Hey brother, I'm not trying to call you out but am rather perplexed by some of your comments. You don't owe me an explanation, I just find some of your posts are contradictory...at least to me.
You say that you used a BAR 7 mag and it was too heavy (which isn't really heavy on its own) but then say you want to add things like a suppressor. A suppressor, especially a QD mount with brake, adds weight.
Then say you might load it down but the 7-08 isn't enough. Doesn't the 7-08 basically give you mild 7 mag ballistics?
Now the whole paragraph you wrote about whacking elk does throw up a couple of flags to me. If I shoot an elk through the lungs and it only runs 60 yards I would be happy and consider that good performance. I've shot more than one deer through the lungs with a 7mag and 150 ballistic tips at relatively short ranges and have them run for a couple hundred yards. You should only expect bang-flops with a central nervous system hit. Not that a lung/heart won't drop them, just don't expect it. That isn't what sends up a flag, this: "I think I have hit other elk by noting the whack but not seeing any go down" kind of sounds like you didn't go look. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, or it's written in a matter that makes it sound that way? I know elk aren't bullet proof, you don't need a crazy super magnum to kill them, bullet placement is key, yadda-yadda-yadda...but the few experiences I have with elk show that they can absorb a lot of lead and sometimes stand there and look at you like you're stupid.
Am I just off on this?
