Elk hunting Colorado. LR-308 "too much"?

N

nadrepadre

New member
I'm going elk hunting next month in Colorado with my father and bunch of older guys. Never been after elk before. As I understand it, there is a fair chance I will have to make a long shot. All of my bolt rifles are old sporterized ww2 relics. I do however have an LR-308 16'' with decent optics and I am able to get fantastic accuracy out to 300 yards.

Is hauling a 9lb. semi around the mountains practical? I know that most of the guys will probably jab fun at me asking if I'm going into battle etc. etc. I just can't rationalize dropping a pile of money on a good quality bolt gun that I'm going to rarely use. Any thoughts or recommendations?
 
Be tough and laugh at them instead when they're more tired than you are with their 5lb rifles. Can you carry it comfortably? If so to hell with anyone who mocks you, I carry an M1 and get laughed at until I'm the only one not breaking a sweat after a mile hike.
 
Practical or not if it's your most accurate rifle that's what you take. Just make sure you have the proper size magazine and go hunting. 9 lbs of rifle isn't terribly heavy, now if it was 10+ I'd say it was time to reconsider.
 
9lb rifle isn't bad, it's what's in your pack that counts if your out all day and you have to eat and layer for weather.

My pack weights about twice what my rifle does and good balance and no problems carrying a rifle bolt action nothing hangs up on pack.

Your not picking my rifles and I'm sure not going to pick yours and if your comfortable carrying it and your legal that's all that matters.
 
Nah, 9 pounds isn't too much rifle. I haven't weighed my elk rifle, but I'll bet it's around there. Savage 11, 300 WSM with a 4x Weaver scope. Get a good quality sling, you'll carry the rifle more than you'll shoot it.

Biggest issue you should face is making sure that you've got a pair of boots well broken in before you go.
 
Do whatever works for you.
Your LR308 is a 308 with a 16 in bbl.I suggest you study your velocity at range and keep it above 2000 so your bullet will perform.

At the same time,unless there are serious workmanship problems,"sporterized war relics" are pretty darn good hunting rifles.Most of the WW1 and 2 battle rifle cartridges are comparable to the 308.

I'd go elk hunting with the chopped Krag I have,if I was feeling retro.

Have fun!
 
Most sporterized wwII relics shoot pretty well - whatcha got?

As far as being razzed, only you know whether that will bother you or not.

As far as impractical - IMO yes, in steep terrain - it will work, but not ideal weight-wise at all. How heavy are said sporterized WWII relics by comparison? What's your general fitness level? That's the most important of all.

Chambering is fine; I'd use a heavy-ish (165+), premium bonded or partitioned bullet though.
 
the year I went elk hunting in Colorado I used a Ruger #1A in 270 Winchester with a Redfield 4x scope. this isn't a real heavy rifle but by the end of 3 days of hunting , I swore the next time I went elk hunting the rifle I used would be a couple of lbs lighter. after walking up and down mountains the Ruger started to get really heavy. if you do a lot of walking at 9,000 ft every ounce makes a difference.
 
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