What cartridge for Alaska and western big game?

[R_W]

Your 6.5 will work fine. If you want to go to a bigger caliber, then I would recommend a 30-06.

 

[Macchina]

I've been hunting Northern whitetails and Out West (Mule Deer and Antilope) for 25 years.
I've used 30-06, 7mm-08, 6.5 Creedmoor, 350 Legend, 357 Mag (lever gun), 44 Mag (Levergun and handgun), 12ga and 20ga slugs, .348 WIn, and 6.5x55.

One thing that always surprises me is how fast the 30-06 puts deer down compared to other rounds (always shooting 180gr Accubonds). Almost every deer shot behind the shoulder with a 30-06 drops right there or within 75 yards. I shot a big buck last year twice in the lungs with a 6.5 Creedmoor and had to track it for about 800 yards and it was still alive when I found it. The first shots was just above the heart but didn't hit any arteries the second shot was back on the lungs more. I've never had a lung shot deer with 30-06 run far.

Though I agree a perfect shot with a 6.5 Creedmoor will definitely do it, I'm still in the old-school camp of big .30 caliber bullets put big animals down faster.

My buddy had a Mule Deer Tag and a antlerless Elk tag last year. He shot a huge Muley at 600 yards with his 6.5 Creed and 147 ELDM's and it ran down the hill and died in less than a minute. He then went on to the Elk and at 300 yards had to empty his mag, reload, and continue shooting while it ran away with the herd. He ended up having to shoot it something like 8 times over the course of 3 chases. It ran for almost a mile.

 

[Dave_S]

I've been hunting Northern whitetails and Out West (Mule Deer and Antilope) for 25 years.
I've used 30-06, 7mm-08, 6.5 Creedmoor, 350 Legend, 357 Mag (lever gun), 44 Mag (Levergun and handgun), 12ga and 20ga slugs, .348 WIn, and 6.5x55.

One thing that always surprises me is how fast the 30-06 puts deer down compared to other rounds (always shooting 180gr Accubonds). Almost every deer shot behind the shoulder with a 30-06 drops right there or within 75 yards. I shot a big buck last year twice in the lungs with a 6.5 Creedmoor and had to track it for about 800 yards and it was still alive when I found it. The first shots was just above the heart but didn't hit any arteries the second shot was back on the lungs more. I've never had a lung shot deer with 30-06 run far.

Though I agree a perfect shot with a 6.5 Creedmoor will definitely do it, I'm still in the old-school camp of big .30 caliber bullets put big animals down faster.

My buddy had a Mule Deer Tag and a antlerless Elk tag last year. He shot a huge Muley at 600 yards with his 6.5 Creed and 147 ELDM's and it ran down the hill and died in less than a minute. He then went on to the Elk and at 300 yards had to empty his mag, reload, and continue shooting while it ran away with the herd. He ended up having to shoot it something like 8 times over the course of 3 chases. It ran for almost a mile.

Out of curiosity, what bullet did you use on that buck?

Also, do you know where those 8 bullets hit that elk?

 

[Macchina]

Out of curiosity, what bullet did you use on that buck?

Also, do you know where those 8 bullets hit that elk?

Sierra 130gr Game Changer (tipped Gamekings).

 

[Castle Rock]

Sierra 130gr Game Changer (tipped Gamekings).

There’s the reason, those are noted to be a hard bullet with sub optimal expansion

 

[Thegman]

I've been hunting Northern whitetails and Out West (Mule Deer and Antilope) for 25 years.
I've used 30-06, 7mm-08, 6.5 Creedmoor, 350 Legend, 357 Mag (lever gun), 44 Mag (Levergun and handgun), 12ga and 20ga slugs, .348 WIn, and 6.5x55.

One thing that always surprises me is how fast the 30-06 puts deer down compared to other rounds (always shooting 180gr Accubonds). Almost every deer shot behind the shoulder with a 30-06 drops right there or within 75 yards. I shot a big buck last year twice in the lungs with a 6.5 Creedmoor and had to track it for about 800 yards and it was still alive when I found it. The first shots was just above the heart but didn't hit any arteries the second shot was back on the lungs more. I've never had a lung shot deer with 30-06 run far.

