Bullets suitable for Elk

HIGHLANDBEAGLES said:
My go to bullet for deer has always been the Hornady Interlock and suspect it will not be nearly adequate for elk ?

Lloyd.
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Not good enough for elk? Did they start getting tougher in the last century?
As a old guy I think mosthy hunters over think the bullets their shooting. If it doesn't come out looking picture perfect every time like the ones in the magazines or gun writers blog it not good enough. The animal died seconds but not instantly rolling over legs in the air its not good enough. I've been using 165 Hornaday for the last 45 years (and so has most of the guys I hunt with), to shoot anything that walks or gets in my way in .308, 3006, 300wm and 300wsm. Nothing ever got away, you do your part they won't let you down.
A little off what your asking but I remember coming across a couple of guys pounding away at a bear hundreds of yards out in a clear cut, hitting stumps, logs and sometimes the bear, all the wile blaming the bullets. More expensive bullets don't make up for bad shooting.
 
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MRP said:
Not good enough for elk? Did they start getting tougher in the last century?
As a old guy I think mosthy huntes over think the bullets their shooting. If it doesn't come out looking picture perfect every time like the ones in the magazines or gun writers blog it not good enough. The animal died seconds but not instantly rolling over legs in the air its not good enough. I've been using 165 Hornaday for the last 45 years (and so has most of the guys I hunt with), to shoot anything that walks or gets in my way in .308, 3006, 300wm and 300wsm. Nothing ever got away, you do your part they won't let you down.
A little off what your asking but I remember coming across a couple of guys pounding away at a bear hundreds of yards out in a clear cut, hitting stumps, logs and sometimes the bear, all the wile blaming the bullets. More expensive bullets don't make up for bad shooting.
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Thank you for the comment. My deer load in the 308Win since 1989 has been 165gr Interlock/ 45.3gr Win 748 @2824fps from a 22" Bbl. More times than not they come out (if I find them) looking like the poster child for the Interlock webpage. I loved the last part of you comment ! My friend often tells me I read too much, he may be right ?
 
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Opportunities of putting a bullet into a bull elk are rare enough for me that I will just use the super premium bullets that are less likely to fragment and come apart if the shot angle isn't perfect.

Have killed bulls with Accubond, TSX, LRX, TTSX, Terminal Ascent and I like what I see
 
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todbartell said:
Opportunities of putting a bullet into a bull elk are rare enough for me that I will just use the super premium bullets that are less likely to fragment and come apart if the shot angle isn't perfect.
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I think that way even on moose, the last one I shot was last year and I used factory Hornady 178gn eldx 30-06 20” barrel at 280m the bullet was I milling a of parts lol the moose went down good enough but still I wasn’t impressed( but the moose died on the spot so I guess I should have been impressed…) I had really good luck with accubonds and partitions, gmx and TTSX over the years in different chambering. I have some ECX loaded up for my 9.3x62, 250gn going 2550fps and really groups nicely at 100m, 1/2” 3 shot groups a few times.
I’m hoping to find a bison to try them on!!
 
I’ve only taken 2 elk in AB with my .308 with 150gr. Winchester XP3 (discontinued) because my set-up really likes them.

I’ve taken 2 moose in northern ON in .270 shooting Federal Trophy Bonded 130gr, again, because my set-up really likes them.

In both situations, I chose speed and shot placement over brute force in grain weight.

Both got the job done, but YMMV. Good luck.
 
For the comments on the nosler ballistic tips, if you step up to the 180 grain bullets in the .308 caliber, they are a completely different bullet that the lighter ones. The wall thickness is vastly different, they almost act like a solid base bullet. I do not hesitate to use them on elk.

To the original poster, every round you mentioned other than the eld-x will work perfectly. The eld-x will work if your ranges are a bit further and you load a heavier version of it. I have taken a few elk with the 220 grain eld-x, and haven't been impressed. A 140 grain nosler ballistic tip out of a creedmoor has dropped them everytime though..

I am a huge fan of most any premium bullet if your rifle likes them. If you find one your rifle likes, use it. The partition, accubond, accubond long range, and the woodleigh weldcores are my favorite big game hunting bullets. I also do use the nosler ballistic tip quite a bit, 95 grain in .243, 140 in .264, and 180 in .308.
 
The thing is that in this day and age with all the social media and hype people think that they need a special bullet for every animal they hunt, this is just not the case, when I started big game hunting over 50 years ago I had a 308 winchester and shot 150gr silver tips for moose, elk, deer and black bear. As things started to evolve I to got a little caught up in the new and improved bullets and I do use them, but to this day no animal I have shot with the new bullets has really noticed the difference, they all died. We have a tendency to over think everything and the more we watch and listen to the so called experts promoting something new and better the more we think.

But hey it's fun trying new stuff, it keeps us buying and burning powder developing new loads
 
I've shot elk with Speer Hot Cor, Nosler Partitions, Nosler Accubonds, Federal Fusion and by far the most with Barnes TSX. In my experience the TSX will penetrate the furthest but to be honest the sample size of other bullets is relatively small to compare to. No noticeable difference in how the elk reacted to the different bullets but again small sample sizes of some. Generally speaking if you put a bullet through the vitals, an elk isn't going far. If you're thinking of taking angling shots where penetration may be a factor then I'd stick to Partitions, TSX, TTSX or similar bullets with good weight retention.
 
hawk-i said:
I believe shot placement makes a bigger difference than bullet construction and fragmenting bullets kill quicker than deep penetrating bullets.
I also believe deep penetrating bullets cause less meat loss than fragmenting bullets. JMHO, YMMV
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Agreed. I’ve taken a few Whitetail with Hornady SSTs and while accurate and DRT, they explode inside like a grenade. Lots of meat damage. I do prefer bonded or monos for that exact reason, but they do need speed to really open up. Except Barnes TSX in .30-30.
With a hollow point that cavernous, they still open up nicely at 2200-2400fps out of my Marlin 336 when hunting in thick bush.
 
hawk-i said:
I believe shot placement makes a bigger difference than bullet construction and fragmenting bullets kill quicker than deep penetrating bullets.
I also believe deep penetrating bullets cause less meat loss than fragmenting bullets. JMHO, YMMV
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It certainly does, until you are using a bullet that starts to not reach the vitals on large game. The larger the game, and the lighter constructed the bullet is, that will start to happen.

I'll take it to an extreme. But if you use a v-max on a cape Buffalo, or a girrafe even, that bullet won't come close to making it to any vitals with perfect shot placement for those animals.
 
200gr Partitions are ideal in .300 Win Mag. 180 Partitions are good too. While I shoot and hunt with .300 Win Mag, I have used 7mm RM more. I’ve used both 160 and 175 Partition on elk. My two hunting partners use .300 WM and 7mm RM and they are prolific elk hunters with over 20 between the two of them, if not 30. I am fairly certain that every single one was with a 175gr Partition out of a 7mm RM or a 180, 200 or 220gr Partition out of a .300 WM.

Never had a problem with Partitions except for the fact they have almost tripled in price over the last 10 years and are often difficult to find in stock. I have a stockpile of 200gr Paritions but will likely switch to Barnes TSX or TTSX when I run out.
 
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