Best rifle calibers for deer and elk hunting

[03A3Sporter]

For Medium and BIG game in the US and for that matter the rest of the world . A man would be hard pressed to do better than a 30-06 and a 375 H&H . Both are extremely versatile cartridges and can be loaded down easily for shooting with cast lead. In North America there really isn't anything that can't be hunted successfully with an 06.

I did the incremental magnum steps and owned many of the small bore magnums in my life, I sold all of them and kept the 375 H&H . I have other cartridges that can easily do the same job as the 06 but doesn't do it with the diversity of bullet selection the 06 has.

I am not knocking the 7mm Remington Magnum I used to own one , but for anyone who advocates it as the ultimate I will point out that the 300 Winchester Magnum is a full 200 fps faster than a 7mm Remington Magnum and offers the bullet versatility that the 06 shares .

 

[Zechariah]

My 7mm rm is not a good all around. I wish now it was a 300 RUM. I'll sell it in a few years.

 

[No_Regerts]

My 7mm rm is not a good all around. I wish now it was a 300 RUM. I'll sell it in a few years.

Why not? A 160gr Accubond or Partition is pretty versatile out to at least 400 yards.

 

[Zechariah]

Why not? A 160gr Accubond or Partition is pretty versatile out to at least 400 yards.

Mine is a long range heavy barrel it's not as fast for me to shoot of hand. And walking long distance or in thick stuff. It's more of a model thing for me on my set up.

 

[DeanMk]

You're kidding, right? Is this a rhetorical question? If it's not, the answer is as plain as the nose on your face. The 6.5 CM is much more efficient in separating those that are always chasing the latest and greatest fad, from their hard earned cash. If only the 7mm-08 had the kind of marketing department the Creedmore has...

Oops. Now I'm starting to sound like No_Regerts.

Isn't it interesting how the best comedy is often based in truth.
I can remember when the 7mm-08 was the "It Gun" that everyone was curious about.

 

[DeanMk]

Hmmm... I'm closer to the no-neck than the long neck. What, with the 225 pounds of solid, uh, muscle, stretched tautly over my towering 5' 10" frame.

225?!
Man! I can just remember when I was a svelte young man of 225 and 5'11".
Now I'm 5' 10.5" ( ) and just dropped from 278 to 265....at least its better than 293.
My doctor would be X-STATIC if I could drop down to 225....I just tell him, "yeah, those were the days". =)

 

[Bobbygun]

225?!
Man! I can just remember when I was a svelte young man of 225 and 5'11".
Now I'm 5' 10.5" ( ) and just dropped from 278 to 265....at least its better than 293.
My doctor would be X-STATIC if I could drop down to 225....I just tell him, "yeah, those were the days". =)

Doctors are never happy. When I was approaching 40, I weighed about 240. I got lured into bowhunting and decided if I was going to have any success doing it, I would need to lose some weight. I dropped down to about 202 and thought my doc would be impressed. He told me his charts showed I should weigh about 175. 175??? As a senior in high school I starved myself down to 168 pounds for wrestling. At 40, I had no interest at all in being 175. At 60, I have even less interest.

I actually weigh a few pounds under 225 right now because bow season for elk just ended last weekend and I don't like sitting in stands or blinds. I usually cover 5 to 10 miles on foot each day I hunt. Since I have a rifle tag for deer this year, maybe I'll be able to stay below 225, but the holidays usually foul me up. I'm a guy that's gets plenty of exercise, but I also love to eat. I don't really drink that much, but when I do it's microbrews. Kinda like drinking a loaf of bread.

 

[Zechariah]

If you're into rifles, set up a rifle for each scenario you find yourself in and use the right tool for the job. If you just want to hunt from 0 to 400 yards, pick something that's more a jack-of-all-trades.

