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What caliber rifle is recommended for a smaller woman who is elk hunting?
This entry was posted in elk hunting and tagged caliber, hunting, recommended, rifle, smaller, woman. Bookmark the permalink.
7mm-08 should do the job.
Well a 7mm is about the same as a .270 so I wouldn’t use one of them on an elk. I would use a ballistic tipped .300 Win Mag or a 30-06 or something along those lines. It will kick alot but just because your small doesn’t mean you can’t handle it. Just make sure you have a nice thick rubber butt pad and a mastery of your shooting technique and you’ll be fine with bigger cartridges.
When in doubt, .50 BMG.
But really, being small doesn’t exclude any certain caliber. With the right muzzle brake, recoil pad, and overall rifle weight, actual felt recoil can be significantly reduced. I haven’t had the honor to shoot one myself but from what I’ve read, the M82 which fires the .50BMG has less felt recoil than a typical .30-06 rifle.
I think you should be more concerned with the particular rifle rather than any one caliber.
270 or 280 is nice.
A 7mm-08 is adequate. A .270 Is also good. Whatever caliber you choose, make sure you are comfortably shooting it.
A .308 should do nicely.
Accurate for hundreds of yards, plenty of dropping power and less recoil than a 30-06.
I live in Alaska. Elk are very much like moose in bone and muscle density.
You need to choose your cartridge based on the animal in question – and not the shooter. For moose and elk the cartridge needs to be capable of performing a ‘Quartering Shot”. This is when the animal is facing away from you (running away) or moving toward you (charging) and your cartridge must be capable of going into the front or rear section muscles and go far enough into the body cavity to break bones and damage vital organs. If the bullet is not powerful enough or capable of this – the animal can run into a place that will make your life a living hell for 2-3 days (or more) to get all the meat required by law to be salvaged.
The obvious choice for minium power – 308 Win and 7mm-08. However – there is the new 300 WSM (Winchester Short Magnum) that could work awesome for you if the rifle is not a lightweight model and has a muzzle brake. The 300 WSM will have extra power – it would help you drop an animal that did not go down on the first shot and is running away – because it shoots so flat, you would have no problem shooting at a longer distance. The extra power could help if you encountered a really big one too.
What ever you choose – remember the laws of physics. The power of the bullet cannot exceed the power/force of the recoil you feel when shooting. This means a lightweight rifle with no scope is going to kick like a mule. And a regular rifle with a heavy scope will kick less, a recoil pad will soften the kick – and a $75 muzzle brake (and $75 or so to intall) is also money well spent in a hunting rifle. I resisted these at first – now I am sorry I didn’t start using them earleir!
Ideally – you should try a variety of rifles to find out makes and models fit you – and determine what is too much of a rifle. There is not sense paying big $$ for the perfect caliber if you are going to miss……… better to have a less than perfect caliber and hit it every time.
Good Luck.
A .270 Win will work just fine.
25-06
Is the smaller woman only to shoot smaller elk?
I ask, because in the next room to me is a woman who is maybe five feet tall, ninety pounds or less, and not bothered by recoil, if the gun fits reasonably well.
I have perfect confidence that I could kill elk with my 7×57, or my 6.5×55, but I wouldn’t choose either.
If I were taking the above-named lady on an elk hunt, I’d likely get her something along the lines of 325 WSM (admittedly not the most popular choice out there), and make sure the rifle fit. The dimensions of the chamber don’t alter the length of pull, so they’re separate issues.
My vote is .280