Which Bullet For Elk
 

Drew a cow elk permit for 6 and 7 December. Shot an elk in that same area in 2003 at a distance of about75 yards.The animal was not recovered despite 5 of searching formany hours.

The animal wasshot throughboth lungs but the .45 caliber 300 grain TC PTX bullet did not expand. There waslung blood coming out both sides of the animal.She stood in one place for awhile,the blood coagulated and the trail ended.That elkwas found by a deer hunter the next day and was taken out. This still haunts me. That isthe only big animal that i have lost in a couple of decades.

Thenext time i plan on a shoulder shot. Maximum range will be around 100 yards. i have some320 grainand 370 grain .50 Maxi-Balls on hand. Would either of these get the job done with a shoulder shot? Or do i need to find something else?

I will sight in one of my guns for whatever bullet the elk hunters say will get the job done.Got plenty of time to order bullets and sight in a gun. My guns are an Encore, an CVA Mag Hunter and a CVA Stag Horn.

RE: Which Bullet For Elk
 

falcon

For me there is absolutely no question... .458/300gr. Nosler Partition PP bullet on top of 110 grains of T7-2f...

Results....

RE: Which Bullet For Elk
 

Sabot - What kind of sabot did you use to be able to load that .458" bullet? Right now I am getting excellent accuracy with the 300 gr shock wave EZ Glide sabot and the 300 gr XTP (.429") and crush rib sabot out of my GM barrel.

RE: Which Bullet For Elk
 

bronko22000

It is an MMP HPH-.457/.458-50 cal Orange sabot. I use that same sabot in all of my inlines and the GM LRH barrels.

I am a little surprised that you need to use an EZ Glide or a Crush Rib in a GM barrel. All of my GM barrels shoot the HPH-24 or either of the Harvester regualr black sabots. Wait I take that back - a regular Green 44 cal might be tough to get down - I do not use them.

I an a lifelong Nosler user so it is what I use in my ML's for hunting also - but they are getting so darn expensive I may have to change.

I really can to say anything bad about either of the two bullets of your choice - there has been a lot of animals harvested with them. I am old and have not bought into the pointy bullet theory - especially at ML speeds + I have had XTP's separate lead from copper, so I stay with the Noslers.

What the picture does not show is the internal damage the hydrostatic shock of the Nosler did to the animal. Both lungs were jello as was the bottom part of the heart was gone.

RE: Which Bullet For Elk
 

I use Black Crushed Rib sabots for .452 diameter bullets in my Savage with Barnes Origonals 300g and Barnes TSX Flatnose 45843 45/70 bullets, and I get 1.5" groups with both bullets and that sabot. The go down tight, but shoot well. The Black CR and the Orange MMP are the only that I know if that work.
Chap

RE: Which Bullet For Elk
 

370 grain maxiballs should get the job done, but this year I switched to the Hornady FPB 350 grain. Shot a cow at 80 yards. Went through the left shoulder blade, broke a rib, took out the top of the heart, broke another rib, lodged under the skin on the opposite side. Good frontal expansion with about 85% weight retention. She went 50 yards.

RE: Which Bullet For Elk
 

I cast a 525 grain bullet in 50 caliber. In my Knight rifle I push it with 130 grains of 3F BP. It is a killer load. On both ends. Tom.

RE: Which Bullet For Elk
 

Ouch, I am too recoil shy to be accurate with a load like that. My FPB load was using 90 grains of BH 209. She couldn't have been any more dead.

RE: Which Bullet For Elk
 

I am not sure there is a perfect bullet for elk. My own experience and opinion is that if the animal sees you and knows what is going on they are very hard to put down. The largest cow elk I shot never saw me and just walked about 30 yards before falling down. (All of my shots have been double lung with some taking part of the heart). I had one smaller cow that I shot twice and she was leaving a huge blood trail but she saw me and went close to a 1/4 mile even though she should have been dead. All have been complete pass through and some were powerbelts and some were Hornady bullet/sabots.

RE: Which Bullet For Elk
 

You R da man for shooting that load. No wonder they never get away. Chap