I used to be in the former catagory, now I'm in the latter. I use middle of the road calibers like the 7mm-08, 270, 280, 30-06, 7mm Rem Mag, and 300 Win Mag. I typically use a controlled expansion bullet like the Nosler Partition or Accubond and choose a bullet weight on the heavier end. These bullets expand quick enough to open up within a deer and are heavy enough to drive through elk.

I don't use multiple loads because they rarely shoot to the same point of impact. Heavier bullets are usually within a couple e inches of lighter bullets out to 400, so I just run heavy for everything. For instance, in my 30-06, I run 180gr bullets. 150gr in 270, 160 in 7mm.

We have alot of the same stuff and philosophy. Shoot the same bullets too. If you ever want some company out hunting hit me up man.

 

[MTpockets]

I think I would go with a 180gr Core-Lokt Soft Point in a .308 Winchester...

Because when you are wading through the sopping wet sword fern, trip over a hidden alder root, lose your balance, grab a devil's club, recoil and fall on your butt... the handful of cartridges, in your back pocket, won't stick into your hide nearly as far as those pointy bullets in a magnum brass.

I don't have all the data to prove it. And I am not going to show the scars.

I always hunted Washington with a 308 Winchester, because it was what I had. I never ran into a situation that it didn't work and I enjoyed the type of hunting it afforded me. Western Washington hunting was all under 150 yards. I added an optic when I moved to Eastern Washington because I thought it was going to be more difficult to get close to the animals. I was wrong...I could have taken most of them with a revolver or with a few apples in a lunch sack. Well, except for those flighty whitetails.

The great thing about hunting is that there are so many ways to accomplish your goal. And there are a variety of tools to get the job done, from Bargain Basement up to High-End , High-Tech back to Primitive.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy hunting season. And hope it is the experience that you are seeking.

Secretly, I always wanted a reason to have a 340 Weatherby

 

[DeanMk]

Doctors are never happy. When I was approaching 40, I weighed about 240. I got lured into bowhunting and decided if I was going to have any success doing it, I would need to lose some weight. I dropped down to about 202 and thought my doc would be impressed. He told me his charts showed I should weigh about 175. 175??? As a senior in high school I starved myself down to 168 pounds for wrestling. At 40, I had no interest at all in being 175. At 60, I have even less interest.

I actually weigh a few pounds under 225 right now because bow season for elk just ended last weekend and I don't like sitting in stands or blinds. I usually cover 5 to 10 miles on foot each day I hunt. Since I have a rifle tag for deer this year, maybe I'll be able to stay below 225, but the holidays usually foul me up. I'm a guy that's gets plenty of exercise, but I also love to eat. I don't really drink that much, but when I do it's microbrews. Kinda like drinking a loaf of bread.

^^^ EXACTLY!!!! ^^^

 

[orygun]

A lot of that is stock shape in relation to how you are shaped. They've found that certain stock shapes work better with different body styles. Maybe the straight comb of the SPS doesn't suit you like the exaggerated Weatherby monte carlo.

Oddly enough, the shape of the Mosin Nagant rifles kills me. Even though it doesn't have the recoil energy of something like the 338 Win Mag, which I do fine with.

This^^^. Plus, just as @oremike said, proper posture at the bench make all of the difference. My '06 kicks more with the new stock compared to the Hogue it was in. The Hogue had a super cushy buttpad which I think helped a lot more than the straight comb vs. Monte Carlo, at least in this rifle. No matter what, though, this rifle is much more comfortable to shoot off of the bench than my old Model 70 is, and the 70 is heavier!

In case I didn't mention, 30-06. That's the best.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Its been all down hill when folks quit using these rifles :




Just kidding....kinda...
Andy

 

[orygun]

Isn't it interesting how the best comedy is often based in truth.
I can remember when the 7mm-08 was the "It Gun" that everyone was curious about.

A little before that time I bought a Ruger Compact in 7mm-08 to upgrade my wife from her Savage 99. I didn't know squat about either the 7mm-08 or the 260 Rem and took a wild guess. It was a good purchase on all accounts. The 7mm has been popular enough with the hunting crowd that good ammo is available (well, you know...), the Ruger is much lighter and amazingly doesn't her any more than the heavier Savage in 243. More input on stock design. Fullsize Ruger on left, Ruger Compact center, Savage 243 right.

