What is the THF opinion?
I’m looking for a good medium range elk caliber, 22” barrel plus a suppressor.

Is it a waste to to build a 300 win mag in 22”?

300 Win Mag with 200 grain Accubonds. It's not a waste in a 22" barrel. You could to 30-06 as well.

Medium range, look at 300 WSM as well.

If you go over 30 caliber you're going to have to get a unique can. Plenty of them rated to 300 Win Mag and the caliber will be just fine for what you need.

The best would be the 300 RCM but close second 300 WSM as far as short barrel efficiency.

7 Rem Mag or 7 WSM with a 180 gr.

They will win on foot pounds out of a 22" barrel over the .30 cals mentioned. Higher BC, coming out faster.

Agreed, 7mm wins for your application.

I forgot all about the 300 RCM, there was a time you could pick up a 20" Ruger super cheap in that caliber.

Research what you could run 18” on the barrel length or you will hate hunting in the mountains suppressed with a 22” barrel plus the suppressor length....

Any decent 7mm or 30 cal option with a case that holds about 55 to 75 grains of powder will work well. The rest is personal preference.

I like that answer.

If Recoil sensitive is a possibility look at some of the hot .26x’s or lighter powder capacity .28’s

7mm-08 would fit the bill I would imagine.


lots of kimbers and light mountain guns in that chambering

I built a 338 Win mag with a can. I am totally happy with it. Shooting 250 grain pills. REALLY cool gun.

Went through this recently
I have shorter barreled suppressed rifles that would work for elk, 308 and 7mm08 but didn't have a "big" gun for Elk, etc..
I thought about it a lot and did a lot of research.. came close to doing a 300 WSM at 22" but decided to do a 7mag with a 24" barrel
I run a short 6" can
Only taken it out once but it is very accurate and even with 175g bullets I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to shoot out of an ultralight gun,
Tikka Superlight in a McMillan carbon stock

No it wouldn't.

And Kimbers are over priced for how they shoot.

6.5 PRC

6.5 SAUM

Both with 147 ELD-M. Yes, I know they are labeled target bullets, but I've eaten elk meat killed by that bullet.

300 HAMR?

I have a 7 mm rm McMillian Legacy I have never scoped. It is 24” but thinking about having it cut and recrowned an threaded at 22”
Just having a hard time convincing my self to cut of 2” of a 4000.00 rifle.

Would you JG?

Well I stand corrected then. I guess Randy Newberg is wrong when he reps a howa chambered in 7mm-08. He’s only killed a dozen or more with that rig


And yes I know Kimbers are overrated. Doesent mean they don’t sell a lot of rifles in 7mm-08. I wasn’t suggesting a Kimber at all, I was referring to them chambering a lot of their lightweight guns to that caliber

OP said "medium range" that's 400 to 600 yards. 7mm-08 energy is marginal at those distances.

If you want it shorter, cut it shorter. Especially if you're planning on keeping it. Even if you're not, that 22" barrel will tickle someone's fancy. You're losing maybe 50 fps MV with those two inches. So?

Thanks I am just needing that little shove!
Going to scope it and shoot it first to see if it is all it was built up to be.

I agree 400-600 yards is too far for a 7mm-08.

But wouldn’t short range be 100-150 yards ( 30-30 & 45-70 territory ) and medium range 200-350 and anything past that long range?