Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting The 300 Wby Mag for elk- is there anything better?

While I agree the AB and PT are good bullets, the rest is not exactly true. Even if it was, does it matter? The important thing to me is terminal performance. NF are easily the most consistent performers across a wide range of velocities that I have tested. (By 'range of velocities' read 'from 10 feet to 500 yards'.) They expand well, don't lose their tips and jam the gun, don't lose their petals and the solid rear section has ensured decent weight retention even when the front core has been smeared off while passing through heavy bones.

Comparing 7mm 160g NF and GS 'bricks' to the AB bullets at 3048fps (the MV for my 7mm RM 160g loads), at 300 yards the AB has a velocity advantage by about 175fps. By 400 yards that advantage is up to 265fps and yet, by some miracle, the 6x5 bull elk I shot last year at 411 yards with a 160g GS 'brick' managed only 4 steps before going down. That is about 55 yards less than the cow I shot in 2013 with a 225g AB from my .338WM, range 487 yards.

For me it comes down to trust in proven performance rather than high B.C. values. While I use AB and TTSX quite a bit, I have more trust in the North Fork bullets. That trust is based on about 12 years of testing them at the range and taking game with them in the field. At close ranges the AB have shown weight retention of about 62% while NF and TB retention at the same range has been over 90% and as high as 97%. Given that I've had shots at a few feet but never beyond the range where the 'brick's I use perform well, I plan to continue using the 'bricks'.

These pictures were posted earlier in this thread but they demonstrate why I trust NF bullets. The 165g .308" NF 'brick' performed very well - and very similarly - at both 25 yards and 500 yards.





From left to right:

.30-06, 165g North Fork @ 2800fps
500yds from dirt, 145.0g retained

.30-06, 165g North Fork @ 2800fps
~25yds from cow elk, 133.2g retained after hitting a rib and leg bone

7mm 140g North Fork @ 3200fps
~150yds from buck mule deer, 131.2g retained after going from ham to sternum