Though I agree a perfect shot with a 6.5 Creedmoor will definitely do it, I'm still in the old-school camp of big .30 caliber bullets put big animals down faster.

My buddy had a Mule Deer Tag and a antlerless Elk tag last year. He shot a huge Muley at 600 yards with his 6.5 Creed and 147 ELDM's and it ran down the hill and died in less than a minute. He then went on to the Elk and at 300 yards had to empty his mag, reload, and continue shooting while it ran away with the herd. He ended up having to shoot it something like 8 times over the course of 3 chases. It ran for almost a mile.

Thanks for posting your observations. It's always interesting to hear various perspectives. I think otherwise we can get into "group think". I've shot most animals with 30-06 and 308, but also 300WM, 300BO, 300HAM'R, 350 Legend and 223. I've not seen the same, I don't think. What I've seen as far as time to death, I think, is more related to the specific bullet used, but a 30 caliber bullet that sheds a good bit of weight does a really good job in general.

 

[Deere_Man]

If I were headed back to Alaska, I would take my .3o/o6 probably with some factory ammunition like 165gr Federal Fusion.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Always funny to me how many people mention shooting behind the shoulder only to complain about having to track because of the caliber. If you want DRT why are aiming there?

Also, do you know where those 8 bullets hit that elk?

You know that answer. Front shoulders, Rear shoulders, Ear, tail, maybe a hoof

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Thanks for posting your observations. It's always interesting to hear various perspectives. I think otherwise we can get into "group think". I've shot most animals with 30-06 and 308, but also 300WM, 300BO, 300HAM'R, 350 Legend and 223. I've not seen the same, I don't think. What I've seen as far as time to death, I think, is more related to the specific bullet used, but a 30 caliber bullet that sheds a good bit of weight does a really good job in general.

Last season I shot 2 caribou, a 70" bull moose and a trophy Aoudad with my 30-06, I used 180g accubond handholds and all 4 animals died quickly with one bullet. The moose went down and thrashed for a few seconds, the aoudad sort of jumped up, sprinted like 5 yards then dropped. The caribou dropped at the shot. I'm a big 30-06 fan but I fully acknowledge it has limitations. I also shoot a good bit of 308, 375HH and 6.5 Creedmoor.

 

[mtnbound]

I am looking for a cartridge to hunt big game out west and in Alaska. The largest game I hunt now are whitetail deer. I use a suppressed Tikka T3x in 6.5CM at ranges of 70-300 yards.

I am moving out west and want to go after elk, black bear, pronghorn, mountain goat, and other things. Later I plan to go to Alaska to hunt caribou and moose. I still don't expect to take shots at more than 500 yards. The 6.5CM should be enough for pronghorn but I think I need a more powerful cartridge for the rest.

I don't hand load. I don't put together custom rifles. And I am very adverse to recoil. So I am not even considering the 7PRC, or 300 Win Mag, or anything that kicks similarly hard. I cannot shoot those effectively. I am currently looking at the 6.8 Western, 7mm-08, or the 308. Which of those would be best for an off the shelf mountain rifle and ammunition? Whatever I go with will have my 8" suppressor on it. Are there other cartridges I should consider?

6.5 PRC with either Hornady X or M factory loads.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AB3006]

I'm a big 30-06 fan but I fully acknowledge it has limitations.

This is true of any cartridge. Love the 'ol thuddy-oh-six (The nick, eh?), but yeah, as versatile as it is, it's not for everyone, and not for every situation.

 

[Macchina]

Thanks for posting your observations. It's always interesting to hear various perspectives. I think otherwise we can get into "group think". I've shot most animals with 30-06 and 308, but also 300WM, 300BO, 300HAM'R, 350 Legend and 223. I've not seen the same, I don't think. What I've seen as far as time to death, I think, is more related to the specific bullet used, but a 30 caliber bullet that sheds a good bit of weight does a really good job in general.

The 30-06 is old and dated... but it's not. It's significantly more powerful than the 308 (though I love the 308) and not far from the 300 Win Mag. On perfect shots, anything will work including 5.56/223. It's those weird shots that you don't get to pick that you're glad you brought something more powerful.

