Favorite Mid to Long Range Elk Cartridge

[Chanse301]

I ask what everyone's favorite Elk caliber is today because I've officially started the new gun fund (bout time) and am in the mood to start planning! I want to grab something I can punch paper with and hand off to my father to take elk hunting.

As of now we have... .17 HMR, .223, 7mm, 30-06 (haven't seen that one in years, but he says hes still got it), as far as rifles go.

Anyway! I want a new gun. What's your guys favorite cartridge for Elk at say 450 yards? 600 yards? I can't imagine the old man would take a shot past 300, but i'd like something that would be carrying enough dropping power at something at or past that. Really been thinking about either a .308 or 300 wm or wsm, as those were both rifles I've shot with pops. Know they work. He talks so highly of his old 300 win mag.

 

[JRS]

300 Win mag

 

[Cort]

I like a hunting cartridge to be one that I can buy loads for at the local hardware store. Consequently, I would recommend the .300 win mag or the 7 mm rem mag. The .300 is probably the best candidate.

Cort

 

[L.Sherm]

For purely long range and putting the smack down on a elk the 338 norma would be hard to beat with the 250 or 300 gr. bergers, 300 win mag. with 210 or 230 might give it a run for it's money. But then theres recoil to deal with. For short to mid rande 300 win or 338 win. would be my choice. I've shot a couple bulls at 100-250yds with my 338 win. mag. and that energy it carries is impressive when you shoot one, elk are a tough animal but shot placement is the key factor. Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[kjcpoint]

In the process of building an elk rifle too.
300wsm on a Defiance XM action. Provided I did not have this intermediate action on hand, I would build a 300wm.

190 LRAB or the 200AB will be my bullet of choice. If they are to found by late spring.

Kyle

 

[mmcu]

338 Win Mag with a 225 grain bullet would be my first choice for a dedicated elk rifle.

 

[Chappy]

To me, 450-600 is right in my mid range capabilities. Personally I've shot elk with a 6mm Remington at 437 yards, and some others out to 681. Right now my cartridge of choice is the .300 SAUM with the 185 Bergers going around 3000 FPS.

In my opinion, the almost any of the short mags is the cats meow if you do up close timber huntig like I tending to do or a lot of across the canyon poking out there shooting.

 

[Chanse301]

To me, 450-600 is right in my mid range capabilities. Personally I've shot elk with a 6mm Remington at 437 yards, and some others out to 681. Right now my cartridge of choice is the .300 SAUM with the 185 Bergers going around 3000 FPS.

In my opinion, the almost any of the short mags is the cats meow if you do up close timber huntig like I tending to do or a lot of across the canyon poking out there shooting.

Seems to be the consensus that .300 mag cartridges get the job done. Is there that much difference in ballistics between the three, win mag, wsm and the saum? Read conflicting opinions about win mag vs wsm, but havent really looked into a ultra mag yet. Just not familiar with it i guess!

Thanks for the replies everyone. Guess it's time to start thinking about what route I want to go now. Build it piece by piece or buy a rifle and go from there. Piece by piece would result in exactly the rifle I wanted, but IDK if I have that kind of patience lol.

 

[Chappy]

To me, 450-600 is right in my mid range capabilities. Personally I've shot elk with a 6mm Remington at 437 yards, and some others out to 681. Right now my cartridge of choice is the .300 SAUM with the 185 Bergers going around 3000 FPS.

In my opinion, the almost any of the short mags is the cats meow if you do up close timber huntig like I tending to do or a lot of across the canyon poking out there shooting.

Seems to be the consensus that .300 mag cartridges get the job done. Is there that much difference in ballistics between the three, win mag, wsm and the saum? Read conflicting opinions about win mag vs wsm, but havent really looked into a ultra mag yet. Just not familiar with it i guess!

Thanks for the replies everyone. Guess it's time to start thinking about what route I want to go now. Build it piece by piece or buy a rifle and go from there. Piece by piece would result in exactly the rifle I wanted, but IDK if I have that kind of patience lol.

The only reason I say the short mags is not necessarily because of performance increase over the bigger .300s(they're about the same performance till you get past the 190s area IMO) but because of being able to build a rifle in a short action configuration that's light enough to pack around and still accurate to make them shots.

 

[Gary in MD]

I made my elk/mule deer rifle a 7mm STW. It was the hot lick at the time, and it has done the job.
But if I turned that rifle into cash right now, I wouldn't feel under gunned with my 30-06 hand loaded with good bullets.

Gary

 

[Chanse301]

The only reason I say the short mags is not necessarily because of performance increase over the bigger .300s(they're about the same performance till you get past the 190s area IMO) but because of being able to build a rifle in a short action configuration that's light enough to pack around and still accurate to make them shots.

Gotcha. I'll keep that in mind.

I made my elk/mule deer rifle a 7mm STW. It was the hot lick at the time, and it has done the job.
But if I turned that rifle into cash right now, I wouldn't feel under gunned with my 30-06 hand loaded with good bullets.

Gary

And there's another variant of the 7mm I had never heard of. I'll look into further, but from the first few articles, it sounds like a laser.

Just finally got around to doin' my taxes. Got a nice check on the way, so it looks like Christmas is going to come early! Questions still is what the hell do I want to do.