 

[Bobbygun]

A little before that time I bought a Ruger Compact in 7mm-08 to upgrade my wife from her Savage 99. I didn't know squat about either the 7mm-08 or the 260 Rem and took a wild guess. It was a good purchase on all accounts. The 7mm has been popular enough with the hunting crowd that good ammo is available (well, you know...), the Ruger is much lighter and amazingly doesn't her any more than the heavier Savage in 243. More input on stock design. Fullsize Ruger on left, Ruger Compact center, Savage 243 right.
View attachment 1045340

Those Savage's are brutal IMO. I've got a Model 99 Featherweight in .308 that my dad left me. It's got a steel butt plate. It's a real slice of heaven to shoot. Other than, you know, it kicks the snot out of you. It is a very "fast handling" rifle, except it almost never gets handled. A true safe queen. Well, maybe not queen. But if I say what I really call her, it would just end up "bubblegum".

 

[DeanMk]

A little before that time I bought a Ruger Compact in 7mm-08 to upgrade my wife from her Savage 99. I didn't know squat about either the 7mm-08 or the 260 Rem and took a wild guess. It was a good purchase on all accounts. The 7mm has been popular enough with the hunting crowd that good ammo is available (well, you know...), the Ruger is much lighter and amazingly doesn't her any more than the heavier Savage in 243. More input on stock design. Fullsize Ruger on left, Ruger Compact center, Savage 243 right.
View attachment 1045340

Love that little Ruger...shades of the Model 7, but with better aesthetic quality.

 

[tac]

This little 7x57 Mauser Model B rifle was bought in 1913 by an English family heading out to Rhodesia to grow tobacco, and from then until around 1990 it was the DAILY meat-provider for the farm-owners and their employees and families. It was used on just about every eatable quadruped in East Africa, as well as maybe thousands of hyenas and other non-eatable critters. When I got it in late 1990 it was looking a mite sad, but soon bucked up with a lot of love and gentle handling. The load - a 140 or 175gr round-nosed soft-point - slew everything it was aimed at - most often standing in their hoof-prints.

Today, while I'll admit that the accuracy might have gone off some, it still makes a two-three inch group at 100m. Plenty good enough for most ungulates.






The last ammunition bought by the previous owner from the dealer in what is now called Harare - priced 19 shillings - about $4 back then.

 

[DeanMk]

Gorgeous tac.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Love that rifle tac.
Andy

 

[TM-Salem]

I just bought a 30-06 for hunting this year, I really wanted to use the Marlin 336A 35 Remington but have not worked up a load for it Need to do that this next year.

I also need to think about having it drilled and tapped to scope it. I have resisted doing that because its a 1950 waffle top but my eyes are getting bad at short distance. I can see the target but not the sights.

 

[USAF Medic]

I want to start hunting deer and elk. I want to buy a hunting rifle, but not sure which caliber to choose. For Elk hunting, any opinions about 6.5 Creedmoor vs. .300 Winchester vs. .30-06? Will any of these do for Elk in terms of ballistics and being able to kill with one shot (with proper bullet placement of course)?

For deer hunting, my impression based on what I've read so far is that the three above will also work for deer, but some people use .223. However, my impression is that .223 is best used by a highly skilled marksman at shorter distances to avoid only wounding the deer. I did come across a type of .223 round that is made specifically for deer hunting (Winchester 223 Remington 64 gr Extreme Point Deer Season XP) that is supposed to match the performance of heavier bullets, but not sure if even this kind of round is best used by someone with lots of experience to avoid simply wounding. Curious if anyone has experience with this particular Winchester ammo.

Any guidance is appreciated!

Go with the 30-06. Ammo is readily available in most markets and much less expensive compared to magnums.