James B

700 Rem SPS in 30-06 or 300 Win Mag.

Summitsitter

I bought a 300WSM forMule Deer / Elk Hunting in Colorado. It has equal to (slightly better with Winchester Factory loads) ballistics to the .300 Win Mag and kicks less IMO.

Prior to the .300WSM the .30-06 was my goto rifle. Can't go wrong with either.

love to hunt 123

i persoal use a 7mm mag and a 257 roberts thats what i like to use

love to hunt 123

i personaly use a 7mm mag but i also like to take my 257 roberts as a back up gun

seattlesetters

Take the advice of all here who have suggested that you stay away from the big, "magnum" cartridges. I don't care what anyone says, a human simply cannot shoot them as well as they can a lower-recoiling round like the .270 Win or .30-'06. And if you happen to develop a flinch, it is most difficult to make it go away. Don't forget the .270 Win and .30-'06 have each accounted for more elk than all the new magnums combined, and they will continue to bag more each year.

Another excellent choice is the .308 Win and a few of the cartridges based on it such as the .260 Rem, 7mm-08 Rem and the .338 Federal. These numbers are extremely efficient, generate light recoil and are among the very best deer rounds available. The .338 Federal, using the 200gr Fusion or 210gr Partition, would be a terrific elk load to 300 yards or so that could also settle an argument with an angry bruin in short order.

Others that would make fine choices are the .280 Rem, .338-06 A-Square (awesome elk medicine!!!), 6.5x55 Swede, 7x57 Mauser and 8x57 Mauser.

Colorado Luckydog

LMAO!

ADV. Hunter

If money is an issue I am now shooting a Mosin Nagant 91/30 in 7.62x54r. I was extremely reluctant to buy a wwII Russian rifle to use as a hunting rifle but I absolutely love this rifle and this round. It is a little bigger than the 308 as far as measurements from base to bullet but the rifle barrel on mine is 28 3/4 in long and the extra length of the barrel I am getting almost 3000fps out of this rifle at the muzzle. I do not know anything about the extra length as far as how much more velocity it is gaining in the extra 4 3/4 inches that they test fire standard ammo out of the 24 inch barrel but I feel cofident in it makeing 400 yard shots. All kinds of great wwII rifles have become some of the most notable hunting rifles ever I just wasn't sure about this one.

seattlesetters

Why? It's true. All scientific evidence indicates it's true. See what bench rest shooters are shooting...it sure ain't a .338 RUM.

Colorado Luckydog

You mean scientific evidence like your 30.06 dropping 25 inches at 400 yards and my 300RUM dropping 11. Is that the scientific evidence you are talking about. LMAO again!!

A gun will shoot as good or as bad as the man that is holding it.

I can shoot my 300RUM as good as my 30.06 or my .270. Why can I shoot it that good, you ask?? Because I've practiced with it a lot. Every big game animal my 300RUM has aimed is either already eaten or still in my freezer.

seattlesetters

What we are left with at present is the spectacularly boring concept of adequacy. It is has been said in different ways over and over again over the last 100 years, and proven for at least that long as well on the game fields, that the entire genre of .270 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, .308 and all do pretty much the same thing any of the big magnums will do. The difference, and why they are better, is more our own ability to accurately place a shot based our familiarity with rifle, cartridge, trajectory, our own self-control, and our attention to proper bullet selection for specific game size, toughness, and impact velocity. Human simply cannot overcome vicious recoil. When something hurts, we flinch. It is natural, and we can no more stop it than we can stop ourselves from breathing.

There are very few recorded instances out of tens of millions of examples where an appropriate bullet with proper shot placement from anything in the .308 to .270 Win genre has failed to do its job on anything with hooves.

The romance of the caliber can be enticing, but as the ghost of Jack O'Connor would affirm, they all do just about the same thing. It is all in how you use them. The catch is, the "standard" calibers are easier to shoot and therefore, more effective.

Anyone who believes that a short magnum, ultra magnum, or any other cartridge variant automatically yields any substantial benefit in the field is taking severe liberties with history, physics, and common sense. The touting of a specific "magnum" caliber or cartridge for normal big game hunting use is indefensible; it has never been supported by solid empirical evidence. Bullet selection and shot placement have always dwarfed the touting of individual cartridges; good shot placement is easier with a standard cartridge. This remains demonstrably true today.