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What's your elk rifle and cartridge?

Browning A Bolt Titanium in 308, federal 165 trophy bonded, with a Leupold VX3 2.5-8. Backup is either the 270wsm or 300wsm, also brownings.
 
Ruger #1 in 9.3x74R now topped with a Leupold VX3i 1.5x5. Haven't taken anything with it yet, but it's my favorite for hunting timber & dark grizzly country. Loaded with either a 250 or a 286 grain Barnes TSX and a case full of RL 17 (250 gets to around 2600 fps, 286 is around 2350).

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338 Win mag in a Winchester made P14 Action with a Leupold VX3 4.5x14x40 scope. 225 grain TTSX with around 68-70 grains of RL 19 (IIRC) scooting along at 2850 FPS.

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This year it's the left handed Ruger M77 in 30-06 with a Schmalts Leupold VX3i 3.5x10 CDS duplex shooting a 165 grain TTSX with 58 grains of IMR 4350 (right around 2850-2900 fps)

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My set up is a Rem. 700 in 7mm mag. Preferred ammo for elk is 175 grain Core-Lokt. Works great on cows and bulls. I will ad that since I won the Nosler ammo give-away here last year I now have a good supply of loaded 140 grain Accubond and I will be using those for quite some time, I'm sure they will do the job as well.

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Hi all,

I'm sure I can sift through the responses to get a feel for this question, but I'm curious about two things. My father is sick and has always wanted a Browning X-Bolt for himself, but it doesn't look like he will be hunting again. He still wants to get one for myself and my brother to share and pass down to our kids. He seems to be stuck on the X-Bolt, which seems fine to me as it seems like a great gun. So my two questions:

1) If you have an X-Bolt, do you feel it was worth the money? Have you felt good about the quality and durability?

2) If you were to choose a cartridge from a blank slate, what would it be? I currently run a .308 and feel good about that caliber but have also heard good things about 6.5 creedmoor and would be open to other suggestions. I would want enough versatility to use the gun for (primarily) elk, mule deer almost as often, and pronghorn on a less frequent basis. I've currently capped my shot distance for myself at 300 yards but would like to push that out closer to 400.

Thanks for any insights!
I have an xbolt in 300wm that I really like, will eventually get another in 308, I think it would make an excellent versatile rifle for you
 
I have an xbolt in 300wm that I really like, will eventually get another in 308, I think it would make an excellent versatile rifle for you
Agreed, I shoot a 300WM and have taken everything from antelope to moose with it. Easy to use a heavier/lighter weight bullet especially if you get into hand loading ( though I shoot 180g Accubonds for everything).
 
My old go-to is a .300 RUM Rem 700 LSS without the L. I put a Bell and Carlson stock on it that I love. Plain old 180g NPs over H1000 have never given me reason to try any other bullet. I've taken elk with it from 80 to 550 yards. I don't seek out long shots on purpose, sometimes it just shakes out that way. You can shoot short with a long-shooter but you can't shoot long with a short-shooter. I have a newer Kimber .300 WSM that I really like, but it's so light I still have a hard time shooting it as well as my RUM. So you can guess what I carry when it counts.

 

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