30-06 or 7mm
 

I am getting a new rifle for elk hunting in eastern Oregon and wanted to know if i should go with a 30-06 of 7mm, i am looking at the Thompson/center venture in both calibers, any suggestions would be helpful.

I have always considered the .30-06 and the 7mm Rem mag equals in most respects.

The .30-06 however is available in featherweight models and is somewhat less costly for ammo....There probably isn't a more versatile cartridge than the .30-06.....you can never go wrong with one of these.

What other calibers do you own ?

7MM = as flat as a .270 and hits like a .30-06


However;

"There probably isn't a more versatile cartridge than the .30-06" Vapo

I own a 270 win, and i was thinking about just using it to hunt elk, but i was also thinking i might want a dedicated elk rifle.

How much have you shot a 7mm Rem Mag? The recoil is more than a 30-06, and you may not be as accurate with a higher recoil firearm. You don't want to develop a flinch.

Why not just stick with the .270 ?

Dezmick,

A .270 & a .30-06 is what some call a "perfect pair".

http://www.chuckhawks.com/perfect_pair.htm


IMO a VERY GOOD place to start...............................


However, I now have a "line-up" of dedicated rifles for the game their intended to take (2 schools of thought).

.............and I still don't own a .270 or a .30-06.

I honestly don't know why people think chuck hawks (or any of the writers on his web site) knows anything more than any average Joe. His site is quoted endlessly but I have yet to see any value to his articles that couldn't be obtained from almost any other gun writer (including the many, many internet experts) on the planet.

This is a good example. I have seen a Perfect Pair, and believe me this guy is missing the boat!

Kidding aside, a .270 with the right bullet is an effective elk rifle and to significantly improve on it you would have to go just a little further up than either a .30-06 or a 7mm. I would look at a .300 Win Mag as the next logical step up, but if I had to choose between a .30-06 and a 7mm Rem Mag - I would choose the .30-06.

Both are equally good choices for larger game in my opinion.

I killed my bull this year with a .35 Whelen. 225 grain partitions at 2700+ FPS and at 300 yards by shooting just under it's top back profile it killed the elk dead with the first shot.....Down like a flash. Does that make it a dedicated elk rifle?.....it sure has the energy at that range and a couple hundred yards further.

I'm already working on next years elk rifle.....a .280 Remington using 175 grain a-frames (or accubonds ....to be determined). It too will deliver 1500 ft-lb of energy at 500 yards and will be a fair bit lighter than the whelen. I have a lot of load development to do and a lot of practice (it's a bitch of a job but someone has to do it:D) and I'm very confident that if a good shot is presented, it too will put them down on a single shot..... (BTW....both are M-98 rifles)

One can look to the .338-06 or even the .338 Magnum for a dedicated elk rifle.....or even a lot more like the .375 H&H but you won't have a more appropriate rifle.

I've beat this thing to smitherenes and can't really come up with a better round as a dedicated elk rifle than the old .30-06!!!!!

Load it with good 180 grain bullets.....get a good 1500 yard range finder (at least 1500 yards) which I'd recommend with any rifle, a good pair of shooting sticks and learn it's trajectory all the way to 500 yards. You'll kill as many with this rifle and load as anyone with a lot more gun.....and the .30-06 is available in featherweight rifles and is easy to load for. I get 2800 FPS with 180 grain accubonds in my 22" barreled M-70 in .30-06 and so can you. It still has nearly 1500 ft-lb of energy at 500 yards and that's good enough for elk.

More and more it's less the rifle and cartridge that "getserdone" it's the shooter.....can he judge range? (the rangefinder is necessary) and does he know his rifle? and can he actually shoot it?.....The .30-06 takes some practice but is still not too hard to manage.......and it works.....( so will the 7mm Mag)

The .270 is good to 400 yards.....a bit short of the .30-06 but still may be good enough for you.....

If you want to buy a rifle and dedicate it to elk hunting....you could do a lot worse than the old .30-06 but don't buy one, stick it in the safe, wait until the week before you go hunting and sight it in and expect to get your elk.....It just don't seem to work that way!

BTW....a used Rem 700 for about $400 give or take is about the best one can get.....you don't have to spend a lot of cash!