"And now for something completely different".... Has anyone considered a .338-06 or even the Ackley version? It should get adequate velocity with a substantial bullet without the recoil of a .338 Win Mag. The only problem is if you have a habit of forgetting you ammo. There will not be a box of it sitting on the shelf at the general store.

Rick

This is a great debate all over the west. My choices are on the larger sizes in rifles. The caliber I am currently using for elk is a 338 Lapua shooting the 300 gr sierra match king. Yes it is a bit larger than what most people use but, what are you going to do make the elk too dead.
The next rifle I am thing of building for elk is the .358 STA. I haven't figured out what to load it with yet and that is half the fun.


The Bench proves the rifle; Standing proves the Shooter.

All of the Elk I have killed have been here in Washington. Used every thing from a 25-06 to a 54 cal. muzzel loader, most with a 30-06. The Bull with the 25-06 took 2 steps while one of the muzzel loader kills died in the middle of the Toutle river. The important thing is bullet placement, if you cant get a good shot don't take it!

Loren, I agree with you 100%!

An ethical shot taken with a .30-06 out to about 400 yards with a well constructed bullet of 180 grains will do the trick on elk.

It seems there is a real dark trend that treats "hunting" as more of a "shooting" game. In this day and age I guess you pass up a shot because the animal is so close the match bullets that seem to be in vogue would create brutal flesh wounds with the result that many animals would die a horrible death and never be recovered.

I just don't get it. Maybe someday we will get back to real hunting where the goal is to get as close as you can so that most of the variables are either known or eliminated altogether.

The best caliber for killing elk, in my humble opinion, is the .338 Winchester Magnum. While I have yet to actually kill an elk with it, I've used my .338 Mag to kill 6 African animals of comparable size, that are supposedly tougher, at distances of 145 to 250 meters. All kills, except one, where I messed-up the shot, were made with one shot. The only reason I have not used this caliber on an elk yet is, simply, that it is really hard to get drawn for elk in Arizona, New Mexico or Utah, where the biggest horned elk are found. Yes, a .338 Mag. kicks, but who among you actually feel recoil or hear the rifle go off when you are concentrated on killing an animal? I sure don't.