hardcastonly

Im not competing with anyone or contesting their choices, simply stating what I've seen works, if you don,t particularly like or approve of the remington pump action rifles,
that is of course your right too do so, if your convinced the bolt guns are superior than by all means select and use one,
but I would point out, they sell tens of thousands of those rifles I doubt they are any less effective in experienced hands, from what I've seen.
they are not what I'd consider top of the line, but certainly I could use one with no reservations.

buffybr

In my 40 some years of elk hunting, I've never seen the need to shoot an elk at over 400 yards, let alone 500 or 600 yards.

With proper bullet placement, deer are not hard to kill with just about any caliber bullet, so the OP's question basically applies to elk and moose. I shot most of my elk and both of my Shiras moose with .30 caliber bolt action rifles. For over 20 years my favorite elk (and moose) rifle was my .30 Gibbs shooting 180 grain Partitions at just under 3000 fps (similar to 300 Winchester velocities). Like Flags posted, the 7mm Rem mag is a great elk (and moose) rifle. I started hunting elk back in the late '60s when I moved to Steamboat Springs in northwestern Colorado. The guys that I worked with that had grown up there recommended a .270 Win or .30-06 for elk. They said that only the city dudes from Denver hunted with a .300 Win. I now see a lot of .300 Wins in the elk woods here in Montana.

My favorite elk rifle now is my .300 Weatherby. With its KDF muzzle brake and its in stock recoil reducer, it kicks less than my .308 Winchester. The elk that I've killed with this rifle and Barnes TSX and TTSX bullets at 3250 fps produced less meat damage than the Partitions at 3000 fps did.

Like Mthusker posted, I can't remember seeing anyone back in Colorado or here in Montana hunting elk with an auto loading rifle, but I'm sure there must be one or two guys that come here from back east that do.

flags

I only know one person that uses one and that is my nephew. He is a lefty and couldn't find a left hand bolt he liked so he bought a 7600 in 270 Win. He is absolutely deadly with it and has racked up more than his share of deer, elk and pronghorns where he lives in CO. But like you, I have seen very, very few autos in the field for big game. Birds are of course a different matter. In the West, where I grew up and do most of my hunting the bolt guns was always been the most popular. It is what it is.

Bocajnala

There was a time in PA where most of what you saw was a remington 760 or 7600. Myself and many family members have used them for a long time. They're a perfectly fine choice for any big game hunting. However, they've always felt a little heavy to me. And i've mostly gone to levers now. Still have a closet full of bolts to choose from as well.

My next pump will be a .35 whelen. Whenever I find one for a decent price.



As to the question... you probably can't go wrong with anything from .30-06 on up. I wouldn't hesitate to take a .30-06 for any of those situations. If 5 and 600 yards shots are actually common for you then I'd lean towards the .300 win mag I suppose.

And of course if you want to impress your friends there's lots of big magnums to choose from

-Jake

JGFLHunter

Berserker

No he doesn't.

Plus who doesn't want to buy a new rifle? Lots of people like to experiment with different rounds too. Not that I disagree that 7mm is popular.

I am a big is better guy, but lot of people are talking about 6.5 creedmoor and such. I hunt in close range, so range is not an issue. But I like lots of snort cause heavilly wooded, and 100 yards of tracking is like a 1000. Plus I don't see alot of deer, so I might not want to wait for perfect shot.

But if hunting big country, maybe something smaller. Though they are high speed, and which may destroy as much meat.

Could play with different bullets and explansions too. At 500-600 yards, I am not sure if he wants to slow it down. But I have never shot that far.

flags

257 Wby is a great little caliber but it is not the "best" all around caliber for deer/elk/moose. Will it work? Yep. Is it the best? Nope. Frankly there are better "all around" calibers that that.

