NEW RIFLE FOR ELK

[Az86]

Going to buy a NEW rifle for my upcoming hunt. Any good recommendations and why??

 

[DnkyPunch]

What do you already have so we don't waste time pimping stuff you may already own.

 

[Az86]

>What do you already have so
>we don't waste time pimping
>stuff you may already own.
>


Nothing actually had to sell alot of my guns when things were tight. Ya know!? But now that I'm back on my feet. I gotta stock up again

 

[desperatehills]

Tikka T3 in 300 win mag. Affordable, accurate, and lots of factory ammo to choose from if you don't reload

 

[AZBuckSnort]

Ruger American Rifle in .30-06 with a Leupold VX2 3X-9X. It will not break the bank and you will be pleased.
Enjoy your hunt!

 

[ElmerFudd]

It kind of depends on what else you want to do with the rifle. I do notice that .270 Win, 7mm Rem Mag, 30-06 and .300 Win mag were all readily available on the local Wal-Mart shelf during the ammo madness. Economy rifles from all manufactures are available in 30-06.

 

[CAelknuts]

A great many elk hunters think that the .338 win mag is probably the single best elk caliber out there. It does have a great blend of killing ability, reasonably flat trajectory, and shootability. Might be the single best caliber ever developed, especially for animals like elk.

 

[sagebrush]

I am a Browning fan. I own several and they are all tack drivers. My two hunting rifles are an A-Bolt Hunter in .270 and an X-Bolt Stainless Stalker in .338. If I were to start over again I would pick the X-Bolt Stainless Stalker in .300 WSM. The X-Bolt has the smoothest action I have ever cycled. The trigger pull weight is adjustable by anyone capable of operating a screwdriver and I have set mine at 2.5 to 2.75 lbs. The X-Bolt also has a detachable magazine that is flush with the bottom of the stock and contoured to match. I think the most aesthetically pleasing detachable magazine made. Top it with a Leupold VX3 4.5-14 X 40 with the CDS and you have the perfect rifle with an effective range out to 800 yards on elk sized game.

I think the .300 WSM is the most versatile cartridge on the market today. It's fairly flat shooting and, when a properly matched bullet is used, it's good medicne for everything from antelope to moose. I prefer a stainless rifle for the ease of maintenance in wet climates. I have used my A-Bolt Hunters in the rain in AK and the snow in AZ and to keep them from rusting I gave them a good wipe down with a single use Rem Oil swab every night. They turned out just fine but I would rather have had an extra 15 minutes sleep each night.

Rifle, scope and mounts will run you about $1,800 and you can't find a sub-MOA rifle anywhere for less. Most other brands will require a trip to the gunsmith to shoot as well as a Browning that's right out of the box.

http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?fid=023B&cid=035&tid=202#center

 

[BRUIN4L]

+1 Sage

 

[MEANTTOBBUCK]

I agree with Sage on the 300 wsm. I love that caliber. Browning is a great rifle. My son has a Winchester featherweight. I have a Weatherby Vanguard both in 300 wsm. Accurate and they do a number on elk.

 

[sagefrog]

One of the 300's is where I would start, be it the wsm, win or ultra you can't go wrong for an elk rifle. Remington 700's are a great starting point and super easy to upgrade as you can afford in the future. After market parts like triggers and stocks can help make them even more accurate. To me the biggest influence on which one to buy would be cost to shoot and availability. Are you a reloader or will you shoot factory rounds.

No matter which rifle or caliber you decide on, money will be best spent on optics and practice. All rifles and calibers are inherently accurate, but you need to be able to see where you're aiming and know how it will shoot at any given yardage.

 

[azdeserthunter]

My vote goes for 300 weatherby mag, you can have wally world order you a vanguard series, which is a howa 1500, excellent rifle, for around $400. 300 weatherby started the ultra mags,(unless you put 300 H&H in this category) and is still an excellent choice. Other choices listed here are excellent choices as well, I just prefer the weatherby. It is on par with the 300 Remington, and about 12% less velocity than the 30-378, but at a much lower pricetag for gun and ammo both.

 

[vmcfadden]

My opinion .300 for sure. After that you get what you pay for in most rifles. The more you pay the further you can shoot. You get a freak every now and then but $ does buy quality for the most part in rifles.

 

[BuzzH]

I'm not sure I'd be "starting" at the 300 mags for an elk rifle, not really needed.

While there is no question that the various 300's and 338's work great for elk, there are lots of smaller calibers that work just fine and are much more user friendlyh.

I hunted almost exclusively with a 30/06 for the first 15 years I hunted and killed a lot of game with one, including a dozen elk or so. It worked great. I later switched to a 338 and killed 14 elk with it, but I've largely quit hunting with it. I just dont like shooting 300's and 338's that much anymore. I can still shoot them well, just prefer rifles that are more pleasant to shoot.

The last 15 or so elk I've shot have been with a 7 RM, which I find more pleasant to shoot than the 300's and 338's.

I'm downsizing again this year and will be shooting a bunch of elk in the future with a 7-08.

I still think the 243's are a bit on the light side (although I've shot a couple elk with them), but anything in the .25, .264, .270, .284 range will work just fine. No reason to only look at the magnums in those calibers either, the standards are more than adequate.

The 3 most important things to killing elk are shot placement, shot placement, and shot placement...roughly in that order. A distant second would be bullet construction.

I'd much rather hunt with a lighter rifle I shoot well, than to hunt with a 300 mag that I didnt really care to shoot. Accuracy and range time trump headstamps...all day long.