6.5 prc enough gun for elk

[Rick Richard]

30Nosler (for me

I said 300 WM, but I mostly shoot the 300WSM.

 

[bultinkle]

OK - so posters are shooting elk with everything from .223 to 340Wby and are very successful. Lets ask a slightly different question:

Given an unlimited choice of rifles in any chambering; what would you consider to be the ideal cartridge for hunting elk in an unknown location and climate?

You get only ONE choice.

Why? This hypothetical is asked once a week, and isnt what OP asked.

Maybe Instead of what the ideal cartridge is we should ask what the ideal amount of rounds downrange and wind practice per year is with a hunting rifle to insure we can hit a 8" plate at 5-600 yards with our given equipment in any conditions in any scenario in any location.

We get lots of questions about hypotheticals designed to purchase terminal performance in un ideal scenarios and zero about the guy behind the trigger.

I personally feel like people are constantly buying new guns for one off elk hunts that are "powerful enough" leaving the guns they have experience and trust with at home, shooting them 50 times and then taking them hunting instead of using all that time and money on range time and ammo learning the rifle they already know in harsh or various conditions that may present themselves.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Why?

Maybe Instead of what the ideal cartridge is we should ask what the ideal amount of rounds downrange and wind practice per year is with a hunting rifle to insure we can hit a 8" plate at 5-600 yards with our given equipment in any conditions in any scenario in any location.

Because a hunter should practice with whatever cartridge he intends to hunt with. That's a given, but the choice of cartridge is a more personal choice based on experience and/or research.

 

[Grizzly60]

OK - so posters are shooting elk with everything from .223 to 340Wby and are very successful. Lets ask a slightly different question:

Given an unlimited choice of rifles in any chambering; what would you consider to be the ideal cartridge for hunting elk in an unknown location and climate?

You get only ONE choice.

300WM, 300PRC or the like.
Some think the 6.5 CM is the do all, beat all, from 0 to1000+ yds. It just ain't so. If you gonna buy a rifle why not buy enough. 300's work just as well on axis on up to larger game. One could kill a kodiac with a 6.5. Or smaller caliber. But do you really wanna take the chance.

 

[bultinkle]

Because a hunter should practice with whatever cartridge he intends to hunt with. That's a given, but the choice of cartridge is a more personal choice based on experience and/or research.

Sure they should.

The concept is a given, the reality is not always the same. Lot of "that's my elk guns" out there that get dusty and doped and then set away because they suck to shoot. I see it all the time on here where people are told to have a trainer gun that doesn't suck so much to practice with, and save less rounds a year for the big one.

If OP had a 243 this would be more useful, and maybe more appropriate but they don't.

I'll bow out, my opinion is clear at this point I believe. Op should spend time and money on ammo and practice. He could buy 4 cases of norma match for less than a new rifle and scope and go into hunting season ready to rock. People will spend thousands buying their guns performance and pennies buying theirs

 

[Taco John]

Somewhere on here I read:

"Don't select a cartridge that will work when everything goes right. Select a cartridge that will work when everything goes wrong."

There is certainly some logic to that idea.

Yep, if something goes just a hair wrong , and you let them get their adrenaline up, it's going to be a nightmare. We'll a nightmare for you....for the scavengers it will be a party.

 

[parshal]

Given an unlimited choice of rifles in any chambering; what would you consider to be the ideal cartridge for hunting elk in an unknown location and climate?

6.5 PRC. Big bulls, too. Bringing it to Africa next month.

I have a 300 PRC I built for ELR competition but I'd rather bring the 6.5 anywhere. Less recoil and I can see where I hit in the scope and follow up the shot if I have to. But, I've never had to it the bullet went where expected.

Not an elk but I shot a Baelarian Boc a few weeks ago with the guide's 7 Rem Mag at 100 'ish yards. It ran 200 yards with a perfect shot and those are only 130 'ish pounds. Bullet was a Norma 160 Tipstrike.

When I told my buddy who is a guide he said he's seen that with every caliber. You just don't know how the animal will react and it doesn't matter the caliber. Just hit them in the right spot.

 

[cabelasken]

I've seen animals react very differently when hit when they are just grazing to. those that are fleeing the country or posturing for a fight. A good many of the animals that are amped up will not simply fall over, even from a good hit with a good bullet, but those struck when mildly grazing will not take a lot to push them over. Where I hunt, it is usually on public land with a lot of competition from other hunters and the animals are always on edge. The first bull I took absorbed a perfect double lung shot but still ran 75 yds straight at me. He was being pursued by a party of hunters several hundred yds below my position. When the bull finally died 50 yds from my perch, I noticed another hunter standing 10 ft behind me asking where the bull went, so I pointed to the downewd bull 50 yds below. Had that bull stayed on his feet another 5 seconds, that hunter might have been able to get off a shot and then we would have had to decide who killed it. If I've learned anything thru 60 years of hunting it's that bulls with their adrenaline up can stay on their feet a long time after being struck by a bullet. Cows are different - they react much like deer.

