The Best Elk Hunting Rifle Cartridges

Whenever you consider elk hunting, you have to seriously consider what ammunition you will be taking to the field with you. But what is the best elk hunting rifle cartridges? With smaller big game species like whitetail or mule deer, you can get away with more flexibility in FPS, total grain weight, and , kinetic energy. But with elk, you have to keep in mind that the animal you’re pursuing can be three to four times as big as the full-sized buck you’re used to pursuing.

Our friends at Field and Stream put together a great breakdown of the top 12 best elk hunting rifle cartridges, which helped to not only highlight the most popular rounds but also some little-known options, so anyone can find the perfect round for them.

Choosing the Best Elk Hunting Rifle Cartridges

But, if you can only choose ONE round to take on elk in North America? The answer – it depends.

For me, it comes down to two options – availability and knockdown power.

.30-06 Springfield

There’s no question that you want to have enough gun to drop an elk, anywhere from a cow to a full-sized mature 6×6 bull. But, having a fancy exotic big caliber gun won’t do you a lot of good if you can barely afford to buy the ammo. So, what better option than to go with the round that has killed more big game in North America than any other caliber? You go with the most popular hunting cartridge in america – the .30-06. This is one of, if not the most common rifle calibers in existence. Are there bigger, faster rounds out there? Sure. But, the .30-06 is every bit a contender with the latest and greatest rounds, and it will drop a bull at 300 yards just as well as any other caliber on the list. My personal favorite bullet is a Nosler 180-grain Partition out of my Remington 700 at approximately 2,600 FPS. Heavier bullets have far better aerodynamics than the lighter loads that tend to be a bit more popular. The last cow elk I took with that setup was a clean pass-through at 325 yards through both lungs, and the cow didn’t go more than 20 yards before expiring. The .30-06 is widely considered one of the best elk hunting rifle cartridges.

.338 Remington Ultra Magnum

The next step beyond the venerable .30-06 is to get bigger. And by bigger, I mean BIGGER. The .338 Remington Ultra Mag (surprisingly excluded from Field & Stream’s list) is a bigger, beefier scaled-up .30-06, with truly impressive ballistics. A 250-grain Barnes TSX going 3,000 FPS ensures that if you are an accurate-enough shooter, any elk you hit in the vitals will be taking a dirt nap, at almost any distance you’re shooting. The .338 RUM is considered the “poor man’s Lapua“, offering the same performance of the popular .338 Lapua, but at a lower cost for both gun and ammo. Take into consideration a highly accurate rifle, high velocity heavy round, and you end up with a big game rifle that puts out almost 5,000 ft/lbs of energy. However, with big bullets come a bigger pricetag. Right out of the box, ammo isn’t cheap. However, if you’re into hand-loading your ammunition (which most .338 RUM shooters are) you can drive the cost down substantially. The last consideration when hefting such a big gun is the recoil. Remember, Newton’s Third Law of Motion applies to rifle recoil. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, if you’re sending almost 5,000 ft/lbs of energy down-range, you’ll invariably feel it in your shoulder. But, if you invest in a quality muzzle brake and recoil pad, you’ll be able to reduce the recoil to the same level as a 7mm Mag or similar.

The fact is, you can argue about elk cartridges until you’re blue in the face. Everyone has their preferences. But, the important thing to remember is that you do your research, take a good long look at your expected terrain, distance shooting, budget, and personal shooting tolerances, and make the decision that is right for you. The breakdown below has the full Field & Stream list. Check out the full article at Field & Stream HERE.  What do you think of the list? Are there any rounds missing? Let us know!

1. 6.5 Creedmoor

2. .270 Winchester

3. .280 Ackley Improved

4. 7mm Remington Magnum

5. 28 Nosler

6. .30-06 Springfield

7. .300 WSM

8. .300 Winchester Magnum

9. .300 Weatherby Magnum

10. 30 Nosler

11. .338 RCM

12. .338 Winchester Magnum