Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting are those premium bullets really necessary

Agreed.

I use Cup & Core bullets in my .44 Mag, .30-30 and .375 Win leverguns and in my revolvers. The bolt rifles all get premium bullets of one sort or another, including AccuBond, TTSX/MRX, Scirocco II, and North Fork.

Some years back I filled my antelope, deer and elk tags and computed the savings if I had used C&C bullets instead of premiums. I think the savings came up to a whopping $1 or so.

My goal is a bullet that provides excellent accuracy and provides reliable but controlled and limited expansion at any range I might take a shot. From experience, that is from muzzle contact distance (if I had been faster) to 600 yards, the limit of my practice. The real problem, in many cases, is at shorter ranges where higher velocity can cause a bullet to tear itself apart. The premiums I use provide what I am looking for in terms of accuracy and, so far, have all performed very well at extended ranges. For the difference in cost, I consider them cheap insurance.

3rd

The Nosler BT is a premium bullet in my book, so yea I like premiums...

+1 Magnum Man

No, but a premium shot is.

Once again...probably more wisdom in that post than the Campfire can handle....

I agree with the above two posts,and would take it just one step further and say there is no good reason not combine the good placement with the qualities of a well constructed bullet.

I am fundamentally a "Hagelian" when it comes to choosing BG bullets. I like the results of reasonably tough bullets at moderately high velocity.

Other than one 140 gr Accubond,it has been quite a few years since I used anything on a BG animal other than a Nosler Partition or a Bitterroot;reason being that my primary focus when hunting has been to kill things, and not jump around testing this or that everytime something new comes along.

And I have found that every single time I put one of these in the right spot,the results are boringly consistent and there is simply no question whatsoever about what is going to happen.Killing has been astonishingly easy with these on everything from little stuff up to Alaskan brown bears,and at distances from hard off the muzzle to 500 yards or so;as far as I have used them or seen them used;and while I have no doubt that others perform as well,I don't have the time to try them all..and with either of these, I don't worry about having the "best" deer load or the "best" elk load...with one of these up the snout I am ready for everything I might bump into.

We can argue until the cows come home about whether the reliable penetration, weight retention,consistent expansion,etc of a Premium game bullet are "worth it" or not,but I fail to see when these things ever became handicaps and I would rather have them and not need them, than need them and not have them, if you get my drift.

The 150 grain FN-TSX for the .30-30 is a wicked, wicked thing.

BobinNH.

Although I have yet to kill a brown bear and probably will not,I agree with what you say.

However,your 1st sentence in the 4th para (" And I have found that every single time I put one of these in the right spot,the results are boringly consistent and there is simply no question whatsoever about what is going to happen") I equally find true with the Sierra bullets I have used all my life. As stated as long as they are put in the right place.

It gets down to the analogy that why drive a Mercedes when a Chevy will get you there the same.

This has been debated much before, & I'm sure it will be debated much in the future. I view it in terms of confidence. If you're confident in the accuracy and the performance of your bullets, you're much closer along to reliably harvesting game.

I haven't yet been able to get premiums to shoot as well as C&C's in my rifles. If the accuracy was equal, I'd sway toward the premiums. Such as it is, I know right where my bullets will land at the distances I shoot, and I know that any shot I take with a solid rest, will be a solid hit, and almost always a 1-shot kill. I also know that shots taken off-hand past the ranges at which I practice such shooting, will likely result in a not-so-fun rodeo. Accordingly, I pass on those shots.

Since I shoot outdated, pedestrian, milquetoast cartridges, I'm seldom pushing any projectiles past 2,900 fps at the muzzle. My most recent purchases are actually throwing bullets at < 2,600 fps. These are well within the performance envelope for C&C's, and I have yet to recover a C&C bullet: they've all been pass-throughs.

In short, I've got complete confidence in the bullets I use, because of their demonstrated accuracy in my rifles, and their demonstrated capability in my rifles. I also have confidence in them because of the shots I will take, and the ones I will pass on.

Shoot whatever gives you the most confidence in your rifle.

FC

Not all "premiums" are the same. In some situations, a more frangible bullet will give quicker kills than a "harder" premium.

At the end of the day, elk only need a bullet to punch through the lungs... most any bullet will do that.

