Rifle for elk hunting

[Kevinal201212]

Hello, I am new here. I have been elk hunting in WY for two years now. I have been using a friends rifle. I now want to buy my own. What do you guys suggest for a rifle caliber? I will also be using it for both elk and deer. Thank you for you suggestions.

 

[gledeasy]

30-06 efficient, available, and cheap.

Lots of cartridges you couldn't go wrong with.

 

[Crowmangler]

I'd recommend either 7mm Rem Magnum or 300 Win Mag. Generally speaking they are probably two of the most common for elk & for good reason. Plenty of choices of companies who make them. Ballistics & energy are great for reasonable ranges and availability of ammo is a plus. Anything that works for elk will be good for deer of course.

 

[Kevinal201212]

30-06 efficient, available, and cheap.

Lots of cartridges you couldn't go wrong with.

I did some research and it seems like I couldn’t go wrong with a 30-06.

 

[Kevinal201212]

I'd recommend either 7mm Rem Magnum or 300 Win Mag. Generally speaking they are probably two of the most common for elk & for good reason. Plenty of choices of companies who make them. Ballistics & energy are great for reasonable ranges and availability of ammo is a plus. Anything that works for elk will be good for deer of course.

I had looked into a 300 win mad as well. Seems like a very good caliber. But also heard it has a pretty big kick. Probably will be a few months before I buy a rifle. So just interested in what you guys recommend

 

[Rob5589]

So many good calibers, you're going to get a bunch of recommendations. I like the .284's so I would recommend the 7mm/08. Plenty for both elk and deer at any reasonable distance. Nothing wrong with the 7 Rem mag; the .300 Win mag is just no fun to shoot recoil wise, IMO.

 

[tdot]

A couple questions. Are you new to shooting? What distances do you plan to shoot?

I'm personally a fan of 30 caliber and above. A 308 will be incredibly versatile and softer recoiling then a magnum. If I was to step above that then I would skip the 30-06 and go up to 300WSM or 300WM....

 

[kboatman107]

I did some research and it seems like I couldn’t go wrong with a 30-06.

My brother in law took a deer at 225 yards and a cow elk at 435. Both were dead within feet. Can’t go wrong with the ole 30-06.

 

[Wapiti1]

I would suggest you decide what rifle you like and select an appropriate cartridge to go with it. If you like a Tikka lite, I would suggest a non-magnum either short or long action in a 6.5 super popular, .270, .284 or .308. This advice would apply to all of the really light rifles that tend to get a little sporty with magnum chamberings. Think a rifle less then 7.5lbs scope and all. The 30-06 is at the top of what I would suggest here.

If you go standard weight where it will be about 8.5-9.5lbs, anything goes. 30-06 and .300 Win Mag are my suggestions here. You can shoot lower recoiling ammo, or the bigger stuff in either. Any of the other suggestions are fine as well, like the 7mm RM, or even a .338 if you want. The good ol' 30-06 is a pussycat in these rifles and is a solid choice.

With any of these, you can always shoot a lighter bullet to manage recoil without sacrificing lethality. Being a proficient shooter trumps a big bullet.

Jeremy

 

[Jeremyc_1999]

What caliber is your friends rifle that you are borrowing? Have you killed elk with it? Any reason not to stay with that caliber? Also, you are in Wyoming and should hunt antelope too.Id suggest a 6.5 PRC, 270, or 30-06. If you were just hunting elk and nothing else I’d suggest a 300 win mag, 30 nosler, 300 prc as good all around choices. If you wanted multiple guns I’m currently using a 338 Lapua for my longer range elk rifle and a 325 wsm as my packable elk rifle. Like someone already said, there are lots of good choices for elk. A 28 Nosler is also a great cartridge and would be a very good choice for an all around gun in Wyoming

 

[LightFoot]

Since you are a "new" hunter, I would go with a non-magnum round. If you are like most of the rest of us, this will be your first in a long list of rifles you will "need" on your hunting adventures.

