What is the max range of my elk hunting load?

What is the max range in yards?

  • under 250

    Votes: 33 9.6%
  • 250

    Votes: 6 1.7%
  • 300

    Votes: 19 5.5%
  • 350

    Votes: 14 4.1%
  • 400

    Votes: 35 10.1%
  • 450

    Votes: 37 10.7%
  • 500

    Votes: 43 12.5%
  • 550

    Votes: 3 0.9%
  • 600

    Votes: 29 8.4%
  • 650

    Votes: 11 3.2%
  • 700

    Votes: 21 6.1%
  • 750

    Votes: 12 3.5%
  • 800

    Votes: 26 7.5%
  • 850

    Votes: 5 1.4%
  • 900

    Votes: 5 1.4%
  • 950

    Votes: 4 1.2%
  • 1000

    Votes: 7 2.0%
  • over 1000

    Votes: 35 10.1%

  • Total voters
    345
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It wasn't a typo but it was the wrong info. The stated info was for the 185's. The 210's are running a good bit slower at 3450 fps. I run the 210's at 3450 with 98 grns of H1000, the 185's at 3650 with 102 grns of H1000 and the 155's really sizzle at 3970 fps with 108 grns of H1000.

Not a rocket but it'll shoot!
Now I'll be the first to admit that as yet I've never loaded for .300Rum but... .

According to the data I got from Berger after reading your post 84.4gr of H-1000=96% of case capacity.

How are you tamping in 20 plus more grains of powder and seating a bullet on top of it and not blowing it up?

I won't be moved into my new place and set up to reload again until probably late spring or I'd be trying to work this out for myself so I'll have to rely on your expertise and experience vs what Mr. Berger is telling me.
 
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Blackknight, I had 300 rum and with 96 grains of retumbo I ran at 3150 fps. I think you better be checkin your chronograph if your getting that kind of speed.

Retumbo an H1000 are alot different... Also how long was your barrel, how long was the throat, what was your overall length, how far out were you seating the bullets, how far away were you from the lands in the barrel? I REALLY doubt that we would be comparing apples to apples in some of these measurements.

Now I'll be the first to admit that as yet I've never loaded for .300Rum but... .

According to the data I got from Berger after reading your post 84.4gr of H-1000=96% of case capacity.

How are you tamping in 20 plus more grains of powder and seating a bullet on top of it and not blowing it up?

I won't be moved into my new place and set up to reload again until probably late spring or I'd be trying to work this out for myself so I'll have to rely on your expertise and experience vs what Mr. Berger is telling me.

Guys, I was sure that I would raise some eyebrows when I posted the figures and even some would pull the ******** card out and put it on the table. Oh well, believe what you will and think what you may... but when you get ready to really find out if its the truth or if its BS, If you'll come on down to my neck of the woods, we can pull a few bullets, weigh some charges and fire off a few rounds. Hell even bring your own chronagraph. I've put the loads through 4 different ones and the numbers come out the same. But when you come, dont show up empty handed. Bring a fistful of money, (cause we going to make some hefty wagers on the figures I posted) and be ready to apoligize for calling me a liar. I'll be happy to accomidate anyone if they want to visit...
 
Retumbo an H1000 are alot different... Also how long was your barrel, how long was the throat, what was your overall length, how far out were you seating the bullets, how far away were you from the lands in the barrel? I REALLY doubt that we would be comparing apples to apples in some of these measurements.



Guys, I was sure that I would raise some eyebrows when I posted the figures and even some would pull the ******** card out and put it on the table. Oh well, believe what you will and think what you may... but when you get ready to really find out if its the truth or if its BS, If you'll come on down to my neck of the woods, we can pull a few bullets, weigh some charges and fire off a few rounds. Hell even bring your own chronagraph. I've put the loads through 4 different ones and the numbers come out the same. But when you come, dont show up empty handed. Bring a fistful of money, (cause we going to make some hefty wagers on the figures I posted) and be ready to apoligize for calling me a liar. I'll be happy to accomidate anyone if they want to visit...
Let me clear up a misconception. If I were going to call you a liar, I would simply say, "You are a liar".

102 gr of H-1000 is a compressed load. I simply asked how you are tamping in an additional five or six grains on top of it, then seating a bullett.

Some of the figures you post would produce pressures way in excess of 65,000PSI.

Now again, I'm not purporting myself to be an expert but I ask the question how can you do this and do it without blowing up the gun?