I tend to like Partition's because they have a relatively frangible front half that grenades in the lungs, yet retain a wadcutter shape to punch through and out.

But that's the nitpickings of a rifle nut.

Saddlesore's Sierra Game King's are likely a nearly perfect elk bullet. Ditto Dober's NBT's.

I just picked up several boxes of 140 and 150 grain TSX's on clearance at Gander Mountain - for $15/box of 50. When you can buy premiums for less than the BT or cup and core, there's no way I'm NOT using them...

Several to me is 3 or more, so I gotta say.....really?

Do you hunt in a place where there are just a crap load of hunters or have you killed a sh*% load of elk?

I've killed probably 10-11 elk, not sure if that is a sh*% load or not, though all of the mentioned with bullets found were killed by someone else (this was mainly back in my guiding days). The area was Stanley ID, and used to have a lot of hunters back in the pre-wolf days if that answers your question.

One bull killed near Stanley and had (2) 30 cal (I think) mashed bullets lodged into his shoulderbone and a broadhead. That was a huge bull (IIRC 375-380 class) and was killed cleanly by a Californian with a single 257 Roberts round. This was about 15 years ago and I don't have a first clue as the what bullet was used. Another bull out of the same area a few years later had another 30 cal bullet stuck in his shoulder bone. There have been a few others here in MT too that I have discovered bullets in while skinning or helping out. I also discovered about 6" worth of an aluminum arrow and a broadhead lodged into a bull's backstrap in Idaho's Lemhi range in 2008. They can be tough if vitals/CNS are missed. If using a cup and core, fine. Just make sure to put it BEHIND, NOT INTO the shoulder.

Which brings up another point. What if the bullet hits something unintended ? Above all, it needs to penetrate. Sometimes, even the best of them can't. But it's nice to have some leeway. How about angling shots ? Another shot that needs lots of penetration.
I load premium Nosler Partitions for alot of my hunting. Often load C&C bullets for pratice. Heck, even lighter bullets, at roughly the same velocity as the heavier elk bullets will often shoot close enough to the zero for casual practice. Longer ranges, however, do reguire one to use his hunting loads. E

Saddlesore: You and I are just using what we both know works for us.

Quite amazing, thanks for the stories.

So as the rumors go, bullets don't bounce off elk, they just absorb them!

now admittedly, a bit "tongue in cheek" Ive got to ask...
some of you guys must have far tougher ELK than my hunt groups run into, we have just seen a bunch of real wimps,.. so far our plan has been, get in as close as you can,(preferably under 200 yards)then get a good solid rest for your rifle and you just aim carefully and punch them just above the heart behind the shoulder with a 250 grain .338 or 358 bullet or a 270 grain 375 cal, so far its seemed to work out and so far,over the last 40 plus years almost all elk just stumble around drunkenly for a few seconds or start to run but fall nose first in the dirt withing a step or so.....I guess I,ve been teaching bad habits to my kids and some of the other members of our camp,because they all seem to be getting similar results with those 338-358-375 caliber rifles,. where Are you guys finding these macho elk that walk around with all the metallic shrapnel lodged in there hides?
don,t think were all magnum obsessed the 338/06 and 35 whelen and 358 win all have a good following in the camp, and yes my kids and I have continued to use the 340 wbys we all own...but hey they work, why change

I distinguish between lead core and copper solid premium bullets. I started shooting Barnes copper solids because I got tired of feeding lead fragments from weak bullets (core lokt) to my family, nor do I want to leave lead waste in the field to be eaten by scavengers. I keep shooting them because they work extremely well in my rifles and on game.

A few guys here don't seem to believe or care that lead remains in their food or harms non-target species, and they claim copper is a conspiracy to eliminate hunting. Not likely. Copper just makes sense - it works great for hunters and satisfies non-hunters concerned with human health and unintended harm to wildlife.

Non-lead bullets and shot are the wave of the future and I look forward to the day when lead is no longer used in ammunition for field use.

Umm....whud wuz I...did I say sumthin? Did I think?, Uhhh....I bin chutin anumuls wid led all mah laf, en...ummm...probbly et sum led, an it caint hurtcha enny more then ghetto babees eatin paint chips.