Elk Rifle Input Needed

[motrapper]

Weatherby 65rpm or 28 Nosler and if you do not reload you will have one heck of a time finding ammo, and if you want to get into it just try finding all you need now to reload .Try now if you feel lucky

7 Rem or 300 win mag you will always have options and at a much better price

 

[slv hunter]

28 nosler burns up barrels quickly, they have great ballistic capabilities but at a cost. For factory ammo I would go with a 300 wm or rem 7mm mag

 

[DUSTY NOGGIN]

id take the loot and upgrade the optics 270 , but id never talk someone outta getting something new either

7mm RM , alot better chances of getting some ammo right now over the 28 nosler

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Kimber 8400 Montana 6Lbs 13 oz. Jill has one in 270WSM it's a real nice light mountain rifle. they now make it in 300WSM and 300 WinMag.
If your 270 shoots well You can swap out your stock with a light weight carbon/Kevlar stock. Bell & Carlson have some nice light stocks.

 

[waspocrew]

Seekins Havak in 7 RM, 300 WM or 300 PRC and go hunting. Absolutely fantastic rifle and great company. You won't be disappointed!

 

[Bob Wright]

You could save some money and put on a new barrel to get a better rate of twist in the .270 and chamber to the 270AI or go a bit bigger in 280AI. That would be about $700, throated for longer .277 or the .284 bullets if 280AI. That would leave you with $1300 cash to get other goodies.
Just some options.
Either of these would be good open country chamberings. You can always get Hammer bullets in days, versus hit and miss on cup and core.
The other benefit is you can shoot standard 270 Win or 280 Remington ammo without a worry.

 

[sierracharlie338]

300wm or 7remmag for the factory offerings since you don't reload. Put a good brake on it and you will be fine.

 

[Txcowboy50]

If you do not reload, you need to consider ammo availability. I shoot a 300 wby mag and with weatherby factory ammo it shoot less than an moa and over 2000 ft-lbs of energy at 500yds. Good choice for elk

 

[BrentM]

As a non-reloader you might highly consider something you can get ammo for. Literally any 6.5-30 cal is more than fine for elk hunting at reasonable distances. I realize this is a long range hunting page, but since I don't follow the premise of LRH and factory ammo I will say you should just use any reasonable cartridge you can get ammo for. Plenty of elk have been taken with 30-06, 270, 280, etc. My person choice would be a 280AI if I wanted a dedicated elk rifle with close to magnum performance without heavy recoil. It's a nice blend of a lot of things.

 

[KS2506]

Ruger 77 stainless steel 300 Win MAG, OR 338 WIN MAG.

 

[jessej]

I'm not a 300 prc fan boy. But I'll give you my experience with it. Bergara. 24" bbl with their brake. Boringly accurate with Hornady box ammo. Makes 800 yard shots to easy. My 11 year old son and my wife shoots it with ease. I'm extremely impressed with the efficiency of the brake. And before the rona crisis hit, I was buying Hornady 212 eldx box ammo for 38$ a box that prints 4" groups at 800.

 

[extremesolo]

Tikka T3x superlite from Cabelas or Sportsmans in 7mm Mag would be light, accurate and fully capable of taking elk at any range you will likely be comfortable shooting. The gun with whatever scope you want will still be under your budget and ammo would be a little easier to find than some of the less common cartridges.

 

[Deleted member 107796]

IMO, your story is more of a need for a new toy as your 270 will get the job done out here, all day long. Use a tough bullet like a 150 or 160gn partition, a mono or other, and you'll kill elk with an accurate shot. As to the new toy, I love my Tikka T3 lite in 300wsm. No brake needed, only replacing the hard rubber stock recoil pad with Limbsaver #10011. It's a pleasure to shoot and easy to reload for. Good luck with your choice.

 

[7mmTikkaShooter]

Hey Y'all,

I am wanting to purchase a great "big game" rifle. I have deer hunted in Georgia for the past 20 years and I am looking for another rifle to take to the mountains one day. I currently shoot a .270.

My father shoots a .308 and recently took a cow at 320 yards.

I really don't want to go with a big box brand of rifle. Ideally, I would like to buy from a company that stands behind their rifles and provides excellent customer support. I have had friends buy from Beretta, Winchester, etc and if they had any weapon problems, it took them 8 plus months to get their weapon back.

I'd like to keep the rifle under $2000. What caliber? Muzzle brake?

It seems like a lot of folks run some variation of the 300, but then I read a lot of posts that mention that caliber causing folks to develop bad habits and flinching.

Additionally, I need input on a scope that would handle the longer ranges without a problem. Do I need a scope with mil dot, BDC, etc? Turrets for range adjustments?

I am pretty green to all of this and honestly I am quite overwhelmed.

I appreciate your help!

Trapper

Do you have the new gun bug? If so I think we can all understand that. However if you're happy with your 270 then I'd say just shoot that. It's a great all around cartridge. Maybe just dive deeper into bullet selection for elk. If you feel like you still want something bigger then I would say go big enough to make a difference. A 7RM has more energy than a 270 but not substantially enough to warrant a new gun. That said the 7mm bullets seem to live in an efficient sweet spot with ballistics, energy, and felt recoil. Things like 28 Nosler and 300WM start stepping it up a little more energy wise. I've read and heard some good stuff about the 300 PRC but like the Nosler chamberings might be kinda spendy to shoot. The 338's will provide the most kinetic energy relatively speaking but also have a pretty high cost just to shoot and can get pretty heavy. Something to consider when traveling to higher elevations with some rugged terrain. The long and short of it, my opinion is that you already have enough gun especially with the appropriate bullet, but if you feel like you want more then go big and be ready physically.