Best Elk Caliber,is there one?

[MRP]

NO best caliber!
NO best rifle!
No best bullet!
Yes best shot placement✓.

[GEF]

A well placed shot from a 22 long rifle will kill most anything that doesn’t make it an elk cartridge.
If you talk to any seasoned guide they would tell you to use as much gun as you can manage accurately and consistently.Elk can absorb a lot even with a well placed shot .
Ever one has a recoil threshold that is a combination of caliber ,stock design and rifle weight .
My personal choice for elk is an 8.5 pound 338 .Loaded with 210 Ttsx.May not suit the next guy but I can shoot that combination accurately and consistently . The majority of the hunters make do with what they have .If that is the case be sure and use a good bonded or premium bullet .
Keep in mind most of the Elk hunting in BC is done in grizzly country!

[Downwindtracker2]

Terminal Ballistics. Animal Suffer, too. I practice a lot.

Game dies by disruption of the nervous system , brain or spinal cord hit, or by shock. The term shock is used as a medical term, the loss of blood pressure . The blood fills a large cavity. You blow a large hole in the game and blood drains into it.

I witnessed the effect of bullet diameter in tests at the range. This was 20 years ago but it was so startling, it has remained with me. My buddy was just using a 338WM for everything at the time and was looking for a deer bullet. Wet newspaper correlates very well with the effect game has on bullets . A fellow at the old Barnet range did very extensive study. So my buddy had collected a whole bunch of city phone books, soaked them, wrapped them in garbage bags, and put them in copy paper boxes. He was testing a Hornady SST 225gr (a 225gr to a 338 WM is the same as a 180gr to a 30-06) The bullet failed, it came apart even at 200 meters . As a reward for helping, I got to test a couple of bullets. My test was of 165gr SST and Ballistic Tips. It was a practice load so the boxes were at 50 yards. They worked perfectly, classic mushroom with weight retention, the SST ever so slightly better.
Why had the "same" bullet had utterly failed in a 33 caliber and worked perfectly in a 30 caliber . Impact velocity would have been about the same with the 338 at 200 meter and mine at 50, so it wasn't that. So I asked for 225gr 338 to section and did a 165gr 308 . The 338 had a much stouter build , but not nearly heavy enough to over come the much much better expansion of the 33 caliber over a 30 caliber.

I use 225gr Hornady Interloc in the 338-06 and a 225gr Accubond in the 338WM.

[Bugle M In]

Yes, shot placement is always #1.
I have taken a lot of elk with a 270.
Its works fine, BUT, i would say i had plenty of shots from that 270 that did not go thru and thru.
And if you need to track the game in timber, a shot that dos "not" go thru and thru makes blood tracking really hard.
So, I would say a 300 caliber to be better.
A 30/06 is fine.
I went with a 300 Win Mag.
Now the bullet goes right thru at "longer distances".

[Weatherby Fan]

My dad preferred 22 LR but I insisted that was a little light, I use the 22 Mag(WMR).......and shot placement is key

[GEF]

My dad preferred 22 LR but I insisted that was a little light, I use the 22 Mag(WMR).......and shot placement is key

What kind of flashlight were you using ?

[j270wsm]

I’ve taken close to 2dozen elk and 90% were taken with .277 bullets( 270win or wsm ), 140gr Sierra game kings, hornady interlocks or 130gr tsx. No tracking on any elk, Shots ranged from 60-300yds.

Confidence in your shooting ability, shot distance and placement are far more important than caliber!!

[Bugle M In]

FYI, those shots that did not go thru and thru were longish range....just over 300 yards.
Close range, the 270 aint a problem with thru and thru.
But down range, the 300 Win mag still pounds thru.

[masoncade1992]

I have personally shot over 11 elk , most of which were bulls. I have been part of at least 30+ elk kills.

I have tried multiple calibers( 340 wby, 7mm mag, 300 mag and 28 nosler) ranges of 20-450 yards.

this is what I have noticed:

#1 is shot placement

#2 is bullet construction. I have seen a few elk be lost to poor bullets that we’re placed in the vitals(slight quartering shot). Federal blue box is not good elk medicine. People in our group that shoot partitions, accubonds,Barnes and swift , put game down quick on good shots.

Don’t be stupid and choose a caliber that will give you a disadvantage(like 243) and choose something .277, 7mm,308 or 338 flavor.

good premium bullet in the vitals and elk will die.

[hawk-i]

I'm going use my 300 PRC this year in the Koot's with a 200 gr Accubond !

BC .588, isn't that kinda like putting touring tires on a 4x4?