Shoot something that you are comfortable shooting and that you can easily find different ammo for. Something that you will be able to easily learn to reload and find components for, if that's something you are interested in.

So, the answer to your questions is:

30-06 Sprg
270 Win
308 Win
7mm-08 Rem






>>>----JAKE----->

 

[Kevinal201212]

What caliber is your friends rifle that you are borrowing? Have you killed elk with it? Any reason not to stay with that caliber? Also, you are in Wyoming and should hunt antelope too.Id suggest a 6.5 PRC, 270, or 30-06. If you were just hunting elk and nothing else I’d suggest a 300 win mag, 30 nosler, 300 prc as good all around choices. If you wanted multiple guns I’m currently using a 338 Lapua for my longer range elk rifle and a 325 wsm as my packable elk rifle. Like someone already said, there are lots of good choices for elk. A 28 Nosler is also a great cartridge and would be a very good choice for an all around gun in Wyoming

It was a 30-06. But I haven’t shot an elk with it. I had also thought of going with a .270 but thought I should go a little bigger. In the future I would like to have multiple guns. Sounds like the good ole 30-06 might be the way to go


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[Kevinal201212]

Since you are a "new" hunter, I would go with a non-magnum round. If you are like most of the rest of us, this will be your first in a long list of rifles you will "need" on your hunting adventures.

Shoot something that you are comfortable shooting and that you can easily find different ammo for. Something that you will be able to easily learn to reload and find components for, if that's something you are interested in.

So, the answer to your questions is:

30-06 Sprg
270 Win
308 Win
7mm-08 Rem






>>>----JAKE----->

Haha key word “need”. every time I go into sportsman’s the realize I “need” something!! Yes I am starting to think the 30-06. Had first thought about the 270 but not sure if it has the wanted power for an elk hunt


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[fmyth]

Haha key word “need”. every time I go into sportsman’s the realize I “need” something!! Yes I am starting to think the 30-06. Had first thought about the 270 but not sure if it has the wanted power for an elk hunt


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My hunting partner has killed a couple dozen elk over the last 40 years with his .270. One of my friends from Alaska has killed 17 moose, dozens of caribou and a handful of bears including a coastal brown with his .30-.06. Both of those calibers are tried and true and will be effective on anything you can hunt in the lower 48.

 

[Jimss]

I am sold on 300 WSM. You get the flexibility of a large selection of 30 caliber bullets, it's fairly cheap/box of shells, and it hardly kicks compared to a 300 Win or Weatherby! Mine is in Sako Finnlight so is super light for hauling around the hills. It hardly kicks any harder than my 270! My 150 grain bullets hardly drop at 300 yards and runs around 3,000+ fps....pretty nice!

I use my 300 WSM on a fairly regular basis for deer, elk, antelope, bighorn, dall sheep, mt goat, bear, and moose!

 

[EmperorMA]

It is really, really hard to beat a 6.5 Creedmoor and a .30-06 for an all-around, big game hunting combo for the non-handloader. While each excels at a particular thing, they are far more alike than different and they back each other up quite well.

I’d start with one or the other.

 

[Kevinal201212]

It sounds like 30-06 might be the way to go. At first I was leaning toward 300 win mag. But maybe that will be in the future sometime


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[Terrapin]

Like most people on here I have a handful of rifle calibers, and some fancy custom rifles. But I’ve always had a synthetic stocked, stainless steel 30-06 with an old school 3-9 scope. I grab that rifle whenever the weather sucks, or I’m going somewhere with brush, or a bumpy ATV ride... I shoot cheap Remington Core-Lokt factory ammo. Anything in N America within 300 yards is probably gonna be in trouble.


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[alexanderg23]

I think your right. You can’t go wrong with a 30-06

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I’ll give another vote for the 30-06. I have other guns but I probably use my 06 more than anything else. It handles moose just fine.

I hunted elk with a 270 for 20+ years but if I were in your shoes I’d get an 06.