Help me with an Elk Gun

[mlob1one]

I almost convinced on the tikka rifle, Euro has a great price on them, just have to decide on a caliber???????

For a kid and a shot under a 400 yards, the 7mm-08 is a dream to shoot. 3 of my kids and my wife have taken big game with that cartridge. Our 3 7mm-08 rifles like the 140gr Nosler trophy grade. Longest shot we've taken an elk with that cartridge is 365 yards.

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[roosiebull]

So if you had a $2000 budget and you wanted the best Elk Rifle set up you could get for that money, what would it be? My son drew a Ky Bull Elk Rifle tag, also drew the most prestigious regulated unit to hunt and I want him to have the best chance possible! I know the gun is only as good as who is behind it, but he is a pretty good shooter and from what I can gather we should be shooting under 400 yards in this area. Thanks for any suggestions, God Bless!

If you guys don’t plan on using the rifle after this big hunt, just put the leupold you already have on the 308 you already have and shoot, it will almost certainly do what you need it to do for the amount of time you need it to do it, and spend the 2k on something you’ll use

You already have the stuff, and I’m sure you can avoid beating up the rifle/scope.

If you guys plan on using the rifle in the future, I would go with a swfa (I like the 3-9 the most) and a tikka with the vertical grip add on and the rest on ammo. I would probably get a 308, but I don’t think it’s that important, I just don’t like factory tikkas in bigger cartridges personally. I like the 270 too, but choices in factory ammo seem to be better in 308 these days. 7/08 is a good choice too, I have had tikkas in all 3 and all have been great

If you read this site much, you will see that leupolds aren’t very popular, and I have played the leupold game myself, but I’m sure it would be fine for this hunt, but pay attention to your zero and make sure it’s not wandering between shooting sessions

 

[CJ_BG]

I almost convinced on the tikka rifle, Euro has a great price on them, just have to decide on a caliber???????

If you're going with the tikka instead of using the axis, and you don't reload, then I would be looking at 308 because of ammo, followed by 7mm-08, then finally 270. because of your caliber restrictions

 

[JackButler]

I have a brand new leupold Vx-3hd 3.5-10x40 CDS-ZL
Would that be a decent choice or do I need something better?

I hunted all over the west for 20 years and Alaska 3 times with a vari-x3, 2.5-8x. A number of animals taken right around 500 yards. Your scope is more than fine for a Kentucky elk hunt.

 

[Diamondback]

If you already own a Savage Axis in 308 Win and a nice Leupold Vx-3hd 3.5-10x40 CDS-ZL scope, I would just put a Leupold scope base on the Savage Axis loctited in, Leupold Vertical or Warne 1 inch scope rings - medium.

Shoot some basic cheap SP 150gr 308 Win ammo to get it on paper at 100yds and then shoot some Hornady CX 150gr, Barnes Copper 150gr / Nosler Accubond / Nosler Partition 165 grain ammo to see how it groups. That is the cheapest route along with doing some later modifications to the Savage Axis stock and trigger. If it groups well, I wouldn't buy another rifle. I would modify that Savage Axis and put the money into more ammo it groups well with, the hunt costs you will face.
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To stiffen a Savage Axis stock on the cheap in 1 day.

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If the Savage Axis does not group well with above ammo, then get the Tikka T3 stainless in 308 Win so you aren't wasting your money in ammo you already bought and put that Leupold on the Tikka. Sell the Savage off and keep the Tikka T3 stainless.

I have both rifles and call tell you my Tikka shoots 1 MOA with factory ammo and 1/2 MOA with handloads. My Savage Savage Axis beater rifle shoots about 1-2 MOA with factory ammo and 1 MOA with handloads. The Tikka is hands down a better built rifle.

 

[HilltopHitman]

Seekins.

 

[Marble]

Well we hardly ever rifle hunt and what hunting he has done has been with a 30-30! We are bow hunters to the bone! So I’m wanting something with more range than that. We have until end of September to practice and plan to do a bunch of shooting between now and then. Lots of guys say go with a 300 win mag, I’ve never shot one but I would expect the recoil to be pretty stiff and it’s it really necessary to have a caliber that big?

I really like the .300 Win Mag—I've taken a ton of elk with it. You're going to get a lot of opinions here, and that’s a good thing—there are a lot of great options that will work.

Pretty much any modern rifle chambered in a solid deer/elk cartridge will get the job done. If it were me, I’d narrow it down to a few calibers or rifles that catch your eye, then go handle them in person to see how they feel and operate.

Calibers I’d consider:

.280 Rem

.280 Ackley Improved

6.5 PRC

7mm Rem Mag

.300 Win Mag

7mm PRC

.260 Rem

7mm-08


There are a lot of other great cartridges I’d consider too—especially if I were reloading. But factory ammo for many of the ones listed above should be easy enough to find, so that’s worth keeping in mind.

