Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Your opinion please

For Elk. Shooting a 30-06 or 7 rem mag, what do you belive to be the best cup and core bullet. Please, no need to tell.me about premium bullets, I know all about them. For you older guys, what did you kill elk with before the premiums

Per OP, I would cast a vote for the Sierra Gameking BTSP. I have used it in multiple calibers on elk.

I would stick with the 160 grain in the 7mm Magnum and the 165 in the .30-06!

I've used Hornady Interlock and HPs, the HP have a thicker jacket, same with Sierra Hp Gameking. They have worked well for me, in several calibers.

My 7mm RM I used WW power points. It worked very well.

Long ago had issues with Speer Hot Cores so never tried them again.

Interlock interlock interlock.
Favorite bullet behind a berger vld.

Interlock or Winchester PP.

As an older guy, who used a variety of non-premium bullets to kill elk I learned from my youthful mistakes. I learned it’s better if the elk fall down sooner rather than later.

I now use premium bullets.

With age comes wisdom……usually…..

The standard old-fashioned elk medicine in the 30-06 is any 180 grain bullet you wish to use, such as Core-lokt, Power Point, or Federal red box Hi-Shok (later became blue boxes). This was before Hornady loaded factory ammo; then it became Interlock bullets 165 grains or heavier.

In the 7mm Mag, lots of elk fell to the 175 gr. Core-lokt bullets and I am sure some hunters used the 150s too. Then Hornady 162 gr. Interlocks.

And by the way, if you shoot a 270, there is darn precious little you cannot kill with the Hornady 140 gr. Interlock bullet.

Way to ignore the OP's question, and say nothing at the same time.

Oh, I said something, but the pilgrims want to ignore it.

Remington Core Lokt have taken elk for me my entire life, my dads and grandpa also. It's normally one shot .30 cal 150, 165, 180 gr.

'Best cup and core" for elk: Hornady Interlock.. Also, there probably aren't any "older" guys here that killed elk before the Nosler partition came out. Just sayin. That is the gold standard for "premium" controlled expansion bullet.

I have shot a lot of elk with Sierras and some with Hornady. But then I am not sure if they are the best, but they killed a lot of elk for me.

Eldm

I've only killed 2 elk so take that into consideration regarding my opinion. One with a 165 gr, Interlock through the lungs. That one went about 50 yd before expiring. The other was with a 180 gr. Sierra pro hunter. The shot was straight head on, center-punched. That one went 50 ft before dropping. Not sure the bullet matters as much as the placement.

Interlocks

The poor man's Partition...which has been around (Partitions, that is) since way before "premium" was a thing.

Speer Grand Slam 180 in 30 caliber followed by an Interlock of the same weight.
Speer Grand Slam 160 in 7mm followed by an Interlock, again of the same weight.

My opinion is that Hornady Interlocks have given me the best, and most consistent, performance on all game. I've never had an issue with 165's at '06 velocities, and figured if I couldn't break them (and seldom caught one), it didn't make sense to move up to 180's. Might as well keep the extra speed & flatter trajectory.

FWIW, I noted that Hornady didn't even offer (at the time) the 180 Interbond in their loaded .30-06 ammo, so I emailed them to ask about the oversight. The reply was that they didn't think the '06 could push the 180 Interlock beyond its performance envelope, so why bother loading a premium?

Now, with my opinion (which you asked for) out of the way, here are some thoughts from a guy with a few more kills to his credit.


He posted this > 13 years ago, so you might reach out to see if he'd offer any updates.


As for 7 mag, I'd go for the 154 or 162 Interlock. And again, it appears Mr. Dogzapper would concur:


Good Luck,

FC

I started loading my 30-06 decades ago with 165 Hornady spire point bullets. With IMR 4350 powder, it worked in both my Remington and Sako 30-06.

I went to Alaska in 1990 for Caribou and took the 30-06 with Barnes “X” bullets and learned my lesson about premium bullets. I pulled all the leftover bullets and went back to the Hornady 165 grain and over the years, killed more than 40 elk with that combination.

Who needs a 7 Mag?

At 30-06 velocities….a 180 Hornady SP (interlock) or a 180 Nosler Partition. At 7 mag velocities….. 160 Nosler Partition. With you predetermined bullet limitations……I think those are your best options! memtb

220 grain round nose, any brand for an .06. I killed more than few with a 175 GR Sierra Game King, 7mag. Always go for heavy for caliber bullets for C&C bullets


OP said no premium. Partitions are still considered that I think