You are so far outside the realm of any max loads I can find listed anywhere as to make your loads appear at best extremely damaging if not outright dangerous.

As for your "challenge" if you really are loading these loads no I wouldn't want to be within a hundred yards of you while you are shooting and I'm not the one trying to prove anything here. I'm just asking questions which seem to be very reasonable.
 
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Wow! Funny how people react to a simple question as was queried by this young hunter. Most posts I've read on this site crack me up with the level of ignorance that is displayed. Everybody get on the bandwagon and trash the quarterbore, because lord knows we have so much experience with it in the woods. Too funny. If you have never killed an elk or shot one with a 25 you might want to temper your rants a touch. You have heard or read somewhere that this is not enough gun, but have you witnessed this? I have seen bigger guns fail to kill elk through poor shot placement and sometimes bulllet failure i.e. 7mm 140 gr NBT blowing up on impact. I have noticed a lot of people using these bullets for big game in some threads here and wonder if the gain in bc is worth the sacrifice in terminal performance. I digress.
I have killed elk in four states with a 257 wby in ranges varying from 15 yards to 550. The bullets were 120gr partitions and 100 gr original barnes x. These bullets didn't fail and these elk didn't run off. I am not the first person to carry this caliber with success and certainly won't be the last. The 25-06 will do 95% of what the wby does. Bullet placement is everything to hunting not bore size (obviously to a point). So good luck to you with the pursuit and keep that 25-06 it's a killer. Newbies' .02
 
Sorry if you got offended by the ignorance. I have followed this thread (even posted my opinion) and don't remember a single person saying it won't work. But when you go to a public forum and ask people's opinions, guess what you are gonna get... Their opinions! Right, wrong, stupid, ignorant, unjustified, or whatever. I have the feeling that most guys, myself included, had good intentions. Not trying to flame the guy. Will a .25 cal kill an elk? **** skippy! But so will an ice pick. I know how it is to be using weapons most consider sub-par. I'm expected to make first round long range hits with a 7.62, not what I consider a true long range round. Then defend myself with what is basically a high speed .22, or a 9 mm. Both of which I consider sub-par in combat, especially with the crappy ammo we shoot. Will they do the job? Definitely, but there are much better tools out there. Place the right bullet in the right spot and there you have it. Put the wrong bullet in the right spot and good will eventually come of it...eventually.
Now my question is this, what is more ignorant?
15 some odd pages of people mostly saying there are better tools for the job.
Or you reading 15 pages of opinions and getting ****y about it.

But then again that's your opinion, thanks for posting.
Welcome to the site.

I want to know how the OP's hunt turned out!
 
Bravo, just reread my post and it did come off a bit ****y. Thanks for calling me on that. Some of the earlier posts, I thought, were potshots at the OP not helpful in the least. Also would like to know his results. You must be military, I'd like to say thanks for your service.
 
.................
I want to know how the OP's hunt turned out!

Yep, sure would like to know also. He was doing all the right things there in Jun to Jul 28th to come up to speed on a first CO ELK hunt. He might have gotten married or something or some problems with family may have consumed all his time for this hunting season.

humbleservant, got to respect your attitude! Hope every thing worked out or will work out in the near future.

Good Luck
 
You want to impart energy into the game. The shock wave is like a knock out punch. A bow and arrow is a bleed out where the the animal runs off as far it can. Or like a sickening hunt I was on the arrow shooter actually severed the spine in front of the rear legs and then you have a poor wounded animal running on the front legs and dragging its rear with all horrid death sounds or crying. You just want to blast it to end the misery, but you can't because it's bow season.


Your far column kind of says it all. 591 pounds. Well a big elk might be 800 and smaller bull might be 600+

So you better shoot it about within 20 feet. :) My opinion 2000 foot pounds is very safe with a placed bullet. At 1000 pounds you are like using a bow and arrow.

I respectfully disagree,apples to oranges on arrows.
the strongest bows shooting heavy 450 grain arrows at 300 fps have a little over 100 ft lbs (not at range either) ...so that doesnt float.... but broadheads do the killing, as long as there is sufficient energy to penetrate the vitals.

