What's the best Elk rifle?

That'll get the job done fine. It's light weight will be very helpfull too.

Other calibers you might want to look at are
7mm mag, 30-06, 7mm STW, 270 and some of the weatherby stuff.

 

My personal favorite .300 Weatherby Mag.
.338 Win mag a close second.....Period!!

 

Any of the various .300 mags will do a fine job. Try one first to see if you can handle the recoil. If so, you're good-to-go. If not look into a .270, .280, or 30/06.

My elk and other BG hunting chores are handled these days by either a 6.5 Swede or 7x57 loaded with heavy bullets at moderate velocities. Very light recoil on my end, lethal killing power on the other.

 

What tjpet said.

 

I also agree with tjpet, but would include the .308 win., I have used it on Elk as well as others and it works just fine. At 200 yards with a 165gr. it went clean through, and killed with one shot.

 

.300 RSAUM in a 6 3/8lb rifle. I bet that kicks just a tad.

It takes a lot of little grains of powder to fill those cases so be aware ammo is pricey in that caliber.

 

30-06

 

My personal favorite is the Remington 700 BDL in 7mm Remington Magnum.

The 7mm and 300 Mag are both pretty heavy for deer. Witness a young Mule deer buck shot in the spine with a 300 mag was almost cut into two pieces. Not a pretty site and rather a waste of an animal.

I would recommend you get a .270 or 30-06 for deer and step up to the magnums for Elk and other large animals.

Best of luck, let us know what you purchase.

 

The .300 is a great cartridge, but is not necessary to kill an elk cleanly. A .308 or 30-06 would do just fine and have a lot less recoil. And if I were to go with a .300 magnum, I would certainly not get a feather-weight rifle.

There's not much that can't be done with a standard weight rifle in .308 -- deer, elk, or just about anything else on this continent would fall to it if you choose a good load and hit what you're aiming at. Plus you can use surplus ammo for a lot of cheap practice.

 

The .300 Win Mag is a great cartridge for hunting elk because it has the verasatility to hit hard up close or far away. That's not to say that it's the ONLY cartridge that will work well but it is imo an excellent choice. It will do just fine for deer and pronghorns too just use a lighter bullet like a 150 grainer.

 

Be careful. In Oregon it is prohibited to use military (Full Metal Jacket) ammunition when hunting big game. The exception is hunting predators like Coyotes. I'm sure regulations vary by state, be sure you check your local regulations.

 

Consider 7mm mag or a 30-06 with nosler partitions- tried and true if you hunt Colorado or Wyoming. The recoil is comfortable compared to the .300mag, which has produced serious flinchus recoilitis in more than a few of my friends. I can practice shooting all day with either the aforementioned calibers and go hunting the next day and enjoy it.

 

As it is in my state, which is why I wrote "for a lot of cheap practice."

 

I have a 700 Titanium in plain ole .308, and I love it. It is very accurate with factory ammo, surplus ammo, and handloads, including Barnes XLCs and Triple Shocks, and with Federal High Energy Premiums with the 180 gr. Nosler Partitions. Recoil isn't bad, although I bet the SAUM would be much more noticeable. This past season, I got an antelope and a deer with no trouble using the Federal HE's. I am confident that the bull elk I could have shot at about 50 yards would have been no trouble (I was holding a cow tag. )

The down side of the rifle is that it is a little light on the front end due to the whippy barrel.

If you aren't planning on shooting past about 300 yards, I really don't think you need the magnum. YMMV

 

No offense intended. Just trying to be helpful.

 

Check out the Thompson/Center Arms Hawken Rifle. Go with .54 caliber and you got a decent elk rifle.

*click here*

 

If I were ging to go out and buy new for elk, I would probably get a 300 win mag. 7 mm mag 2nd choice. The problem is what great deal would come along that is neither of those .....

 

there are a lot of good choices in this post. I have not seen any that I would disagree with. A 300 is a great choice for elk, however, not the only choice. As far as deer, I have not shot any deer with my 300 Win Mag. However, I have shot antelope with my 300, not because of the size but because of the range. With a 300 you can reach out an touch somehting if you need to.

 

If you're still in the market I have a truly awesome Remington 700 BDL SS 7mm STW for sale. Answer Rifles has done a lot of custom work to it. Recoil is similar to a .243 and it has sub M.O.A. accuracy.
I recently moved to the Florida panhandle so my love of fishing has taken over. I don't have a use for the rifle and it's way too nice to just sit in the safe. Email me at treemanjohny2k@yahoo.com if you're interested.