ORIGINAL: skeeter 7MM
I believe premium ammo is worth the extra money regardless of the game but is paramount the larger/thicker/tougher the game you are hunting. I am not a fan of rem. factory ammo, but will say a friend used the ultra corelokt last fall it performed better on the range in accuracy but no better on the game end vs. reg. corelokt - in fact the ultra came completely unglued on a buck @ 100yards (3006), which required a second finishing shot. I took 2 deer with a Nolser Ballistic Tip last fall and they crumpled, thus why I choose to use premium ammo. The amount of money and time I spend hunting game a year isn't worth the saving or chance that the ammo won't perform they way I expect it to. It boils down to each their own I guess.
BTW I certainly won't recommend a corelokt or Ultra for any elk or moose hun, you need a solid bullet like a : partition, trophy bonded, failsafe, barnes x, etc.
I agree with everything said, except the first statement (that it's worth it for every type of game). I absolutely agree for bigger, tougher animals and/or longer ranges.
The critical factor is what was the ammo designed for? A premium bullet designed for moose or elk might not work properly for a thin skinned deer. You gotta consider the animal and the range. The cheap (but good quality) cartridge designed for white tail will work better than the premium bullet designed for moose.
Most importantly, as many have said is the way the ammo shoots in your gun. A premium load that doesn't shoot consistently or accurately from your gun isn't as good for anything as a cheap cartridge that does.
Finally, I do not personally believe that any ammo, premium or cheap, is any better than the plain jane Remington Corelokts gr psp that I use for white tail at 50-150 yd. ranges. The bullet was absolutely designed for this. There are roughly equivalent plain jane cartridges by other manufaturers that are just as good, but they don't happen to shoot quite as well in my gun, so Isettled on Rem. -zeke