I remember a nice buck (aged at 12 years old, it was a cowhorn spike) on an island hunt about 10 years ago. It came running into a grunt call to about 6 yards from me, head down and snorting. I only had a front shot on it and took it with a Marlin 1894 44 Mag loaded with tough 240 grain XTP handloads right in the brisket. I shot through the heart, lungs, liver, stomach, with the bullet stopping right by the tail. About 4 feet of penetration. The deer ran flat out for a full 20 yards and piled up. The "blood trail" was about 3 feet wide and completely saturated the ground like it was laying blood pavement.

A super fast bullet might have fragmented before reaching the heart on that shot.

I've also had bad experiences in my hunting time. I had a phase where I really wanted to hunt with a 5.56 AR. I shot a 6-point buck 3 times (62gr Federal Soft Points) at about 50 yards (it would run a bit then stop) all aiming at the heart one after another in a 5 second period. The buck ran off and there wasn't a speck of blood or hair where I shot. Never found a sign of that deer. I spent hours looking for that deer, even did a grid search for about 10 acres from where I shot and went back the next year to look for a skeleton. Nothing.

I took my daughter out last year for a meat doe. I shot one at 25 yards with a 350 Legend (Herters 180gr soft points). Had 5 minutes to pick a shot, shot high heart from a tree stand. The doe ran off and we got down 15 minutes later to follow the blood trail. I ironically found a perfectly mushroomed bullet laying right where I shot filled with blood and dark hair. Not a drop of blood elsewhere. Spent hours looking for a trail in the direction I saw the doe run. Nothing. Never found a drop of blood or a deer.

All this to say, I've never lost a deer with bigger rounds, but I've lost them with smaller ones on 3 or 4 occasions. Not once have I lost a deer with 30-06, 12ga slugs, 44 Mag (rifle), 348 Win, or 7mm-08.

 

[Steve300xcw]

It's those weird shots that you don't get to pick that you're glad you brought something more powerful.

I have seen a pile of posts like this on here and elsewhere. Yall do know that its ok to pass on a shot, right?

 

[Formidilosus]

The 30-06 is old and dated... but it's not. It's significantly more powerful than the 308 (though I love the 308) and not far from the 300 Win Mag. On perfect shots, anything will work including 5.56/223. It's those weird shots that you don't get to pick that you're glad you brought something more powerful.

I remember a nice buck (aged at 12 years old, it was a cowhorn spike) on an island hunt about 10 years ago. It came running into a grunt call to about 6 yards from me, head down and snorting. I only had a front shot on it and took it with a Marlin 1894 44 Mag loaded with tough 240 grain XTP handloads right in the brisket. I shot through the heart, lungs, liver, stomach, with the bullet stopping right by the tail. About 4 feet of penetration. The deer ran flat out for a full 20 yards and piled up. The "blood trail" was about 3 feet wide and completely saturated the ground like it was laying blood pavement.

A super fast bullet might have fragmented before reaching the heart on that shot.

I've also had bad experiences in my hunting time. I had a phase where I really wanted to hunt with a 5.56 AR. I shot a 6-point buck 3 times (62gr Federal Soft Points) at about 50 yards (it would run a bit then stop) all aiming at the heart one after another in a 5 second period. The buck ran off and there wasn't a speck of blood or hair where I shot. Never found a sign of that deer. I spent hours looking for that deer, even did a grid search for about 10 acres from where I shot and went back the next year to look for a skeleton. Nothing.

I took my daughter out last year for a meat doe. I shot one at 25 yards with a 350 Legend (Herters 180gr soft points). Had 5 minutes to pick a shot, shot high heart from a tree stand. The doe ran off and we got down 15 minutes later to follow the blood trail. I ironically found a perfectly mushroomed bullet laying right where I shot filled with blood and dark hair. Not a drop of blood elsewhere. Spent hours looking for a trail in the direction I saw the doe run. Nothing. Never found a drop of blood or a deer.

It keeps getting better.

