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Randall Meston

Well All.

I'm looking at an Elk hunt for next fall, and thoughts have turned to a rifle & cartridge appropriate to the task. Meaning Western Elk, Montana/Colorado/New Mexico, with a maximum range of less than 1000 yards, but probably 700-800 yards as the higher end. I've done a fair bit of shooting with the 6.5 Creedmore at ranges up to 1000 yards, but it's not an appropriate choice for this hunt. Rifle may, or may not be custom, with a Remington 700 action, exact barrel and length to be determined but no lighter than the Sendero profile.

Initially, I was thinking the 300 WinMag as it's well proven, with plenty of factory ammo, though I do plan on hand loading to optimize with the heavier and higher B/C bullets. Recently I've also had some conversations with some other local folks who are fans of the 300 Norma Mag, which also seems good in terms of ballistics, but possibly over gunned for what I'm looking at. Various 300 RUM rifles seem to be available in my area, but I'm more concerned about the "barrel burner" aspects of that cartridge, and of course I do expect to spend significant time at the range and in practice before any Elk hunt.

Nathan, having seen your more recent newsletter about the new reamers, including the 300 WinMag this might also be a good reason so stay with that one.

So, really I'm looking for thoughts or general input on this from the group.

Thanks in advance,

Randall