Last year one of our elk camp fellas put a spike elk down with a 180gr. Fusion out of his 300WSM @ about 80 yds. It was a double lunger (hit one rib) and the bullet was recovered under the offside hair.
It retained perhaps 1/2 it's original weight, but was pretty mangled. It worked, but wouldn't be my first choice either. This fella makes many choices based on $ considerations as opposed to what likely will work best. Sure, dead elk, but a 10 day elk hunt with very limited opportunities to score, is not the time to think about saving $.......IMHO.
