dmurphy317

I leave the day after Thanksgiving to take my son onhis firstcow elk hunt. HisOptima is set up for 100gr of BH209 and a 200SW which he was using for mulies last month. I was hoping to set him up with a Barnes 285gr for the elk hunt but I've been too busy to get to the range and resight his gun for the other bullet so I was thinking about just going with what he's set up for. Anyone have any thoughts on going as is?

FG

I dont know if i'd go that route. I'd feel a lot more comfortable with the 250grSW

dmurphy317

I'm not sure about that FG, the 200SW has a better BC and similar muzzle energy to the 250SW when shot with the same powder load. The 250SW hasless energy at 200 yards than the 200SW and not as good a trajectory. I do limit my son to 100 yards or less so trajectory isn't really an issue. Just wondering if anyone has actually used the 200 for elk.

I may go ahead and set it up for the 285 Barnes anyway as I have 100% confidence in that bullet. I just need to find time to do it.

FG

I was worrying more about the bullets coming apart. I believe saxman had the 200 come apart on one of the deer he shot. With elk, i like the bigger bullet.

dmurphy317

I agree with you on the bigger bullet, I hunted with the 350FPB this year and would have used the 460 BS but I didn't have any more. I was planning on him using the Barnes bullets for elk but I'm not sure I will have time to get him set up with it. This friday morningwill be the only day I have time off to go to the range and that time may be already spoken for by the boss lady. We'll see what I can talk her out of.

Thanks for the input.

bronko22000

I agree that the 200 gr is too light for elk. I would prefer to go with the 300 gr.

spaniel

My concern is not somuch the energy (it will be ok within 100-150yds), but it is really the ideal whitetail bullet. Meaning I WOULD be concerned with it coming apart on an elk if you hit the shoulder.

This from someone who has killed somewhere around 50 or so deer with the 200SW. They usually pass thru deer with plenty of damage, but sometimes if you put it through both shoulders the copper will separate from the lead on the far shoulder. This is NOT a problem for deer, I recover the jacket under the offside skin after the lead core continued through the skin to exit. However on an elk, I would be concerned that it would separate earlier.

Despite my love of the 200SW for deer, FYI when I geared my Omega X7 up for elk this year I went to the trouble of re-sighting in with 300 SWs...BONDED.

dmurphy317

Thanks for the good info from all. I think I have my Friday morning cleared and will be going to the range to set up my son's rifle with the 285 Barnes. While there I will be doing some testing on my friends 2 rifles mentioned in an earlier post. If the wind holds off it should be a good morning with temps in the 30's to 40's.

Thanks again.

lemoyne

As a matter of fact I read about a lady taking an elk that used the 200gr SW, it was on an other forum last year she shot a nice bull be hind the fore leg and it exited out the other side she was using 100gr 777 FFF, they said the bull went about 35 yds and fell. Lee

dmurphy317

Thanks Lee, I was thinking I had read a report like that last year but couldn't remember if it was the 200 or not.

At this point it doesn't matter much, I made it to the range yesterday and checked the sight in with the 285 Barnes Expander MZ's and they printed about .5" low compared to the 200SW with the same 100gr BH209 powder load. Since my son will be shooting at elk instead of deer I didn't bother to adjust the scope. 3 shots into less than 1" at 50 yards with an averagevelocity of 1811 and an extreme spread of 11 makes for a tight consistant load. Checked the numbers with my ballistic program and it gives him a zero of right at 110 yards and a 4" PBR of around 140 yards, I think that will work.

Thanks again for all the suggestions and info.