Hunting Elk and Deer Calibers

[KevDen2005]

At the end of the day, 30 cal bullets, sling em as you like.

Seems to be what I'm reading.

[00tec]

I'd let you borrow my Rem 700 308 for the task, but I doubt you would want to lug it around.

I've shot deer with .257 Roberts and .357 mag, but it's been a while.

[chuckchili]

I use 300 win mag.
Works wonders

^ This is my opinion as well. Good for everything

[KevDen2005]

I'd let you borrow my Rem 700 308 for the task, but I doubt you would want to lug it around.

I've shot deer with .257 Roberts and .357 mag, but it's been a while.

The Rem 700 is what I'm using now and I hate lugging it around.

[sampson]

Fudd caliber 30-06. Mostly because of tradition.
They wake up dead.

300 blackout sounds interesting though.

[bobbyfairbanks]

30.06 is a shitty grouping caliber, and the ‘power’ is unnecessary for any North American game that is within my comfort distances.



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What are you smoking 30/06 can group very well. Anything can group well if you can shoot and the gun is assembled properly blah blah. You must be smoking something good to make that comment

[Hoser]

Bullet construction and placement trump bullet diameter every day.

I killed my last Elk with a 6.5mm 130gn bonded core bullet. The bullet broke both shoulders after going about 330 yards.

[zimagold]

I agree with Hoser and only use premium bonded or monolithic bullets for hunting these days.

Having moved here in 2014, I have minimal elk experience, but have taken dozens of deer with 223Rem to 30-06 in the last 20 years. I look for good penetration (2 holes) even on off angle shots and minimal fragmentation to avoid damaging meat. I use a 270Win with Barnes LRX if hunting both deer/elk and hiking a lot. 270Win is about my recoil limit for accurate improvised shooting in a traditional lightweight rifle (<8 lbs w/ accessories). For open areas I have a 7 Rem Mag. I've been told my 7 Rem Mag is a terrible choice for Elk by a lot of hunters. Normally they have some story that boils down to use of a light weight BT/Vmax/SP that failed to penetrate at close range or just terrible shot placement. The 7RM is suppressed and is significantly easier to shoot long, but is heavier at about 9.5lbs and is long in the brush/deadfall.

The 2 Bull Elk shot by my hunting group this year were taken with a 300 Win Mag and 338 Win Mag. The one was shot 4 times and the other 3 times. The number of shots was not due to poor caliber/bullet performance but just plain terrible shooting by 2 out of state friends that were visiting this year. Both animals had a single hit in the vitals. I suspect both hunters will return back east and probably tell everyone that you need atleast a 300WM for elk as the animals just wouldn't go down.

I have offered a site in day for my office the last 3 years and set steel at various distances in the Pawnee. It generally opens peoples eyes when you take away the lead sled and bench. I've seen several high power scopes and magnums be replaced.

Edit: 7RM is loaded with 160gr Accubonds at 2950fps

[rustycrusty]

Here’s the full ‘why’ behind my distaste for 30.06.

Off the bat I will say that if you own a rifle chambered in 30.06, you will do just fine.

I will follow that by saying that if you don’t own a rifle yet- DON’T buy one in 30.06

30.06 has a MPBR of somewhere between 250 and 300yd depending on load. Same as 308, but 308 tends to perform just a bit better in precision, partially due to case and partially due to slightly reduced recoil.

Both are available everywhere, but 308 match grade ammo is a commercially available thing, whereas 30.06 match ammo is not (at least on the shelves of my sporting good store).

Action length-
It’s just easier to cycle a short action bolt... not much of an advantage, but it counts.

Weight-
There is a wide verity of lightweight 308 rifles. Slimmer pickings for 30.06

Rifle verity:
You can buy a 308 in just about any form factor a rifle comes in. Not so for the 30.06.

Cost:
You can shoot at 30¢ per trigger pull with 308.
You are lucky to shoot below 50¢ per trigger pull with 30-06. Lots of. Heap practice gets you shot placement. No caliber will allow crappy shot placement.

If you feel like 308 doesn’t offer enough power, you might as well step it up to 300win mag or similar that offers further mpbr and better dope adjusted shooting experiences than either 308 or 30.06.


Also... Joe Biden


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[KevDen2005]

Here’s the full ‘why’ behind my distaste for 30.06.

Off the bat I will say that if you own a rifle chambered in 30.06, you will do just fine.

I will follow that by saying that if you don’t own a rifle yet- DON’T buy one in 30.06

30.06 has a MPBR of somewhere between 250 and 300yd depending on load. Same as 308, but 308 tends to perform just a bit better in precision, partially due to case and partially due to slightly reduced recoil.

Both are available everywhere, but 308 match grade ammo is a commercially available thing, whereas 30.06 match ammo is not (at least on the shelves of my sporting good store).

Action length-
It’s just easier to cycle a short action bolt... not much of an advantage, but it counts.

Weight-
There is a wide verity of lightweight 308 rifles. Slimmer pickings for 30.06

Rifle verity:
You can buy a 308 in just about any form factor a rifle comes in. Not so for the 30.06.

Cost:
You can shoot at 30¢ per trigger pull with 308.
You are lucky to shoot below 50¢ per trigger pull with 30-06. Lots of. Heap practice gets you shot placement. No caliber will allow crappy shot placement.

If you feel like 308 doesn’t offer enough power, you might as well step it up to 300win mag or similar that offers further mpbr and better dope adjusted shooting experiences than either 308 or 30.06.


Also... Joe Biden


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Joe Biden is enough to keep me away from it. Except I own an M1 Garand. I don't plan on lugging that up and down mountains in the snow.