Help me with an Elk Gun

Congrats on picking a fine rifle in a "great" cartridge! I have shot more Big Game with the 300 Win Mag than any other round! ( and I've shot a ton of critters! ha) From Pronghorn to zebra! I shot four deer in Texas Hill Country with the 150gr Sierra Pro Hunter that acted like they were Partitions! I took an antelope doe and a nice MD buck with the older 180 Ballistic tip. They were too soft ( the new ones are toughened up) I then went to 180 Barnes XBT ( an older X bullet) they killed like crazy! No bad bloodshot meat either! They tell me the 180 Accubond works swell too. I'm just partial to Barnes. I took a cow elk back in '22 with the 175 LRX, pure poison. Shoot your rifle first, you may find it is very tolerable in recoil! I have a gimped up shoulder and even I can shoot a Bergara B14 and Mod 700 300WMs without a brake! I think you will be happy. Don't apologize to anyone about your 300! It is an awesome round!
 
I would add that I bet your 308 in that light Savage is a pretty stout kicker! I had a Ruger 77 UL Lite in 308 that thought it was a 12ga Magnum! You may be just fine handling your 300. If you shoot alot of 12ga at birds, whatever, you can handle a 375 H&H just as easy! lol
 
Next step will be figuring out what bullets to shoot!!!!! Don’t even know where to start lol! Whatever it is it will have to be whatever I can buy at the local shops because I don’t reload!
 
Sight it in with good old Federal Blue Box 180! Save your brass for later on. Then clean barrel very well and try Barnes Vortex 180 TTSX or 175 LRX. Others will chime in with their favorites too, but these will work! :)
 
Forgive my bias, I would be remiss if I did not add the Federal Premium line, the Federal Bonded tipped, capped mono or with the Nosler 180 Partition and Nosler factory loads with 180 Partitions. Now, wads of elk are killed out here with Winchester Power Points and Federal Fusions too. Being a Handloder, I like the Winchester brass or the Nosler. I was just suggesting a more cost friendly approach with "amost always accurate" prior post.
 
Seekbigger said:
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!
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Not sure about specific models currently but as a Colorado elk hunter I’d recommend the 300. WSM I know some consider the 300 win mag and WSM overkill but at that range a higher velocity at least provides some peace of mind for me personally. Good luck!
 
I LOVE my Remington 300 win mag. Took it to Africa and killed 17 animals. Zero issue with recovery, most dropped where they stood. With a brake it’s awesome to everyone except folks standing close by lol.

Nosler accubonds in 180 grain is awesome and they shoot lights out


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I made my longest shots on a couple Springbuk and the big Kalahari Gemsbuk (375-400, very long way for me!) with the 300WM/Barnes 180 going 3050 handload. Namibia. I shot 4 each, one was around 100yds, all the rest around 300. Between there and South Africa , on 4 hunts, I shot over a Bakers dozen of other Plains Game with same round. I killed others with the 35 WAI, 338wm, 340wby, 375., but the 300 ended up being used alot! In the 300, I think the 175 LRX is a better choice, now we have it.
 
Congrats on the new rifle and going for a bigger cartridge initially until you get plenty of elk hunting experience for using smaller cartridges is not a bad idea to me.

We all know brakes are loud AF, and will help with the recoil if you need that. If you have, or can get a suppressor, that is a good way to go and now my preferred way to shoot.

Keep shooting until that elk 's head goes down and stays down...it may take two or three.
 
300WM for the win....

I bought a Bergara Terrain a few years ago...installed a new trigger, new stock, chopped the barrel to 22", Hawkins BDL to replace the magazine, Javelin armorer bipod socket and an Area 419 Hellfire brake. Found the round it likes (212gr Hornady ELD-X with 65.9gr of IMR4831) and she shoots lights out running at an average of 2668fps.

Congrats on the new rifle.
 
Seekbigger said:
Just wanted to thank everyone for all the input and help on this topic! The decision was made, with the great price that Jake gave me from EuroOptic I made the purchase and went with the Tikka 300 win mag! May be overkill to some, but I won’t have to worry about him being under gunned, lol! God Bless to all!
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Congrats on the new rifle! Do everyone who shoots that rifle a favor and spend the $30 or whatever it takes to put the limbsaver recoil pad on it. Limbsaver makes one that is sized to the T3x plastic stock. Best upgrade you can do for the factory Tikka stock with anything that has over 20 ft-lbs of recoil. Just do it; you can thank me later.

I also suggest adding a cheek riser or cheek pad of some sort; it doesn't need to be expensive but will help with scope-eye alignment as the factory stock has a fairly low comb.I also like Tikka's vertical grip module and replacing the bolt knob, but those are less important IMO.

Seekbigger said:
Next step will be figuring out what bullets to shoot!!!!! Don’t even know where to start lol! Whatever it is it will have to be whatever I can buy at the local shops because I don’t reload!
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Whatever 180-200 grain bullet you can find that your rifle likes best. There's a lot of opinions and debate around bullet construction etc., but nothing from a 300 win mag is going to bounce off and I'd bet anything in that weight range will give you sufficient penetration and expansion/upset. I'm personally still a sucker for Nosler Accubonds.
 
Seekbigger said:
Just wanted to thank everyone for all the input and help on this topic! The decision was made, with the great price that Jake gave me from EuroOptic I made the purchase and went with the Tikka 300 win mag! May be overkill to some, but I won’t have to worry about him being under gunned, lol! God Bless to all!
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I the short time I’ve been on this forum (lurking for longer) I’m convinced it’s a tikka funded psy op
 
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