Would you like a version tailored for a hunting forum, blog post, or something else?



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[Marble]

If you get some rounds down it in hunting situations and find it functions without hiccup, that could very well serve it's purpose fine. Spend more $ on a nice scope if you want.

I'd think more important than specific equipment choice is validating function of it all. Making sure all fasteners are degreased and torqued to spec. Scope is mounted ideally for the person shooting it with high quality mounts.

I agree! I'm not a huge fan of the savage triggers, but a drop-in replacement can be bought for $100.

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[260284]

Tikka T3X stainless. Cartridge something like 308, 7-08, 270, anything but a 30-06 (I've had 3 Tikka 30-06s, all 3 were accuracy problems - every other Tikka I've ever had was a 1.25 or less MOA gun for a 30 round group). I'd also recommend against a magnum Tikka (or really, anything, LOL). Not needed to kill an elk, and recoil is no friend of accuracy.

I use older Bushnell made in Japan scopes, but those are discontinued. Not a Vortex or Leupold fan.

Get the Bushnell LRHS2 with this and you are good to go.

 

[Rock63]

The non magnum cartridges are more than enough as is a Leupold that holds zero. Add a bullet with good penetration credibility and then add lots of practice. Too many overthink it based on hunting shows and hunting magazines

 

[PNWOutdoors]

I love my Tikka T3 7 Rem Mag. Great caliber for nearly all big game and recoil is very manageable

 

[PNWOutdoors]

Love my Tikka T3 in the 7 Rem Mag. I picked it up used on consignment at a local gun shop.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Tikka T3X stainless. Cartridge something like 308, 7-08, 270, anything but a 30-06 (I've had 3 Tikka 30-06s, all 3 were accuracy problems - every other Tikka I've ever had was a 1.25 or less MOA gun for a 30 round group). I'd also recommend against a magnum Tikka (or really, anything, LOL). Not needed to kill an elk, and recoil is no friend of accuracy.

I use older Bushnell made in Japan scopes, but those are discontinued. Not a Vortex or Leupold fan.

That’s too bad . My tikka 30-06 is easily one of my favorite rifles, excellent accuracy with my handloads.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

A few years back, my dad had a really good elk tag, he wanted to get a new gun since it was/is unlikely that he will get a tag like that again.

He got a Winchester m70 extreme weather 30-06, he killed a great bull with it and gave the gun to me, it’s now shot a few moose in addition to the elk.

 

[NorthIdahoDude]

That’s too bad . My tikka 30-06 is easily one of my favorite rifles, excellent accuracy with my handloads.

Tell me about it! 30-06 is one of my favorite cartridges ever! That's why I had 3 of them, I kept trying to get one that didn't suck.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Tell me about it! 30-06 is one of my favorite cartridges ever! That's why I had 3 of them, I kept trying to get one that didn't suck.

Yeah I’m surprised to hear that. I just load a basic 62g of h4831 with a 180g accubond or partition set to max COAL and it shoots nice groups, I’ve taken maybe ~ 5 animals with it at this point.

 

[NorthIdahoDude]

Yeah I’m surprised to hear that. I just load a basic 62g of h4831 with a 180g accubond or partition set to max COAL and it shoots nice groups, I’ve taken maybe ~ 5 animals with it at this point.

TBH, I don't think I ever tried H4831 in one of the Tikkas (though I have in other 06's over the years - was great for 200+ grain bullets).

But I did try H4350, Varget, Hunter, IMR 4350, IMR 3031, IMR 4064, R16, R17, R15, probably at least one or 2 more I am forgetting, mostly with 150 or 165 Accubonds, and later some 180 BTs (test to see if it was worth buying 180ABs - it wasnt), and 2 of the 3 guns were a 2 and a bit MOA cone with everything.

One of them would run 30 rounds of 150 ABs at about 1.5 MOA if I used R16 (and nothing else) in fed brass (about -2 grains capacity from all other 06 brass), so I held on to it for a while, but while 1.5 MOA is mostly good enough, it just isn't super inspiring - especially not when I've had Tikkas that would legit drill 30 rounds into one ragged hole under 1 MOA.

So I eventually had that last one rebarreld as a 7x57 (now my new main hunting gun) - and it runs 175 ELD-Xs over either H4831SC or IMR 4831 comfortably under an inch (the IMR is the more accurate, but the H is accurate enough, and the H makes quite a bit more velocity, and is temp stable, so that's what I settled on.

 

[RevJim]

I mentioned how accurate my SILs Tikka in 7 Rem Mag is, but forgot to mention just how easy the recoil was! It is very easily controlled, even in 7 Mag! I don't think you will be disappointed at all if you picked one from .308 up! Now, a 300WM may be too much if you are an anaccustomed shooter. Just saying. lol Have a ball pard!