Now apples to apples... lets take a look at the venerable 45 Auto....230 grain hardball....10 yard shot on a bull elk placed well...750 ftlbs...I know that will do it..(again placement) not what guys typically run out and do but...do you really think that if placed well in the heart lung area it would be anemic...now how about a 44 mag with 300 grain WFN hardcast lead at around 900 ft lbs...these have dumped brown bear and done it adequately.


really need to look at the lowest amount of velocity that your particular .257 bullet your going to shoot will reliably open up and create a decent wound channel.

take a look at the manufactures websites and see what they rec. for min velocity to initiate expansion.


and really the bottom line is shot placement...the further you streatch the cartridge the better you need to be in that respect...but it doesnt work as well the other way around...shoot them in the guts at 100 yards with a 338-378 is still a gut shot.

sorry to ramble on.

Patrick
 
I think every game animal has been killed by every caliber, at every range so I think the discussion of load effectiveness is subject to a lot of opinion based on experiences. I believe your load with a good bullet should be considered to be effective to 500 yards with a hit to the heart/lung on elk. For about 20 years I have used the John Taylor Knock Down formula. He developed it for determining a load's effectiveness on African big game using solid bullets. I have found that it's also a good guide for big game loads using soft points assuming that they are traveling at a velocity high enougH for expansion. The nice thing about the formula is that it takes into account bullet diameter, weight, and velocity at the target. Energy alone can be decieving, particularly if it's generated by using very high velocity with a light bullet.

The formula is: (bullet diameter x bullet weight x velocity at target) divided by 7000

For your load at 500 yards: .257x115x2375/7000= 10

Using this formula a KO factor of 10 is the minimum is would use on elk, and prefer an elk load be in the 15 KO range. For deer sized game I like a KO of 10,

My 6.5x284 is: (.264x142x1850) / 7000 = [email protected] deer rifle.

I know not everyone is going to buy this approach but I have seen a lot of shots having similar energy at the target have very different results on game. Bullet diameter makes as big difference, and if you play around with your load data you will see it.
 
I love my 25-06! It's my go-to rifle for most game and always my first choice for whitetails. That said, a 7 MM Rem mag is borderline adequate for a mature elk. I have seen a premium 160 grain bullet from a 7 MM Rem mag not make it through the shoulder of a LARGE bull elk when shot at almost point-blank range. (Thankfully there was already a round in his lungs!)

I'll never hunt elk again with less than a .300 Weatherby, and I counsel others to do likewise. Elk are BIG animals that can take a lot of injury without flinching. Ideal elk rounds are at least .338 in diameter. Many "missed" elk are really wounded animals that will die 3-4 days later after suffering unnecessarily and lie there & rot if the coyotes don't clean them up.

Yes, there are people who have killed elk with a .25-06, and even with a .243, but I wonder how many more mature bulls would be running around if they hadn't been wounded by a round too small for a humane death.

You should have an elk rifle if you are hunting elk. Borrow if you can't buy. Get a rifle capable of putting a shell through the animal & killing it even if placement isn't perfect. .300 Mags are OK for elk and .338 Mags are better for elk. A .375 H&H is definitely not too big for elk hunting! Leave the .25-06 with someone who is looking for a whitetail or antelope, it's no more appropriate for elk hunting than a .22 is for deer hunting.
 
I don't have the ability to go on this trip unless I use this rifle, due to finances. So, due to the circumstances, I chose to limit my effective shot range rather than miss the hunt all together. That is the reason I started this thread rather than one called "What rifle should I buy for my first elk hunt?".

It's a no brainer! Go hunting and take what you have. Get some good practice in shooting out to 400 yards from prone and sitting off of a bipod and or shooting sticks. Make up some steel silhouettes that are the size of an elk vital area.

It's harder than most people think to shoot accurately at that distance unless you have a good hold and an accurate gun that you have practiced with.

Study up on elk hunting and go have fun.
 
I got in on the end of this discussion so forgive me if I missed something. I'm sure you have gotten a variety of comments, to say the least. I am replying because you have stated that the 25 is what you have, so as the last poster put it, GO HAVE FUN! The one thing that I would say is, bullet choice will be very important when using such a marginal weapon. I have personally killed elk at 450 yards with a 115 partition in a 25-06, no problem, because, as you stated, it's what you have! Good luck......Rich
 
Zero yards. You need to buy an elk rifle.

AGREED!! I watch a guy shoot a cow elk with a 25-06 at 300 yards with a 115 gr. partition. Perfect lung shot and the elk ran for miles and we never did find it. I would have said bad shot placement but i watched it hit. The next day he shot another cow at about the same distance with my 338 wm and was sold. She ran 10 yards and dumped over. When we got back home he went and bought one.

+1 on saving for a BIG game rifle.
 
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