hardcastonly

we all find favorites, youll have to find what works best for you!
and every choice is a compromise, the areas of or in rifle weight, flat trajectory, acceptable recoil, useful, bullet mass and potential impact energy and penetration.
from what Ive seen Id suggest the 270 win with a premium 150 gain bullet, or a 30/06 with a 180 grain makes a dependable choice, especially if recoils an issue.
everyone will compromise in some area and prefer some features more than others, and find what they are comfortable using.
if your looking for a reasonable compromise in rifle weight and recoil yet still having a rifle that works rather well on both deer and elk.
personally I am very willing to carry a bit more rifle weight, and accept a significantly increased level of recoil and I prefer the 340 wby & 375 H&H,
yes Im very well aware I'm in the minority, but no one I hunt with disputes the results,
I have total confidence in the rifles based on decades of almost exclusively, one shot kills.
their objections to owning one are always, centered on ammo and rifle cost,
on the rifle weight and recoil,
no one disputes the lethality, trajectory or penetration.
my rebuttal, is that if 2 extra lbs of rifle weight, or a bit of extra recoil in a rifle you might shoot only a once or couple times on a hunt,
keeps you from comfortably exploring the next canyon, with some old geezer like me, you probably need to eat better and exercise more often.
and the cost of the rifle amortized over the 45 plus years is negligible, hand-loading puts the ammo price in a reasonable range.
Im now 70 years old slower than I was, but more persistent and far more skilled and knowledgeable,
it may take me longer, to get in and out of the canyons, than it did in my 30s, but I know what I'm doing and where to look, and I can still shoot accurately.
you don,t need the latest, fastest , or flattest trajectory, what you need is simply something your comfortable using,
thats accurate,and penetrates well out to at least 300 yards, and something with a well documented record of success,
certainly a 270,win- up to-338 win or something similar with proper ammo meets that requirements

hardcastonly

just a side note
when I first got into hunting elk , I was about 21 years old, and that was back in about 1968, and I was very lucky,
I had several skilled mentors with decades of experience ,that made the trip out to Colorado every year,
these guys were all in their 40s & -50s and 60s at that time ,they had all been hunting for decades,
all but one of those "old geezers' were using a 760 rem slide action or bolt action 30/06 rifles,
(the sporters based on the 1917 Endfield and mod 70 win were revered,) most of them used 180 grain or 220 grain round nose bullets,
these geezers stressed, the importance of learning to having the skill to drop into a sitting position with proper use of a rifle sling and being consistently able to place shots on a 3" orange dot at 100 yards,
they also explained trajectory, and strongly suggested sighting into hit 3.5" high at 100 yards, so range estimation was not extremely critical.
they also suggested learning to shoot skeet, because hunting in the thick timber might require shooting off-hand at closer ranges.
as that was what too a man they had found to be very effective, so on their advise I purchased and used a 760 rem on my first three hunts.
( could not locate a 1917 Endfield)
those were exciting times and these guys did a great deal to get me up too speed on learning where to look for elk,
how to find them and how to dress out and care for and transport the meat once the deer and elk we shot, were down.
now I read every hunting article and magazine, I could find at the time ,
if your my age you might remember the 7mm mag and 300 win mag both came out in about 1963,all the magazines were full of articles promoting the
pre 1964 winchester bolt guns and lamenting the crappy new Winchesters, the fairly new remington 700 rifles were heavily advertised.
but at about the same time frame the 340 weatherby in the mark V rifle was being heavily promoted
being young I read everything I could find and became convinced, I really needed to spend about 2 months pay and buy a weatherby 340 mag.
It took me over a year to save up and get one.
now looking back, and thinking about the results, the 340 wby worked and continues to work exceptionally well, but every deer or elk I shot,
with my 30/06 was just as dead, and in either case a single well placed shot was lethal.
the difference was that if I hit an elk with a 30/06 , well mostly they looked like they just were startled and ran, a few steps then fell,
hit in a similar location with the 340,wby few ran, most fell or stood as if dazed then slowly collapsed, few ran, while both were lethal, there was an obvious difference in the initial , reaction to a well placed shot.
over the following decades while watching many dozens of guys kill deer and elk,
it became obvious to me that the rifle and caliber ,the guy carried was far less important that the skill and experience of the guy using it.
especially after watching the older guys, and newer members of the group, use everything from a 257 roberts and 6.5mm swedish mauser to a 45/70 and 458 win,
and even rather less popular calibers, for elk and mule deer, like a 44 mag marlin lever action, and 35 rem.
all worked if the guy using it was a good shot!
and while all the magazines stressed the need for flat trajectory and the virtue of the cartridges like the 270 win and 300 mag, I doubt Ive seen more than a half dozen elk shot at over 200 yards,
in the last 50 years.( and far more than a few dozen shot at under 100 yards)

buffybr

Its interesting that you made this comment Hardcast.
In the early 70's I was hunting deer n one of Colorado's first modern muzzleloader seasons. I was using a .45 caliber Kentucky percussion rifle that I had built from a CVA kit. I was hunting the sagebrush country west of Craig. A light rain had evidently dampened my powder, as a huge mulie buck jumped out of the brush not 30 yards from me. I swung on the buck and pulled the trigger, and pop...BOOM. I had a hang fire, but because I had been shooting a lot of trap that summer, I followed through on my shot and my patched ball found the buck's lungs. That buck gross scored 215" and is the largest mule deer that I have ever shot.

Nice pictures of the timber as is much of western deer and elk country. The deer and elk are in there, but there is not much chance of a 500 or 600 yard shot at them.