Most of us don’t live with big bull elk in our backyards. Unless you’re lucky, elk hunting requires extensive planning and significant financial investment.
Elk tags aren’t just expensive. You might not even draw one for your favorite area this season. Chasing bulls is no easy task, either, which is why you can’t trust what might be a once-in-a-lifetime shot to a subpar cartridge.
There are dozens of elk-worthy ammo options on the market. The following are my top picks after speaking with elk hunting experts (I also have some experience hunting elk in Oklahoma). When I finally do end up with a Boone and Crockett bull in my crosshairs, I want one of these capable cartridges in my rifle’s chamber.
How We Chose the Best Ammo for Elk Hunting
Crowning a single cartridge “The King of All Elk” isn’t possible or practical. While a short-action cartridge in a lightweight, fast-handling rifle might be perfect for jumping bulls in thick woods, it isn’t at all suitable for long shots across hundreds of yards of alpine meadow. And while magnum rifles might be nice for long-range shots, they aren’t particularly fun to haul through rough Western backcountry. (I won’t even mention how brutal they can be on the shoulder.)
With that in mind, this list of the best elk hunting cartridges features entries that are better for certain terrain, situations, hunting styles, and personal preferences than others.
A few other factors to consider when choosing the best cartridge and ammo for elk hunting are rifle weight, portability, recoil, accuracy, price, and availability.
Price and availability are my least concerns. I won’t fire that many rounds, so a single box of ammo will last me a while. My bigger concerns are: rifle weight and portability, because I don’t want to lug a cumbersome rifle all over the mountains; recoil, because I don’t go hunting to get punched in the shoulder; and accuracy, because I want to make the shot count when given the opportunity.
For a broader look at how these cartridges compare across North American game, see our hunting caliber chart and our guide to the best big game caliber.
Quick Note: Although some shooters use the words “caliber” and “cartridge” interchangeably, they refer to different things. “Caliber” is the diameter of a projectile (or the bore of the barrel the projectile travels through), and is generally measured in fractions of an inch. The word “cartridge” refers to an entire unit of ammunition: bullet, case, powder, and primer. In this article, we discuss the best cartridges for elk hunting.
The Best Elk Hunting Cartridges
The best elk hunting cartridge is the 300 Win Mag. It’s readily available and offers elk hunters plenty of range. However, there are many other quality cartridges capable of ethically harvesting big bull elk.
| Category | Product | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Best 300 Win Mag Round for Elk | Hornady Precision Hunter 200 Grain ELD-X Top Pick | View→ |
| Best 6.5 Creedmoor Round for Elk | Winchester Expedition Big Game Long Range 142 Grain AccuBond LR | View→ |
| Best 6.5 PRC Rounds for Elk Hunting | Barnes VOR-TX LR 127 Grain LRX BT | View→ |
| Best 6.8 Western Rounds for Elk Hunting | Winchester Ballistic Silvertip 170 Grain Rapid Controlled Expansion Polymer Tip | View→ |
| Best 7mm Remington Magnum Round for Elk Hunting | Black Hills Gold 154 Grain SST | View→ |
| Best 30-06 Rounds for Elk Hunting | Federal 165 Grain Trophy Copper | View→ |
| Best 308 Rounds for Elk Hunting | Hornady Precision Hunter 178 Grain ELD-X | View→ |
| Best 270 Rounds for Elk Hunting | Remington HyperSonic 140 Grain Bonded PSP | View→ |
| Best 338 Win Mag Ammo for Elk Hunting | Hornady Precision Hunter 230 Grain ELD-X | View→ |
#1: .300 Winchester Magnum
If you like the .30-06, you’re going to love the .300 Win Mag. This standard-length cartridge offers a smidge more horsepower than the .30-06. That means you can stretch your shots a little farther without sacrificing accuracy, efficacy, or ethics.
Elk have heavier bodies than whitetail or mule deer, so having a little extra oomph behind that .30 cal bullet is a major plus.
The .300 Win Mag pushes a 180 grain SST to a lightning-fast velocity of 3,130 fps. The same bullet leaves the muzzle of a .30-06 at only 2,820 fps. That added cruising speed means the .300 Win Mag bullet drops 10 inches less than the .30-06 at 500 yards.
This flat-shooting cartridge is also available with heavier bullets. That means an even more predictable trajectory, with better wind resistance and downrange striking energy to boot.
To get the best performance out of your hunting rifle, choose .300 Win Mag loads with 200 grain bullets. If you can get your hands on something heavier, all the better.
The .300 WM’s higher-level performance will cost you, however. Rifles chambered in .300 Win Mag are relatively long, heavy, and hard-recoiling. While .300 Win Mag produces a bit heftier recoil than .30-06, its kick is still within what most serious elk hunters can manage.
For a load-by-load breakdown, see our guide to the best 300 Win Mag ammo for elk and the full 300 Win Mag ballistics tables, while our 300 Win Mag vs. 30-06 comparison measures the gap described above.
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