 

[Raudy707]

300 Winnie 200 grain or > bullets just work like peas and carrots. I've killed 8 bulls with the 180 Partition. No complaints.

 

[blacktail 8541]

**** a part of me was secretly wanting everyone to say go bigger

GO BIGGER!

 

[DesertDweller62]

Shot placement and bullet construction is more important than using a larger caliber. Knowing your limitations on distance is also important. Putting your bullet in the correct spot is key. Using a rifle and caliber that allows you to shoot it accurately and with confidence is by far more important. DD62

 

[Dirtrax]

These threads are always entertaining. If you're wanting a new rifle buy it and then convince your wife after the fact. I can only imagine what is going thru your head having never been on an elk hunt. They are big animals and big guns add a level of confidence imo. 300wm/PRC class cartridges are undeniably proven performers but not absolutely necessary. My last bull was taken at 35yds with a 450 bushmaster from an AR, DRT with a high shoulder hit. Having a good idea of what kind of shot you will be taking helps in the decision about what gun/cartridge to use.

 

[LTH181818]

Holy hanna there is a world supply of BS and lack of experience spewing forth here! Killing elk just isn't the rocket science most on this thread are trying to make it. Way too little experience in killing elk for a lot of the people responding like they do/did.

High shoulder shots being sketchy with something a 6.5 PRC (basically a 6.5/06, 270 type of load) is nothing but pure horse apples!

People need to exhibit a bit of cool and take good shots, surgical placement is your friend no matter if you're using a smallish or a big round! And the big rounds absolutely do not guarantee a quick down and out knock out!

Far and away the quickest killing rounds I've been around in the last 44 years of elk killing and guiding people to elk as well hunting with friends and observing them put elk on the turf (the number is well into the triple digits is all I'll say) have been the 25/06, 6.5/06, 270, Big 7's, the big 30's and the big 340 Wby. Keep in mind we've kept our shots to 700 or less, even though a lot of the country we hunt one could go for a long freaking way, we work to get to 700 or less or the elk win is the way we look at it. And I've seen zero diff between how quickly that group took them down.

I've known a ton load of elk taken out with 243's, Swift's and 22/250's. Once again, skilled hunters who are patient and stick a bullet in the right place. Pretty much all of the elk taken with the various 22's have been 55 Horn's w/c, 60 Horn HP and SP and 63 Sierra as well the 55 and 60 NSB. Nothing special to them, tuck it in behind the front and viola they're headed to Croak City Wyo!

Two falls ago after the season I took the scapula's off my elk and hung the bone's on the target butt in front of a fresh target. 100 yards away the 60 Horn HP and the 63 Sierra both punched thru and made nice neat wholes thru the paper behind. Not a great test but it showed that if I needed to they'd punch thru and be in good shape to tear up the lungs. Lungs torn up, game over!

I filled my tag this last fall at a bit over 300 yards, 63 Sierra (22/250) tucked in behind the left front, exited low on the shoulder (elk was a bit downhill from me). Said volunteer ran a short ways 20 yds or so and hit the turf! Most of the time you won't get a quicker kill than that with any round, big or small.

Lastly, I'll close up with and get it right out front before someone brings up the whole old story of "yeah but the residents have the luxury of hunting all season" line of bull. Pretty much each and every elk hunter that I know or talk to in the course of the years who are coming to hunt elk have way more time in the week or so they're here than pretty much all of the residents do that I speak with. Plus a goodly share of the non residents are hunting guided and on private land and that gives them a monster leg up. So yeah the non resident hunters can use the same rounds as the residents do and don't need the big boys to get the job done like so many preport.

I've went on long enough, now if you wish to buy a new rifle I totally get that. But don't talk yourself into any of the bs that you need a bigger round than the 6.5 PRC for elk. That's simply crazy talk!

Please post this each time there is this discussion.

 

[Plinker147]

So perfect elk gun for me is 280AI shooting 175 Berger EH and I have shot a lot of elk. Ballistically speaking not much different that 6.5 PRC shooting 156. I've used them all I chose a rifle pleasant to shoot, light weight build with enough down range punch I can shoot some distance.