer guns as well but he is looking for used and there simply wasn't any on the shelves. What should i tell my buddy??? oh yeah, dies will be bought and i will be reloading for him so ammo availability shouldn't be a worry. Thanks in advance.

 

[cracked butt]

The 300 wsm or 300 wm should be ok. Then again the .308 does just about everything those two cartridges do- out to 300 yards.

 

[redman900]

.500 nitro works wonders

 

[Bartkowski]

Personally, I wouldn't choose a RUM, maybe a .338 win mag.

 

[trueblue1776]

At what distance do you shoot? Inside 250 yards .35 Whelen is wonderful, all the power you need for an elk, and then some. A close second for me is the .35 Rem, some folks call it the ballistic twin of the Whelen.

I'd take the legendary Whelen.

 

[kentucky_smith]

I would think anything .270 or better would be fine. I'd just keep the .308.

 

[mustanger98]

I'd either use the .303British or load 170grainers in the .30-30 and go for it, but I'd limit my shots to 100-150yds with the .30-30 and 300yds with the .303British. How far's he planning on shooting? Most shots probably won't be past 300yds. It's not as much about power as it is about bullet placement. If I had a .308, I'd stick with it.

 

[browningguy]

Well since the guy needs an excuse for a new gun, I'd go with the .300 WSM even though I don't care for them personally. The RUM is just way too much gun, if you need that much horsepower better to get it in a 375 H&H.

To be honest his .308 would be fine, particularly if it shoots the Barnes TSX, or the 165 gr. Partition loads well. I had a .338 Win. Mag as a dedicated Elk gun, but a guy wanted it really bad, so now I'm currently building a .300 Win Mag to fill the same need.

 

[Hypnogator]

I'm a big fan of the .300 Win Mag for elk and medium to long range deer.

I'm not all that familiar with the .300 WSM, but IIRC it delivers similar ballistics to the Win Mag in a shorter action. That'd be my choice.

 

[rem1]

35 rem

 

[azhunter12]

I would use a 30/06. Thats what I using for elk this hunting season.

 

[yesit'sloaded]

Spend 100 bucks on a moisin nagant 91/30, 20 on good softpoints, and be amazed.

 

[esmith]

Ballistically (according to federal), both cartridges (300 wsm, 338 rum) shoot about the same speed, however the 338 rum has about 1000 more ft lbs. in energy. So if your friend wants to worry less about shot placement and wants to tear the hell out of the elk the 338 would be better, but both would do the job. The 338 also shoots flatter and has a little better BC.

I think he shouldn't worry about it and just use his .308. And you said he would use the 338 against whitetail which is a lot for a deer.

 

[eliphalet]

308 will do the job if like all calibers you place your shots were they should be. I have killed elk with a 30-06 . Dad and my son have both used a 308 on elk with success. Not enough difference between the two to matter in the field.

 

[Jeff F]

Sounds like he just wants a new gun. One of the guys at work has a wsm and it ain't cheep to shoot. Good cartridge it is. I've killed a couple elk with a .243 and one of my friends killed one with one shot with a .22 hornet when we were kids. These days I use the .308 and .303 British for most big game, a .270 win and the .243 get used a little bit.

 

[TehK1w1]

His current 308 should be enough unless he is planning on taking 300+ yd shots, or is not a good shot. That said, I vote 444 Marlin

 

[Sunray]

"...300WSM or a 338RUM..." If he opts for one of those, tell him to buy at least 500 cases too. Both are relatively new and there's no telling if either will be discontinued at some time. The manufacturers listen only to their marketing types. If either don't meet sales expectations, they can be discontinued and the manufacturers don't care if you can't find ammo or brass.
That being said, you don't need a .338 anything for deer. Too much gun. The .300WSM will do though. Mind you, there's no game in North America the .308 won't kill with 165 grain hunting bullets.
"...wants to worry less about shot placement..." He shouldn't be hunting anything with anything. Shot placement is critical. Even with a .500NE.

 

[trstafford]

7mm Mag. will step up energy for elk, not too much for deer and recoil is not going to be a quantum leap in pain level. I bought a 338 win mag for my elk hunt and every experienced elk hunter I met in Montana chose a .270 as their choice. What does a greenhorn from NC (back then) know?

 

[Stickjockey]

.30-06. With the dies you can load it up or down, depending on what you're after.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

All these internet Elk are armored and cross-bred with african elephants.

.308 would do fine.

.270 Win with good 130-150 gr bullets (partitions, a-frame, schirocco) and might shoot a little flatter.

.375 H&H or .416 Rigby would be good too, but can he shoot as well with a little recoil?

I was reading the 'Last of the Ivory Hunters', and there was a part in there about a woman who wanted to shoot cape buffalo with her 7x57. But she shot several, and all went down quick with one shot. She could hit what she aimed for.

At the range, it seems most folks shooting anything bigger than .30-06 can't shoot them all that well. There are a few exceptions.

I'd rather hit an Elk spot-on with a soft lead .535 Gr patched roundball over 80 Gr fffg than wing it with a .338 Win Mag.

 

[jpwilly]

+1 for the 300WSM but that said...308 is plenty for Elk. I'm not sure folks really want to hunt and stalk so much as they just want to brag about a really long shot.

 

[Outlaws]

He said he wants to shoot it quite a bit

I think that alone means he should stick with the .308 and just make due.

I don't know about the 300WSM, but the 300WIN is a barrel burner. That isn't even getting into the recoil issue.

 

[Kalashnikov]

I'm a tad surprised it hasnt come up yet but... 45-70.

 

[Rem-brent-browning]

Stay with the .308. Why does he want the upgrade? New toy? Cool magnum? I can relate. I'd consider how often I would need the extra horsepower and the extra expense of a new magnum as well as the care and feeding of said magnum. Examine the motives and I'll bet $ to O that he wants a new powerful cannon for the cool factor!

My personal selection if you want more downrange punch without the recoil is the .338-06 with 225gr Hornaday or Barnes. A lot of thump for little $.

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

if he wants to shoot it a lot, stick with the .308. with good bullets, it's definitely capable of taking an elk and reasonable ranges (out to 300 yards)