Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Bullet selection

My wife is hunting cow elk with a 270 win. should I load a 150gr nosler partion or 140gr hornady btsp?.

Yes, Action, yes you should. Oh, you mean which? Either/or are fine elk bullets. Pick the one that shoots best. The 140's will fly flatter. The Partitions will cost more, and will guarantee an exit on anything even remotely broadside. Both will do the job well for elk. My choice would be the Hornadys, because I'm cheap, and they are good bullets.

150gr Nosler partition, and 57-58gr of H4831.

I've shot a lot of elk with a 270. I mainly used Speers but I think their quality has slipped. Partitions are very good but I get better accuracy with Sierra SPT's.

Both good bullets and either will get the job done. 150 PT is the classic 270 elk load.

The one elk I shot with my .270 was with an SST 140.. Broadside about 250 or so, the bullet exited, the cow ran quite a distance, I am guess a couple hundred yards.. Open country so it didn't matter..

We have shot many elk with cup and core bullets and some with Nosler Partition.. If I am not hunting an open country unit, I prefer the Nosler..

I agree on the "yes", I think he should...

I would definitely use the 140 hornady's but the 15o partition be a hard one to walk away from as well. I guess it comes down to which one shoots the best.

The Partition, hands down........


Casey

Either will work fine. Like stated already partition will exit. My last two elk were with a 270 win, both bulls. One was with a 130 gr partition the other with a 150 gr Remington factory load. At 200 yards the 130gr partition shot through the elk's chest and harvested the elk no problems. See which one shoots the best and go with confidence.

Never understood the cost argument for a hunting bullet. The bullet is the cheapest thing on your hunt. Gas costs more, food, clothing, tag, every single piece of gear... why fuss over the cost of a bullet?

Partition

So, by your logic, you must go out of your way to find the gas station charging the most for gas, and fill up your vehicle there. Good job?

It's not 1 or 2 bullets I may shoot while hunting, it's the 100's I shoot for practice that gets expensive. I've shot a lot of elk with cup & core bullets with excellent results. I couldn't see any practical difference in killing power between Speer Hotcores and Partitions and the Speers were more accurate. I'm shooting a 30-06 now and I find that while Partitions are quite accurate, the Sierra SPT's are more so. I haven't shot an elk yet with the Sierra's, though, to test penetration.

I've always had good results with Partitions and have found that they are more accurate when they have Spitzer points.

KC

You mean as opposed to the Protected Point?


Casey

Partition

I have no idea how you came to that conclusion, it makes no sense. The only way your logic makes sense is if I were to skip a store that sells Partitions for $25 a box and bought the exact same Partitions from a different store for $35 a box (dollar amounts just for example). Good job on your logic.

What I'm talking about is two different products, not the same product at a different price, like your logic states.


To put it simply, how much do you spend on an elk hunting season? Anywhere from $50 if it is in your back yard to up to or beyond $10,000? What is the point on going cheap on a bullet to save money? Yeah, that $0.30 cents you saved sure made a difference. Good job? But in all reality you don't just shoot one, but how about a $27 box of bullets (100ct) vs $33 box (50ct)? And assume you shot 50 before the season. You saved $20 total in bullets. Big deal. I'd take the premium over the standard on elk - not for how it flies but what it does to the elk.

How about this logic: If for the conditions that I hunt (animal size, range, impact velocity, etc) premium bullets offer no advantage over standard cup and core bullets, why should I pay a premium for something I don't need?

By the same logic,my pickup runs fine on standard unleaded, why would I pay for higher octane gasoline.

Thanks for mirroring my point exactly. You didn't present an argument, or even refute mine. The bullets are not the cheapest thing on the hunt. You don't buy and use one. It is a false argument used as a sales pitch to sell "premium" bullets.

If the cheaper bullet carries more energy, has a flatter trajectory, bucks the wind better, and kills just as well, advocating for the more expensive "premium" is actually worse than shopping around for the most expensive gas.