I would look into a Weatherby Mark V Fibermark .300 Wby. Mag., or Remington Model 700 SPS .300 RUM. Good luck.

300 Rem. Ultra Mag.

Strictly for big game? I'd go for the .338 Win Mag. Flat shooting, hard hitting, & thebest ammo availability.

Recoil DOES bother me, however, soI wouldget it in the heaviest rifle I could manage in the woods, with a good Sims for Pachmeyer pad. I've heard nothing but good things about the Browning BAR Safari, andits semi-auto actionmight attenuate the felt recoil a little bit.

Most of all, though, I'm jealous as hell! You get to go buy a new rifle!

When I was gearing up, like you, for my 1st elk hunt this year, I determined that I had no desire right now to go for anything bigger, so I went with a .30-06. I'm really happy with my rifle, but dadgummit, I don't have any reason to buy another one! I may have to foster the desire to hunt bears some day, so as to be able to go buy another gun!

Good Luck,

FC

Remington SPS in 30-06 Bushnell 3200 scope. About 700.00 total and you are set for life.

I think a Tikka T3 in .340 Weatherby if they sell it in that caliber. You could hunt grizzlys with that if you wanted to, but if you wanted a more practical rifle, as far as ammo is concerned, get a
Remington Model 700 in 338 RUM. I think the RUM calibers are cheaper than the Weatherby ones.

Myfavorite elk round is the 338-win. mag.

Other good choices would be, 340-weatherby, 338-R.U.M., 300-win. mag, 300-Weatherby or 300-R.U.M.
Any of the six rounds I listed willwork great on elk & bears.

I also recommend premium bullets. Nosler Partition,Swift A-Frame or Barnes-Xtoname a few.

Sako Fiberclass in .300 Win Mag

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=61249439

I do not know the seller in any way etc. However, those Fiberclass and SAKO AVs in good shape are well over $1,000 and you sell the scope and hopefully have enough for a set of Optilocks. I believe the last of those was manfactured in 1989. If I didn't have one in 7x64 and .338, I'd purchase that rifle.

Good luck,
CE

Thanks for all the responses

I recommend getting the lightest, shortest rifle for hunting elk. I used to have a mag, but lugging a long, heavy rifle in elk countrywas a pain. So I sold it and got a .30-06 which is what I should of done in the first place. I put on a 4X scope, aluminium rings, and a new stock. Weights 7.5 lbs.

lostwy,has given you some good info about keeping a elk rifle plain and simple,what ever gun you buy it needs to be as lite as possaible to carry in elk country.After 20 years of on and off elk hunting I have came back to were I started a basic rifle in 30/06 or 300wm with a fixed powered scope or a simple 2x7 or 3x9.My first elk rifle that I bought was a simple Ruger 77R in 30/06 topped with a Redfield 2x7 scope.After 2 years of hunting with that I bought a weatherby Deluxe in 300wbm and topped it with a AO4x12x50mm Leupold.With a leather sling and a bi pod that rifle weighed over 10#.I found myself carrying my ols Ruger after the new gun bug wore of the Weatherby for alot of reason,weight,ammo cost were just 2 of them.I no longer have eather gun,300wbm been gone a long time and the Ruger got sold 2 years ago to a friend of mine as his back up rifle.I am currently looking at putting a budget go to rifle togetherthat will include elk