What cartrdge for Rocky Mountain elk?

RMG said:
I wouldn't worry about having enough rifle for the elk. Worry about the grizz that's gonna come looking for a free meal after you pull the trigger.
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Seems to be an increasing scenario from what you hear. Elk country is Grizz country in most cases. ;)

Grizz
 
The belief that bullets are going too fast to open is a pretty common one but the truth is, even with the toughest mono metals, that's when you are going to get your most violent and rapid expansion. Mono metals often only leave a small exit hole as they don't fragment and people mistake this for lack of expansion but it's not the case. The secondary damage to tissue inside from the high velocity projectile passing through it is typically extensive. Velocity equals expansion and massive secondary wound channels.
 
if your to close with a big 300 / 338 it will punch and cauterize at the same time.
your bullet will be moving too fast to open up and a heart and lung shot wont help .
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You really have to stop believing that nonsense. Bullets expand more at higher velocity, and they don't cauterize the wound either. If you read something that stupid in a magazine, do yourself a favor, and stop reading any more articles by that author.
 
I would have to side with the guys that go larger for elk than smaller. I have killed quite a few my self with everything from a 6.5-284 up to a 450 marlin. Elk are no harder to kill than whitetail but take some convincing that they are actually dead. I tracked my first really good bull on my hands and knees for almost 200 yards after hitting him through both lungs with a 162 interlock from a 7mm. The lungs had pushed out the entrance and exit hole and there was pin drops of blood every 10 to 15 yards. My second good bull took 3 of the same at under 20 yards before he realized that his front legs didn't work anymore. I put 7, 300 grain partitions into a giant escaped farm elk that was running with a wild herd in southern Sask. The first one would have done the job but with mile deep coulees that you would have to recover him with a knife and fork I wasn't stopping shooting until it laid dead. He dressed at 900lbs. Out of about 20 that I have killed and seen killed only 3 have been bang flops. One a 330" 6x6 shot between the shoulder blades going up a steep draw with a 168 grain tsx out of a 300 ultra, a nice 3 year old bull with a 180 tsx out of a 300 saum shot in the throat as he was peeking out from behind a large tree at about 20 yards and a head shot cow with a 200 grain accubond from a 325 wsm. Don't pull that t.v. crap and shoot a bull once and watch it run off. Put every bullet out of your rifle into it if you the have chance. A shot up elk is better than a lost elk any day of the week.
 
Thanks folks.

I have a 300 Win. mag too and though I have only shot two elk (Vancouver Island Roosevelt) I remember the cow I shot took three shots in the lungs and just stood there and it wasn't until I was getting flustered and shot wild with my fourth shot and broke her leg that she tipped over.

The bull I got some years before took one in the lungs and just ambled up the slope 30 feet and stood there for the next one.

I didn't want to carry the 300 this year as it is the heaviest of my rifles.

It doesn't matter anyway as I've been uninvited from the hunt. My buddy who asked me to go admitted yesterday that he was the only one invited on the hunt with friends and wasn't asked to bring anyone else.

By the way, I was amused by the "cauterization" remark too.
 
Everything you have has enough punch to kill an elk. Shot placement is key, though. Elk are extremely tough. Last Fall I have seen a cow elk get hit broadside at 300 yds. by a 30-06 and walk away. Searched for hours in the dark. Minute blood trail, everyone thought it was a miss/minor injury shot. In the end it wasn't that. Found the animal next day. Perfect kill shot shredding the lungs, the bullet just hadn't exited out the other side, that's why not much blood.
My point is to pick the rifle/caliber combination you are most comfortable with to hit the target at a range of distances, 200, 300, 400 yards to minimize the second-guessing. Having experienced a few elk hunts myself now I wouldn't expect to come within 100 yards of one.
And as an obvious side note, a big Magnum round is more likely to pass through, and even if the animal walks, it will be easier to track.
 
"My point is to pick the rifle/caliber combination you are most comfortable with to hit the target at a range of distances, 200, 300, 400 yards."

Oh, I like to practice my shooting, but I don't feel comfortable at 300 yards, never mind 400.

I don't even have a place I can shoot at 300 yards to see how I do.
 
I've never shot an elk but for those who say 3000 fps impacts on game punch thru and cauterizes its path have never seen an animal carcass that's been hit with a high speed bullet. My buddy shot a doe broadside with a 117 gr interlock (muzzle velocity 3100 fps) at less then 20 yards with my 25/06. No exit hole and the entire front 1/3 of the deer looked like jello. The lungs were not recognizable
Every deer bear wolf and coyote I've shot with this load were all extensively damaged
 
brybenn said:
I've never shot an elk but for those who say 3000 fps impacts on game punch thru and cauterizes its path have never seen an animal carcass that's been hit with a high speed bullet. My buddy shot a doe broadside with a 117 gr interlock (muzzle velocity 3100 fps) at less then 20 yards with my 25/06. No exit hole and the entire front 1/3 of the deer looked like jello. The lungs were not recognizable
Every deer bear wolf and coyote I've shot with this load were all extensively damaged
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Here we get into the subject of hydraulic shock. ;) Lot of people Poo Poo it, but anyone who has seen that mess of Jello around the wound can't help but believe.

Grizz
 
brybenn said:
I've never shot an elk but for those who say 3000 fps impacts on game punch thru and cauterizes its path have never seen an animal carcass that's been hit with a high speed bullet. My buddy shot a doe broadside with a 117 gr interlock (muzzle velocity 3100 fps) at less then 20 yards with my 25/06. No exit hole and the entire front 1/3 of the deer looked like jello. The lungs were not recognizable
Every deer bear wolf and coyote I've shot with this load were all extensively damaged
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X2, Experienced this with the 240, 257, 270 and 300 weatherby. Of course some meat damage, however my objective was to kill humanly and it works all the time.....on deer that is.
 
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