6.5 Swedish Mauser, 155 grn. Lapua Mega vs AZ Elk

[AZ Jim]

My son drew a bull elk tag with me this year and has been dying to try out his 6.5 Swedish Mauser on what would be his first bull elk. Well the results are in, and it did a great job. Being that some would consider the little Swede light for elk, I purchased some 155 grn. Lapua Mega ammunition for him to use. Across a small canyon at 175+ yards the bull dropped in his tracks. The bullet was placed high lung / shoulder. The bull stayed down for what seemed like a couple mins., started thrashing, slid down the hill out from under some trees, got up ran 50 yards and piled up dead. I recovered the a piece of the jacket and it seems like the bullet performed as advertised. There was a quarter sized exit wound on the offside. The bullet expended the majority of its energy inside the bull. The bull was a non typical 4x6

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AZ Jim

 

[inchr48]

Nice job! Lots of dead critters in Europe from that caliber.

 

[snoopdogg]

Hell yeah--congrats to the boy and good job on teaching him right.

 

[Navy SWO]

Nice job! Congrats to your son. I love that rifles in that caliber and have one for me and one for my kids. I took a very large cow in Wyoming a few years ago with a 120 gr Nosler Accubond. It worked like a champ too.

 

[Bossbrott]

Couldn't agree more! Great medicine.

 

[thewolfman]

The smile...that smile don't lie...he had a good hunt...thanks for sharing.... big congrats

 

[AZ Jim]

Thanks all for the nice comments. Sorry I have not had a chance to respond. I have been helping some friends on a cow elk hunt. I will post those pictures soon.

AZ Jim

 

[Sigma]

Hello Jim,

Nice report and great results with the Swede. The Swede sure does penetrate! What type of rifle was your son using, it looks like it may have a 24" barrel, Weatherby Vanguard?


I took my Tikka T3 with the same loads to CO for 3rd rifle hoping for success, but it was disappointing that no elk were to be seen. I did see a lot of other hunters to compete with! It was a pretty disappointing hunt experience all in all. So tag soup for me.

Here's to your success and your son's first bull elk.

 

[Bubblehide]

Congratulations, to both of you! Your son's smile says it all!

 

[AZ Jim]

Sigma,

He was using a customized model 96 Swedish Mauser military rifle. Timney trigger, bedded action, bell and carlson stock, barrel turned and trimmed down, target crown with a Burris scope. It shoots real nice and is very accurate.

AZ Jim

 

[Sigma]

Very nice! Those Swedish Mausers are great to sporterize. The only two guys I saw in CO get anything had crampons and went up to 9500ft to get at them, where they were holed up in some timber. I didn't have crampons with me, so no dice with regular boot soles.

Any suggestions for next year?

Again, congrats and great results with the Swede! :smiley_green_with_e

 

[baco]

Congrats to your boy

 

[AZ Jim]

Sigma,

not familiar with Colorado, but if you are rifle hunting I hear it is one of the easier places to drawn for or even buy over the counter tags. I have heard similar stories to yours about the success rates there also, and that it depends a lot on the weather and public land hunting pressure. Arizona has some good units with great bulls. The better the unit the harder it is to get drawn. Late rifle hunts are easier to get drawn for than the early rut bow and muzzle loader hunts of course. If you are not after the biggest bulls, your options open up. The late hunts are harder (lower success rates), because you are dealing with colder and unpredictable weather in late Nov. thru mid Dec. and the elk hit their winter range that is in thick juniper, so you have to kick them out of their beds or catch them in the open at first or last light. I will PM you with some suggestions on some units you might want to look into if you decide AZ.

 

[VHRAM]

Congrats to your son !