New mountain rifle considerations

[texansport]

Seekins Element is a fairly light and accurate rifle. 21" barrel, threaded, and ~ 5.5 lbs bare rifle. I bought one for an upcoming Dall hunt and I've been enjoying it so far.

What cartridge did you go with? I was looking at these too, custom performance off the shelf.

Good luck on your sheep hunt!

 

[waspocrew]

What cartridge did you go with? I was looking at these too, custom performance off the shelf.

Good luck on your sheep hunt!

Thanks!

I went with the 6.5 PRC. Should work out well! The 2 port SRS brake makes spotting shots easy.

Target pics are 5 shots groups at 100 yards with Norma 143 gr golden target and Nosler 142 gr ABLR factory ammo.

 

[texansport]

I’m thinking about going another direction. Leading thought is a 7mm-08 t3x superlite, thread and drop into a lightweight folder (XLR comes to kind) topped with a Swaro Z6i 1.7-10.

I’ll keep the sako 30-06 stock as a light weight elk gun (I don’t generally apply for elk, mostly building points because I hunt solo most of the time).

Thoughts? I was strongly considering the 6mm creedmoor as well but I really think aoudad are better at soaking lead than elk, so energy is on my mind. I lost an aoudad that tumbled down a canyon onto a ledge I couldn’t recover so I really want to try to anchor them. The rest of my hunting (75%) is whitetail/muleys so 7mm-08 shouldn’t have a problem.

Only concern is ammo availability (I don’t reload) and it’s an older design cartridge.

Would love to hear opinions, maybe I should just go to 6.5cm?

Seekins Element in 6.5prc and Kimber MA 280ai are really tempting without having to go semi-custom but my main goal is weight and recoil reduction and I imagine they’ll kick.

 

[texansport]

Does energy not matter? Is it truly just terminal velocity and bullet selection I need to consider? Am I thinking about this wrong?

 

[mtnbound]

Does energy not matter? Is it truly just terminal velocity and bullet selection I need to consider? Am I thinking about this wrong?

I would focus on terminal velocity, and bullet selection.

 

[Jake Larsen]

Does energy not matter? Is it truly just terminal velocity and bullet selection I need to consider? Am I thinking about this wrong?

It’s be worth your time to take a spin through the Small caliber kill threads. 22, 6mm specifically. Even if you don’t go that route, it’s eye opening. In short, tissue damage is what kills. There’s definitely ways to achieve extremely lethal tissue damage with smaller cartridges/calibers as long as you understand bullet performance and select accordingly.

The upside is much easier and cheaper to shoot lightweight rifles. Spotting impacts and not developing flinch is a big deal


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[mtnbound]

I’m thinking about going another direction. Leading thought is a 7mm-08 t3x superlite, thread and drop into a lightweight folder (XLR comes to kind) topped with a Swaro Z6i 1.7-10.

I’ll keep the sako 30-06 stock as a light weight elk gun (I don’t generally apply for elk, mostly building points because I hunt solo most of the time).

Thoughts? I was strongly considering the 6mm creedmoor as well but I really think aoudad are better at soaking lead than elk, so energy is on my mind. I lost an aoudad that tumbled down a canyon onto a ledge I couldn’t recover so I really want to try to anchor them. The rest of my hunting (75%) is whitetail/muleys so 7mm-08 shouldn’t have a problem.

Only concern is ammo availability (I don’t reload) and it’s an older design cartridge.

Would love to hear opinions, maybe I should just go to 6.5cm?

Seekins Element in 6.5prc and Kimber MA 280ai are really tempting without having to go semi-custom but my main goal is weight and recoil reduction and I imagine they’ll kick.

6CM will do what you are talking about, as will the 6.5 PRC, but there is less recoil with the 6CM. Anchoring an animal is about CNS destruction, but even then, an animal can take a tumble off a cliff. It would be best to shoot an animal in a spot that is not next to a cliff.
I think an aoudad's chest cavity is about half the size of an elk, so I feel the 6CM will more than adequately kill.

 

[Jake Larsen]

I’m thinking about going another direction. Leading thought is a 7mm-08 t3x superlite, thread and drop into a lightweight folder (XLR comes to kind) topped with a Swaro Z6i 1.7-10.

I’ll keep the sako 30-06 stock as a light weight elk gun (I don’t generally apply for elk, mostly building points because I hunt solo most of the time).

Thoughts? I was strongly considering the 6mm creedmoor as well but I really think aoudad are better at soaking lead than elk, so energy is on my mind. I lost an aoudad that tumbled down a canyon onto a ledge I couldn’t recover so I really want to try to anchor them. The rest of my hunting (75%) is whitetail/muleys so 7mm-08 shouldn’t have a problem.

Only concern is ammo availability (I don’t reload) and it’s an older design cartridge.

Would love to hear opinions, maybe I should just go to 6.5cm?

Seekins Element in 6.5prc and Kimber MA 280ai are really tempting without having to go semi-custom but my main goal is weight and recoil reduction and I imagine they’ll kick.

I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot an elk with a 7mm-08. There’s an entire thread dedicated to kills with that cartridge.

I killed a nice bull very dead with a chopped 7SAW a couple weeks ago. Just a 7mm-08 with an ackly shoulder. 165 TGK @ 2675MV, 400 yard shot. Supressed, it’s very mild. My rifle is right at 8lbs ready to hunt. Easy to spot impacts, and I still have 1800fps at 600 yards.


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[texansport]

I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot an elk with a 7mm-08. There’s an entire thread dedicated to kills with that cartridge.

I killed a nice bull very dead with a chopped 7SAW a couple weeks ago. Just a 7mm-08 with an ackly shoulder. 165 TGK @ 2675MV, 400 yard shot. Supressed, it’s very mild. My rifle is right at 8lbs ready to hunt. Easy to spot impacts, and I still have 1800fps at 600 yards.


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Fair point, I’ve seen a lot of posts with 400yd + elk kills with the 7mm-08, but would you use a 6cm/6.5cm on elk personally?

Still not questioning that lots of folks get it done with both and smaller.

7mm-08 does deliver a little more energy with a larger diameter bullet with little recoil trade off (mild to start). I think 6cm/6.5cm/7mm-08 are all in the same recoil class, 6.5prc is a step up so I was looking at these (and 25-06) for a super light rifle.

I genuinely appreciate y’all’s reply’s.