Buy the XLR element chassis for the .223 and pick up a mid-priced elk rifle, or simply forget about the stock and grab a nicer elk gun. Currently I have the Razor HD by vortex in a Larue QD mount, which sits high on the rifle. Really want to grab a stock/chassis with an adjustable cheek piece to remedy the issue. But, i'll just be swapping glass from the .223 to the larger rifle as needed (only way I could figure gettin' my moneys worth out of the scope right now. Can't afford another piece like it, so swapping it will be!)

 

[LKEYES]

I'm a huge 7mm Rem Mag fan shooting the 180 gr VLD's. It has better bc's then the big 3's, but like you said you are thinking more midrange though.
The 7mm STW is a flat shooting, hard hitting round, but it eats more powder though then the Rem Mag.
As for 300 Mag, WSM, or SAUM, my vote would be for the WSM as it would be cheaper to shoot and hit just as hard with great accuracy as its big brother, that's JMHO!!
I have ran the 180 Accubonds in both the mag and WSM version that I have loaded for.

 

[Chanse301]

I'm a huge 7mm Rem Mag fan shooting the 180 gr VLD's. It has better bc's then the big 3's, but like you said you are thinking more midrange though.
The 7mm STW is a flat shooting, hard hitting round, but it eats more powder though then the Rem Mag.
As for 300 Mag, WSM, or SAUM, my vote would be for the WSM as it would be cheaper to shoot and hit just as hard with great accuracy as its big brother, that's JMHO!!
I have ran the 180 Accubonds in both the mag and WSM version that I have loaded for.

Yeah. Gonna have to start shootin' my dads 7mm rem mag i'm assuming. He hasn't used it in a while and just knows its a 7mm. Couldn't find any sort of non mag 7mm cartridge besides some of the wild-cats and i'm sure hes not running one of those. Although some of them sure look efficient necked down. 7mm-300, 308 etc.

Just got off the phone with my father and we decided to forgo spending money on an XLR chassis. And if we do go with a 300, it would be a WSM. Smaller action would be nice, and it would shave off some weight i'd guess too. I really don't know what caliber I want to go with tho.

Decided to go ahead and get a suppressor ordered and on the way while we decide on the rifle. Still gotta decide what suppressor tho too :-\ Thankful for the problems I have today

 

[CJ6]

The 300 Win or 338 Win are pretty much the standards for Elk, nothing fancy they just work. Lots of off the shelf ammo (with appropriate bullets)for Elk.

 

[spencerhenry]

short action instead of a long action makes very little real world difference, both in weight and in length.

i like my 300wsm, but my belief is that it falls short of the 300wm with the heavier bullets.

338 wm is tough to beat for large game.

if you are going suppressed, 30 caliber is probably better. add 8" of can to the end of a long barrel and the rifle gets pretty long. for the 1 or 2 shots i will take at a big game animal, i do not bother to carry the extra length and weight of a can.

 

[Chanse301]

short action instead of a long action makes very little real world difference, both in weight and in length.

i like my 300wsm, but my belief is that it falls short of the 300wm with the heavier bullets.

338 wm is tough to beat for large game.

if you are going suppressed, 30 caliber is probably better. add 8" of can to the end of a long barrel and the rifle gets pretty long. for the 1 or 2 shots i will take at a big game animal, i do not bother to carry the extra length and weight of a can.

Thank you for the input about action length. Good to know now.

I wouldn't bother with it in that situation either. I simply want a suppressor for the .223 for varminting. It will just be a plus to throw it on everything else.

Right now really looking at the Remington 700 308 5-R 20" Stainless. 308 seems to go against everything everyones said as far as an "optimal" cartridge goes, but the reduced recoil would suit 99% of its function better than the .01% of the time the old man downs a critter. But time will tell. 1-3 more weeks till that damn tax return returns to me ha.

 

[spencerhenry]

308 is fine for elk as long as you use good bullets and keep the range reasonable. reasonable to me with a 308 would be under 300 yards.

 

[6xcshooter]

280 improved with a 168 gr bullet will do you just fine

 

[bigngreen]

Right now for mid range elk I'm grabbing my 308 with a 215 Berger, but if you load a donkey turd in it for a bullet then you'd be better of putting more powder under it than a 308, I like to let BC do the work! I like a 6.5 also for that range, 260 or a 6.5-284 with a 140 Berger will do quite nicely!!

 

[Chappy]

short action instead of a long action makes very little real world difference, both in weight and in length.

i like my 300wsm, but my belief is that it falls short of the 300wm with the heavier bullets.

338 wm is tough to beat for large game.

if you are going suppressed, 30 caliber is probably better. add 8" of can to the end of a long barrel and the rifle gets pretty long. for the 1 or 2 shots i will take at a big game animal, i do not bother to carry the extra length and weight of a can.

It does make a difference when you have to pack meat in and out all day long. A long time ago I built a .300 WSM off of a 700 Titanium action with a Lilja barrel at 18" long. With scope and loaded, the rifle weighed a hair under 6 pounds. And I could make shots out to 700-800 comfortably with this setup. It might just be me but I'll take a lighter rifle in a semi-magnum configuration over a heavier rifle when you're constantly going up a mountain, down a mountain, through dead fall, and crossing streams waist deep. YMMV.