Common caliber that could kill an elk without being "overkill" for a deer?

.30-06 is tough to beat as a do anything nearly perfect cartridge. Yes, some are more powerful, and some have a flatter trajectory- but the '06 is still around for a reason.

Find it anywhere, relatively cheap. Infinite bullet weights and styles for the reloader. Lots of guns chambered for the cartidge.....etc.

Yes its old. Yes its boring. But if you want to put down any animal in North America reliability the '06 will get it done.

270,308,3006 all are fine and very common and work fine for elk sized game and deer as well.

30/7.62: 308win, 30-06
284/7mm: 7mm08, 280rem, 280AI, 284win
264/6.5mm: 6.5creedmoor, 6.5x55, 260rem, 6.5 PRC
277/6.8: 270win

All have a range of bullets and loads to download for deer and upload for elk.

30-06. Really hard to beat for versatility

Having never shot anything larger (at the time) than a whitetail, I was surprised when my Wife and I vacationed in Wyoming back in July 1976. We spent a week in the town of Dubois and another in Cody; got to meet and know a number of folks in both towns. We always talked of hunting, and probably 90% of the locals I talked with elk hunted with the .270 Winchester. I was thinking the 7mm magnum would be the norm (or something even larger). One older guy just told me, if you can shoot - the .270 will do the job fine, if you can't - well, nothing will work.

<*(((>< said:

30/7.62: 308win, 30-06
284/7mm: 7mm08, 280rem, 280AI, 284win
264/6.5mm: 6.5creedmoor, 6.5x55, 260rem, 6.5 PRC
277/6.8: 270win

All have a range of bullets and loads to download for deer and upload for elk.

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What this guy said. I really enjoy the 6.5 CM. Very accurate, low recoil.

I would say parent case is the right way to look at it, and then by caliber. It’s already been established that 30-06 and .270 are good, as is .308. 7-08 has been touted as an incredible round that fits that bill as well. So long action larger (heavier) than .277 fits the bill and will be the same in the .308 as the two cases perform almost identically. .270-08 never really took off but 7-08 did. That’s the sweet spot of what works. The only thing I would say is a sensible addition would be 45-70 for up close and personal type shooting, but for long range I would skip it. 338-06 is another good one to look at but it never really took off in mainstream either. The only downside to lighter (smaller bore) bullets is that they dont penetrate all that well on big critters.

.270
.30-06

I have only one bolt action rifle. It's chambered in .30-06.

Logwood said:

my Wife and I vacationed in Wyoming back in July 1976. We spent a week in the town of Dubois

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I shot a nice 5x6 bull just NW of Dubois in 1976. Had it processed at the packing house in Dubois.

There is no such thing as overkill.
I believe I heard @MaxP say on "Big Iron", there are no degrees of dead. And the idea that if you use a caliber more powerful than necessary to kill an animal, you waste a substantial portion of the meat is simply false. Any high velocity round that hits bone is going to destroy the meat around it.

With that being said, I'm a fan of the old standby .30-06 for the job you mention.
You can get a good 165 grain load with a bullet like a Nosler Partition or a Swift A-frame and even use the same load for both deer and elk.

I'm in agreement with the general assessment that .30-06 fits the bill for deer and elk. With that having been said, my experience with .243Winchester is it's a good round for deer. Some people, mostly those who only own one rifle, also kill elk with the .243Win. What that means is, while plenty of us don't consider the .243 optimal for elk, it can be done. As with any other cartridge, where you place the bullet makes a world of difference in results. You'll probably also notice this is the first post in this thread where the .243 gets brought up.

Then there's .25-06 which has a much quieter following.

Any of the 26 calibers with the right bullet choice is adequate for elk, but is as small as I'd feel comfortable with. People kill elk with 24 and 25 caliber rifles. I think the 24's and 25's might be near ideal for deer, but just don't shoot bullets heavy enough for me to feel comfortable on bigger game. The 270 (6.8mm) would work just fine too. Realistically just about anything 26 caliber on up to as big as you're comfortable shooting. Choosing the bullet is more important than the cartridge you launch it from

I spent most of my life with a 30-06 and won't say anything bad about the cartridge. It is generally considered the most powerful cartridge that most people can handle. But modern rifles are lighter and the loads faster which means more recoil than our grandfathers had to deal with. Anymore I view the 30-06 as near ideal for game bigger than deer, while still acceptable for deer. The better factory and hand loads for 30-06 are as much as 400 fps faster than the WW-1 era loads, and rifles are 2-3 lbs lighter. A 308 load today is 200-300 fps faster than WW-1 era 30-06, at least 100 fps faster than WW-2 and 1950's 30-06 loads and will still have a little more manageable recoil from lighter modern rifles.

