I bought my daughter a Winchester APEX Magnum 209 Rifle the other day, thanks much to all who offered suggestions. She loves it and we will be taking it out to shoot next weekend. Now I'm looking for a round to shoot out of this thing. I shoot balls, and have no experience with anything else.

Its got a 1:28 twist 28" barrel. She will be going elk hunting with me next season and I prefer to have her practice over the next year with the same round she will hunt with. I'm wondering what will be the most cost effective choice to shoot out of this gun. She came up with half the cost of the gun, and will be responsible for buying her own supplies for the most part. So I'm looking for a round that will be an effective hunter, but will give her as many shots for her dollar as possible.

Great, enjoy the rifle! For elk i'd look to using the 338 or 348 grain powerbelts. Or even the 385 great plains bullet if she can handle the recoil. Its not bad bad but some people dont like the recoil of them. I used the 385 great plains bullet and 90 grains pyrodex RS last year and got decent groups with them and a great sized doe. Im also going to suggest the saber tooth bullets. But they have one flaw as i found out the hard way... When/if you carry the rifle upside down while u are walking on a rough trail, the bullet likes to fall out of its cup and onto the trail, and thats one hell of a good start to piss a hunter off lol. i believe www.thepossibleshop.comcarrys the 245 grain great plains bullets. Cabelas also has 50 of the 245 grain buffalo ball-ets that shot very well out of my winchester. With elk, you'll want to use a heavier bullet so i'd really look into the 338 or 348 powerbelts. And possibly look into the new platinum powerbelts. Enjoy the rifle tho, they are very well built and quality of them is amazing. Where you from anyways?

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Congratulations to your daughter on her choice of rifle. I hope she is very happy with it. Are there any bullet restrictions in your Statefor elk hunting that would indicate the choice of projectile that needs to be suggested? Some States do not allow sabots.

If sabots are allowed I would suggest 250 grain Shockwaves, or 250 & 300 grain Nosler Partition since one of our members (Sabotloader)has such excellent luck with them, and if he says they are elk medicine, then I believe him. All of them with 100 grains of powder would work on deer and elk if you got close enough.

If conicals are required, then I would look at some of the platinum tipped powerbelts in the 300+ range and see if I could not work up aload with them. Since they are made to stay together better and penetrate, they might also work excellent on elk if conicals are required. If you know someone that has some 460 or 495 grain No Excuses conicals you might ask to try a few of them and see if they shoot well out of your rifle.

For just shooting deer even the 240 $ 300 grain Hornady XTP should work real good with 100 grains of powder behind them. I do not shoot an Apex so I really can no give you first hand experience. Even those that do own the rifle are only going to put you into the ball park with a projectile since not all rifles shoot alike.

The main thing is you and your daughter are interested in shooting. So it is a matter of trying different projectiles and putting in the range time. The one thing I will mention as I do to all shooters.. read your manual and stay within the restrictions of the manufacturer at all times for your own safety and the safety of those around you.

Different ststes have different laws, what state are we talking about, can you use sabots ?
My personal preference is a bonded 300gr Shock Wave, for ever thing else I normally hunt I use the 250 either the Shock Wave for long range or the XTP for normal 150yd and under use. If you are going to hunt a state where you can not use sabots its hard to beat a maxi ball orthe no excueses bullet; I personally have had issues with lack of penatration with some Power Belts and would suggest testing the penatration with the load you work out before hunting with it.Lee