No dog in this fight, but my elk hunting partner has been using a Post 64 300 Win Mag since 65 I think. He has used the same load of 4350 and 180 PT's to take alot of elk since then, hunting between Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Washington since then. This past Fall after getting back to camp, he pulled an old pill bottle out of one of the drawers and showed me about 7 PT's he and his father recovered (father shot a 300WBY) from elk. I have no idea the number of elk taken since 65, but is alot and to only recover 7 is pretty good stuff. Every one of the bullets looked almost perfect, probably better than a water jug recovered PT. In his records, all elk were taken between 30 and 570 yards. Most all of them blow right on thru and leave a dead elk in their wake. I never doubted the 180 PT in a 300 Win, but after seeing and thinking about that, it really does lend itself to being a hard to beat combo.
I realize weird things happen out in the hunting fields every Fall, but I would bet a 180 PT stopping inside a deer is the exception and not the rule.
As for the OP, hopefully he has found a load to try out of his rifle. Plenty of great options with the Federal, Winchester, etc. Most all of them should be more than capable of handling elk..
Im sure stopping in a deer is an exception. Except I"ve yet to stop a barnes bullet in anything that I can recall.
I"m the motto of be prepared. If my once in a lifetime elk comes out quartering hard and about to leave... I want to make sure I can break the front bones, and get to the vitals and all the way through them. Cup and core have failed enough on things smaller than an elk and on some nilgai that for me it just makes sense, when the mono has never been retained, why risk anything else.
Cost certianly isn't a factor and Partitions ain't cheap either. But in teh scheme of things any thing is cheap bullet wise.
About to delve off into subsonic with a 300 whisper on deer and pigs. Pre frag bullets ain't cheap, order of a buck each. But they'll always open even at slow speeds. Who cares about a dollar a piece. I've seen 22lr offered for a dollar a shell too... not that anyone would pay that... but point is cost should never be a consideration. Beyond that I fail to see the down of using a mono bullet and if you need DRT, then just break the bones like some folks do.