 

[Benaiah]

6.5CM will get the job done with minimal recoil and a huge variety of ammo to choose from.
6.8 Western is very similar to the 7PRC but with few rifle and ammo options.
7mm-08 is another winner
308 a good bit more recoil than the 6.5CM

 

[mitchellmountain]

To the op, the 6.8 western is a heck of a round but ammo is an issue. I would solve that by handloading. If you're going to pick one and hunt everything with it I think Loading your own ammo makes alot of sense. My main western rifle is a 284 Winchester, good luck finding that one the shelf anywhere, ever.

 

[HandgunHTR]

The 30-06 is old and dated... but it's not. It's significantly more powerful than the 308 (though I love the 308) and not far from the 300 Win Mag. On perfect shots, anything will work including 5.56/223. It's those weird shots that you don't get to pick that you're glad you brought something more powerful.

Almost every centerfire cartridge available today has enough "power" to effectively kill deer within it's given limits.

A super fast bullet might have fragmented before reaching the heart on that shot.

It may have fragmented, but pieces still would have reached the heart and lungs and killed that deer. Most likely, it would have dropped right there instead of running the 20 yards it did run.

I've also had bad experiences in my hunting time. I had a phase where I really wanted to hunt with a 5.56 AR. I shot a 6-point buck 3 times (62gr Federal Soft Points) at about 50 yards (it would run a bit then stop) all aiming at the heart one after another in a 5 second period. The buck ran off and there wasn't a speck of blood or hair where I shot. Never found a sign of that deer. I spent hours looking for that deer, even did a grid search for about 10 acres from where I shot and went back the next year to look for a skeleton. Nothing.

So, you are just assuming you hit something vital. Without a dead animal to actually look at, you are just speculating as to where it was hit. Contrary to popular belief, if you hit something vital deer will die. If you hit the heart area and put a hole in it, or one of the major blood vessels around it, they will die quickly. They can still travel quite a distance in that short time, but they will be dead.

I took my daughter out last year for a meat doe. I shot one at 25 yards with a 350 Legend (Herters 180gr soft points). Had 5 minutes to pick a shot, shot high heart from a tree stand. The doe ran off and we got down 15 minutes later to follow the blood trail. I ironically found a perfectly mushroomed bullet laying right where I shot filled with blood and dark hair. Not a drop of blood elsewhere. Spent hours looking for a trail in the direction I saw the doe run. Nothing. Never found a drop of blood or a deer.

If you are shooting "high heart" from a tree stand, chances are you hit too low and just put one through the brisket. To hit "high heart" at 25 yards from a treestand (assuming 14-16 feet off the ground), you should be aiming middle to high shoulder, as the angle of the bullet is almost 45-degrees at that point. Again, don't use bad shot placement as an excuse to use a bigger cartridge. Most of the time it will just lead to more bad shot placement or having to use inferior bullets because the best bullets cause too much damage to smaller animals.

 

[atmat]

I shot a 6-point buck 3 times (62gr Federal Soft Points) at about 50 yards (it would run a bit then stop) all aiming at the heart one after another in a 5 second period

Shot #1… deer runs and stops… shot #2… deer runs and stops… shot #3.

All in five seconds? Sounds like a tall tale.

I’ve killed a lot of deer. I’ve never had one shot at 50 yards that hangs around. Especially for two more shots.

 

[Jakemartin]

All 3 of those cartridges you’re looking at are great. Though the 6.5CM, 7mm-08 and 308 all fall into a similar category so you won’t see too much of a difference in them but both options I personally think are better than the 6.5 for elk and bigger game. 7mm-08 will give you the best ballistics out to 500 but 308 will have a little more energy and you can use a heavier bullet, of the 7mm-08 and 308 I’d pick the 308 for the heavier bullets.

The 6.8 western would be a great choice but finding ammo for it I’ve seen to be difficult and only a few companies make rifles chambered in 6.8, other than the difficulty in finding ammo and rifles the 6.8 would be the best option of all and would give you a great 2nd rifle to pair with the one you have already. With those two you’d have pretty much any animal you wanted to hunt covered.

 

[KHntr]

Shot #1… deer runs and stops… shot #2… deer runs and stops… shot #3.

All in five seconds? Sounds like a tall tale.

I’ve killed a lot of deer. I’ve never had one shot at 50 yards that hangs around. Especially for two more shots.

Deer runs and stops, runs and stops, no blood, no hair…. That sounds a lot like misses.