Best Rifles for Elk hunting

THE BEST ELK RIFLE

It’s been the subject of years and years of debate and discussion by trophy elk hunters that are hunting the elusive trophy bull elk that inhabit the wide open spaces of Arizona and the American West where 500 plus yard shots can be required to be successful while hunting giant bull elk. What is the best elk rifle? Is there a an elk rifle caliber out there that shoots flat, hits hard, and can fire bullets both light enough and heavy enough to successfully dispatch trophy elk at the long ranges that are found in the Western United States? Can this elk rifle and it’s ammo be found easily in most gun shops and sporting goods stores without having to go through the time consuming and sometimes frustrating process of reloading ammunition or having to order a hard to find custom rifle that may cost thousands of dollars?

LONG RANGE ELK RIFLES

Look no further for the perfect answer to all of the above questions for the best elk rifle: The .300 Remington Ultra Magnum. This elk rifle caliber is perfectly capable of meeting all of the above requirements with factory rifles and factory ammo that can be easily found in most of todays gun shops and sporting good stores. What makes this elk caliber stand out in our eyes is what is stated in the previous sentence. You can get incredible long range performance and accuracy in this elk rifle caliber from factory rifles and factory ammo. Let’s take a look at one of our personal .300 Remington Ultra Magnum elk rifles and how it’s set up.

LONG RANGE ELK HUNTING RIFLES

We ended up choosing a Remington Sendero PSS elk rifle in an all black finish with an H-S Precision synthetic stock. This rifle features a 26 inch heavy bull barrel and a crisp 2 pound trigger and this elk rifle is completely stock the way that it came off the store shelf except for the trigger that was lightened up by one of our local gunsmiths. The only drawback to this great long range elk gun is that it is extremely heavy. It can get very heavy to pack all day in rough elk terrain but that extra weight is well worth it for the stability and steadiness that it offers when shooting trophy bull elk at extremely long ranges out in the field.

For a scope we chose a Leupold 6 x 18 -40mm VXII scope with tactical turrets than allows any elk hunter to quickly dial this long range elk rifle in for ranges out to 1, 000 yards. A Pivoting Harris bipod completes this long range elk rifle setup. All of these items that we have mentioned for this long range elk rifle can be easily found in just about any neighborhood gun shop or sporting goods store.

ARIZONA ELK OUTFITTERS

For ammo we shoot Remington Extended Range factory ammo with the 150 grain Swift Scirocco bullets. With these factory loads our long range elk rifle chronographs at exactly 3, 500 feet per second at the muzzle. That is extremely impressive performance for an all factory elk rifle and ammo setup. The accuracy that this long range elk rifle setup also produces is second to none. It definitely is loud and you will feel the recoil but it isn’t anything that is unmanageable with some practice.

THE BEST RIFLES FOR ELK HUNTING

The .300 Remington Ultra Mag. can handle bullets up to 250 grains with great speed and accuracy which makes it ideal for all of the trophy elk hunts that are found in Arizona and the Western United States. The .300 Remington Ultra Mag. is the long range elk caliber that was responsible for one of the best long range elk harvest shots that we have personally witnessed while guiding Arizona elk clients in the field.

RIFLES FOR ELK HUNTING

During one of the late season bull elk hunts in Arizona, we were fortunate enough to be guiding a great father-son team that both carried .300 Remington Ultra Mags that were perfectly set up for long range elk hunting in the wide open spaces of Arizona. To be honest, we were a little skeptical when we were talking to these elk hunters before and during their hunt as they were reassuring us that they were very accurate out to 1, 000 yards with their elk rifles. We have had a lot of Arizona elk hunters come into camp talking a great big game of how they can shoot and hit things a mile away only to end up totally bombing easy shots at trophy elk at ranges under 300 yards. Both of these Arizona elk hunters shot great groups at 100 yards when we checked their elk rifles before the hunt but shooting at trophy elk in the field and shooting off a bench at close range are a night and day difference to say the least. We took their 1, 000 yard confidence in their weapons with a grain of salt and concentrated on finding both of them some good Arizona bulls.

ELK HUNTING RIFLES

A good looking bull we decided to shoot appeared on day 6 of the 7 day elk hunt and the stalk was underway. The bull was feeding with a couple of other elk on a distant hillside and halfway through the stalk it became apparent that the terrain was not going to allow us to get very close for a shot. The closest that we could get to these Arizona bull elk without losing a visual on them was 746 yards. Any closer and the elk were lost to us in an ocean of cedar trees with no way to keep visual contact on them. One of the elk hunters promptly said that he felt comfortable and confident with the extreme range so we quickly got his long range elk rifle set up for the shot.

THE BEST ELK RIFLES

The bipod came out, our client dialed the turrets on his scope to 746 yards, and we waited for the elk to turn broadside. After a few minutes the bull finally turned and he turned the first shot loose. Perfect hit. We told him to hit him again so he fired another round. Another perfect hit. The bull was just getting ready to go down when he fired again. Make that 3 perfect hits now. At 746 yards. Off a bipod. In the field. At a live elk in the field. Damn.

At that range and in the cold weather we were able to watch all 3 of the bullet’s vapor trails fly through the air and land perfectly into the elks vitals. We would have called big time BS on this had we not been there to see it. Upon inspecting the elk we found that two of the shots were complete pass throughs and one bullet was perfectly mushroomed just under the skin on the opposite side of the bull. Amazing.

ARIZONA ELK HUNTS

Give the .300 Remington Ultra Magnum some serious thought if you are in the market for a new long range elk rifle this year. You won’t be disappointed.