Lightweight Elk-whomping rifle...

M

Mike Irwin

Staff
I've a friend who queried me on a possible elk rifle.

He wants one that will take an elk (he didn't say what ranges), and is light enough for backpacking 10-20 miles or so in a day.

Suggestions?
 
My suggestion is that tromping 20 miles in a day is a lot, unless one does that type of thing regularly.

I have a .35 Whelen on layaway, that should fill the bill nicely.
 
The next interesting question is ... what is he going to do with an elk that is shot 20 miles into the brush? ;)

Regards from AZ
 
Check the Remington website for info on the Titanium action. In the short-action offerings, it's 5-1/4 pounds. Suggested retail is around $1,189. Not much discount available, per McBride's Guns in Austintatious, as there's only 15% in it...

In .308, with a Vari-X II 2x7, it oughta be just over six pounds, fully dressed.

Art
 
Jeff Thomas raises an extremely valid point.

Nowadays would borrow buddy's NEA 45-70 single shot, take it close to trailhead and close range..........or not bother.

.35 Whelen certainly works well too.

But any good .30 cal in the hands of a HUNTER should do just fine.

Sam
 
The next interesting question is ... what is he going to do with an elk that is shot 20 miles into the brush?
I would imagine that he is going to gut, skin, and quarter the elk. Then make about four trips out with the meat on a pack frame. This is the price you have to pay to get away from the road hunters, the beer drinking hunters, the hunters to fat to hump the hills, the littering hunters, the loud hunters, the slob hunters, and the people who arn't serious enough about it to do the required work. This is not a put down to anyone that doesn't do something like this. I fully understand that many people can't do something like this. I fully understand that the vast majority of hunters have a great time without doing this. I just don't think you can get the same experience as hunting a pristine area pretty much by yourself and obviously this guy doesn't either. Therefore, you pay the price. This may also be the only way to get a trophy in some areas. Big old bulls don't get that way by hanging out by the road during hunting season. That being said, if he is man enough to make not just a twenty mile hump per day, but a 20 mile hump in elk country about four times with a pack frame full of elk, then the weight or size of the rifle shouldn't matter.
 
I have no idea what his hunting conditions will be....

But, I do know that on drives and search and skin missions for whitetail we would frequently walk 10+ miles a day and never get more than 2 or 3 miles from camp.
 
Mike, I know what you mean.

444, I'm not trying to be a smart a$$. [well, maybe just a little bit ... ;) ] I appreciate the sentiment. Years ago, I bought a Jeep, so I could drive the 4x4 roads as far as they went, and then hike in another 5 or 10 miles. Much better experience.

So, if he gets an elk 10 or 20 miles in, and dresses it as we would expect ... (1) is the meat likely to be any good by the time he gets it all out? (2) doesn't he take a big chance with predators taking a lot of his kill?

In sum, aren't there some valid, practical problems with humping too far to find that trophy? I'm learning here ...

Thanks. Regards from AZ
 
Jeff: I was being somewhat of a smart alec myself. The elk I got last year was taken at about 10:00 AM. I gutted it, skinned it, and quarted it (Actually I ended up with 5 pieces). I put the pieces of meat in canvas game bags and took out the first load on a pack frame. By that time it was too late to do any more. I was able to find the rest at the crack of dawn the next morning with a GPS and it had not been bothered by predators. It took me two more trips to get the rest of it out. As I was within 100 yards of the truck with my last load, my buddy walks out of the woods grinning from ear to ear. He said, I got one, I said where, and he points to the top of the mountain. I almost cried. However, his elk was easy. It was on top of the mountain, but it was on the south side where the cover was much more sparse. The terrain was so steep it was like climbing a ladder; like 60 degrees. We rolled the gutted elk onto a tarp, wrapped it up and were able to slide it to within about 100 yards of the truck. Of course the problem there was holding the elk back from sliding down the hill. Of course every 20 yards or so there was a fallen tree or something we had to go around, but it was relitively painless. I think that heat could be a factor, but it has never been for me. I wonder though about bears, I have never had a problem, but I am sure I could. By the way, on this particular hunt, I wasn't anywhere near 20 miles in. Since you are from Arizona, this particular hunt was in the White Mountains around Pinetop. A month before that we were hunting in Colorado, and it was a different story all together as far as distances from the truck and all that. We were easily 20 miles from the truck, but we took an ATV on a dirt road about half the distance.
 
Addendum to my post above about walking...

By the end of a day, my sporterized 1903-A3 with scope, weighing a little over 10 pounds, felt like a freaking sack of bricks.

I know exactly where my friend is coming from on this one.
 
Mike, my rifle feels like that before the end of the day. By the end of the day, that is what my feet feel like.
 
Remington Custom KS Mountain Rifle

I have a Remington Custom KS Mountain Rifle Chambered in .338 Win Mag.

It is a Left Hand Action with a Mountain Rifle Profile Barrel, Total weight of the rifle with a leupold 1.5-6x42 LPS scope is around 7.5 Lb's.

Big Enough for the long Shots and sturdy enough for the grizzly bear around here.
 
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A Marlin Guide Gun just might do the trick depending on his hunting style and the likely range of his shots.
 
After using a .30-06 Rem 700, I trimmed down to a M7 in .308 with the 18.5" bbl w/a compact 2X8 - right at 7lbs ready to go. I shoot Barnes X to make up for any possible lack of umff.

Kills 'em just as well.

One thing I've learned about elk is you can carry way too much stuff in your pack (one doesn't need 5 knives & a hatchet) AND looking is much easier than walking (+ you'll see more game).
 
Have you considered a Contender Carbine?

So far as light but powerful rifles go, the Thompson/Center Contender in carbine format weighs under five pounds. Plus, since it's a single-shot, you don't have the wasted length in the receiver, so you end up with a shorter package for the same amount of barrel length.
Probably the only factory-issue caliber sufficient for elk would be the 45-70, however, if you handload, there's a whole ton of wildcat options out there, dozens of which would be sufficient for elk (.375JDJ, .309JDJ, etc.)
The receiver and stock would run you about $350, then between $200-300 for a good custom barrel in an elk caliber, new or used.
There's a Contender fan-site up at www.singleshooters.com

I have one in 45-70 myself, and it's an amazingly handy little rifle.
 
Second vote for Thompson

I have the Encore carbine in 45-70 and it's a very neat little gun. I guess the Contender is even lighter.

Mine will group under an inch at 100 yards with the Winchester 300 grain soft point.
 
short light powerfull

I thought this would have been an obvious answer, well then I'll give it. Have him look into the win 300 WSM. If ever there was a perfect package for an elk rifle this is it. My Browning composite stalker 300 WSM weighs in at 7.5 lbs with a tasco silver antler on it in leopold mounts and rings. with it's short action and 23 inch bbl. it is short and light yet packs a wallop.:D
 
I've got a Tikka Whitetail Hunter (synthetic) in .338 Win. mag. on which I mounted a Tasco World Class 3-9 x 50 scope. Total package weighs in somewhere between 7 and 7 1/2 pounds.

Still need a recoil pad for that baby though. How much weight do you figure that would add? ;)
 
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