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What caliber?

brymoore said:
I would never recommend someone get a 300wm as their first rifle caliber. Elk aren’t hard to kill as long as you have the skill set to punch lungs. My new to hunting rifles caliber recommendation is 7/08 but a 308 is a good choice.
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Couldn't agree more.

Its about shot placement,
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This.

Bullets kill by creating a wound channel through vital organs, period. Learning to shoot well. If you know the shot was off when you sent it, you can better anticipate needing another one and prepare accordingly.
 
Get a 30-06. It has a wide range of of regular and custom bullet loads and weights which can be found almost anywhere where others may be hard to find in small towns out west. I have shot many elk with my 30-06 I purchased new in 1964 and have never felt the need for more gun.

Bill
 
My first gun was a 300WM. Killed my first elk with a borrowed 300 Weatherby. Never looked back unless smaller game. But I must be doing something wrong because I think they are alot harder to kill than most of you think. I have chased more than one elk with bubbly blood.................both single and double lungs. They die when they decide too..........
 
Elk are tough, and can take a lot of killing before they agree with you about being dead. I believe that a more powerful round is usually better and you can't kill them too dead.
Soooo... I recommend you get a .308 or .30/06.
Why? Because you can afford to shoot one enough between now and then to get really good with it. If this is your first high power rifle you'll do yourself and the elk best if you can hit them in the right place every single time. A .300 will cost quite a bit to get good with between now and then, and you'll be less likely to shoot it enough because of cost and recoil.
Best two things you can do right now is to buy a decent rifle (doesn't have to mean expensive) and shoot it a ton, and get in good shape for climbing hills.
Oh, and pick a good bullet for elk and verify it hits where you want it to before you go elk hunting.
 
If all I had was a 243 and the world record elk showed up i'd either get the shot I wanted and kill it dead or watch it walk away. If I was looking for an elk rifle it would not be a 243! For myself an elk cartridge starts at 6.5 with 140gr bullet's and goes up in caliber and bullet weight. I've never hunted with a 270 but one with a 150gr bullet seem's to me to be a good choice. Several different 7mm's with 160gr bullet's would satify me, no to magnum's though. A 308 happens to be a favorite of mine and wouldn't give using one a second though. Got one now but only shooting cast bullet's in it. My present elk rifle is a 30-08 with 180gr Hornady Inter Locks. I do only put in for cow tags but would use the same load on the biggest bull. What's gonna happen? Will the bullet bounce off? I don't think so.

The most important part of a load for pretty much anything is you. Know what shot to take and what shot to pass on. Know your using a bullet that will hold up and get inside and destroy things. There sure are a lot of different cartridge's that will do exactly as you want and you dont even need to consider a magnum!
 
Well. How do you hunt? Are you a good shot? On paper, the .300 hands down. Heck a .338 is better. I have a .338 that has a 26" (I think) barrel.... With the glass I have on it that thing weighs over 10 pounds and I think closer to 11. I do all hiking and backpacking when I elk hunt so the 10 pound rifle isn't for me. So....therefore I carry my kimber Adirondack .308. it weighs closer to 5.5 pounds with the dinky little vortex scope I have on it. It is a joy to carry. Short little barrel. 18". Makes it wayyyyyy easier to duck under limbs especially when the rifle is strapped to the pack. I have a muzzle break so there is zero recoil. For me the .308 fits my application 100x better. I am not sure the .300 would make them any more dead either.....dead is dead..... :D
 
Lets all shoot .22's. Growing up I didn't know there was a bigger gun. My dad killed every deer ( albeit close range) out of our basement door by shooting them in the head. Our pigs and cattle went the same way.

Heck FBI and the police should start using them.................. Then we don't have to worry about caliber choices anymore
 
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