You also need to be honest with yourself about how far you have the skills to shoot. I like the 6.5's, 7-08 or 308 as good all around options anymore. Any of those will have the power and trajectory to kill elk or deer out to 400ish yards. Most people can't shoot that far. Going to 30-06, 270, 280 or similar cartridges just adds about 100 yards more effective range before impact speeds are too slow to ensure reliable bullet expansion. The 7mm and 30 caliber magnums another 100 yards

I've had a LOT of different cartridges over the years. My 30-06's have too much history to sell, but are largely retired. I've sold off anything magnum and anything bigger than 30 caliber.

But what about bear defense?

I kid. I kid.

.300 Savage for the win if you like retro.

30-06. 150s for deer; 180s for elk.

BullHeadedGideon said:

Thank you guys very much for the responses.

So, I see the general consensus is 30-06.

Would this consensus change if I were to say I have, essentially, no experience shooting bolt-actions? XD

I've got a Mosin I've shot a few times, & that's about it. & a .243 (just once lol X )
Would anybody say a 30-06 is "harder" to shoot, or has more recoil than that Mosin? (Rifle version, not carbine).

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Depends on the rifle. Most Mosins kick pretty hard. A good modern rifle with good stock lines in 30-06 will offer less felt recoil than a Mosin. So, that's your next question: what make rifle?

I'll get in early with the T/C Venture as excellent value for money.

If you don't reload i would stick to 270 or 30/06.
That would also depend upon how far you plan you shoot. Longer distance 270 or 30/06. You can find ammo for these two calibers at Walmart or at country Mom & Pop store.
If you are shooting less then 200 yards 243, 7mm08, 308 would be the caliber for elk and deer.


I reload so caliber doesn't matter to me. I hunt whitetail deer back east and my shots are from 40 yards to about 200 yards. I use 243 because I bought a gun in that caliber and loaded for it.

I have several rifles in 223 that I might choose one to hunt with next year at 100 yards of less and take a Remington model 7 in either 7mm08 or a 6mm for the farther shots up to 200 yards..

Personally I wouldn't waste my money to hunt deer here in Washington State. They have a very short season. Cougars; wolves, bears, coyotes and bobcats up your a$$.
All fawn & calf predators. Washington has a annual hunter kill rate of 26,000 deer a year.
New York State is smaller in square miles then Washington State and has a average hunter deer kill
of 220,000.
Pennsylania is smaller in square miles the New York State and has an average hunter kill rate of 330,000 deer a year and more deer get killed by cars.

It cost me right about $300 for a round airline ticktt
A $100 dollars for a NY or PA smsll game and big game license. PA msil in doe tags are $10.
NY doe tsgs are $10 buy them online or over the counter and are transferable.
Last year I hunted New York Stste.. $100 dollars for my hunting licence, $20 for two doe tags and two transfered doe tags. I shot five legal deer and could of shot twelve legel deer if we could of found someone who could of used it.

Hunting here in these liberal states just doen't do it for me.

Other options include the excellent 7x57mm and 8x57mm.

BullHeadedGideon said:

I haven't done much shopping, but I like what I've heard & read about the Savage Axis 2s.

What're your thoughts on those?

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I've never shot one. Others with hands on will chime in.

BullHeadedGideon said:

So, I see the general consensus is 30-06.

Would this consensus change if I were to say I have, essentially, no experience shooting bolt-actions?

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I would say not. There are other options besides bolt actions. Though bolt actions are popular, they are not the end all be all action type people seem to give them credit for.

Plenty of options in the semi auto, pump, single shot, and lever action varieties.

BullHeadedGideon said:

Thank you guys very much for the responses.

So, I see the general consensus is 30-06.

Would this consensus change if I were to say I have, essentially, no experience shooting bolt-actions? XD

I've got a Mosin I've shot a few times, & that's about it. & a .243 (just once lol X )
Would anybody say a 30-06 is "harder" to shoot, or has more recoil than that Mosin? (Rifle version, not carbine).

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Just so you know, that Mosin Nagant in 762x54r is the same power class as all the other catridges folks are recommending. The 180 grain Winchester softpoint loading for it will kill an elk or deer as well as any of them.

Truthfully any rifle from 26 to 35 caliber, with a 140 to 250 grain soft point bullet somewhere in 2500 to 3300 fps is going to pur down deer and elk without an issue. Going smaller is questionable, going bigger is unneeded.

The only real question is one of ergonomics and shooting ability (usually optics makes the big difference here). Pick up any common scoped rifle combo from your local gun store (big box or otherwise) will be perfectly adequate.

** edit -- yes an Axis would work. Seems like you are looking at lowest cost, which is perfectly okay. The guns in this category like Axis, American, and others are good starter hunting rifles which will laat for years. Stay away from the budget remington 770.