Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 115 grain ballistic tip

The old timers didn't care that much or lose any sleep if they lost an elk, they would just go shoot another one. I am sure they shot and shot and shot until he went down too. And if they had a bigger gun/bullet, they would have used it.

I'm curious as to what you base your knowledge on....

Laker, I have used the 115 BTBT a bunch of deer/antelope/coyotes.. If I were taking my .25/06 for an elk hunt, I would use my supply of 115 gr. Part.. I am certain a 115 BTBT behind the shoulder would kill and elk.. But I would like the added insurance of the Part. or Accubond.. That Ackley sounds like a winner.. Have thought of having mine punched out, but doubt I ever do it..

tx58 has a point.. One of the guys in our valley told of shooting at 5 elk as they jumped the fence near his upper pasture.. He used a 99 .243.. The last elk stumbled and fell with in sight.. He loaded his elk and went home.. End of story..

"I'm curious as to what you base your knowledge on...."

History: read about shooting buffalo, etc

My own experiences: At 57 years old, I remember a time with it was "just an animal"

I think it is a good thing that today, we consider all life to be worth something. No, I don't go out and hug trees, but I lose sleep if I wound and don't recover game.

You must have some dang interesting books if they tell stories of thinning down the buffalo herds with .250-3000's!!!!!

Reread my post, it has nothing to do with what gun they used. I said in the past they didn't lose any sleep if they lost an an animal and you asked me how I knew this. History reveals wanton shooting of buffalo with little regard to wounding/ losing an animal. That is no longer the case

And you make my point for me. Of corse they didn't use such a small bullet for a buffalo. Just like I won't use the bullet in question for elk. With expert marksmen and within certain limitations the elk will die quickly with this bullet. I just won't take a limiting bullet on my personal hunts

Just as I suspected, no concrete information to base you claims on.

LOL. If you say so. We will obviously never agree so I will stop trying I wish you well on your hunts. Really. I normally head to the Colorado elk woods shooting a 350--460 gr conical out of my 50 cal muzzleloader. This fall for the first time in 20 years I will be hunting with a centerfire rifle. I will be shooting a 165 gr trophy copper bullet out of my 30-06 and know it will come through for me for any reasonable shot presentation out to 400 yards. Last time I used a rifle I had a 160 gr nosler partition out of a 7 mm rem mag. Plenty of concrete out there on those being elk killers. We each have to go with our own comfort level. There really is no right or wrong. Only what works for you

165gr by .308 wide seems very optimum for flat, with some zap when it gets there!

Favoring the upper end, it don't matter what I do to my 7mmRM does not like 160s, no how. To the extent of playing with the length of the bedding under the chamber, piller-block tension and playing with barrel supports, nothing. Load up some 140s and it's like adding a $thousand bucks to the rifle!

Took elk with 140gr nbts, gold results. Same exact data under 140gr Accubonds shoots just the same. But yet to take an elk. I would like to see little more penetration.

This rifle bullet subject seems to come up as often as best personal defense load for a .380 handgun.
Always the same answer, hard to pick a good .380 round, just as it's hard to pick a bad round for a .45acp .

Imo:
There is no replacement for displacement.

I haven't seen Flinch post for several years but I knew he had some 1st hand experience with the 115 BT and elk/deer. I search back a few years and found this.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/5950975/1

I killed a fat doe last October with my Bob and the 115. Worked quite well at 100; DRT.



Alan

Beautiful rifle!

Last fall's buck, .25-06, 115 Nosler Ballistic Tip. One of several over the years:



For elk though, well, that's why Partitions are available, no?

Regards, Guy

Yep, I own a 25-06 too and it is one sweet deer rifle

I love my 25-06 and have taken a pile of Deer with it but I think there are a lot of better calibers for taking Elk out there. I have always believed bigger is better.

I've shot the 257Ackley for 30years now and have killed a ton of deer w/it. I have always used the 115gr BT and it's always got the job done. If I was forced to hunt elk w/it I would use the 120gr Partition. The sheer mass of an elk would be my guiding reason behind my choice. Even though my gun is a 25-06 practically speaking...the heavier, tougher bullet would still be my choice. A lot of difference between a 150lb deer and a 600lb elk. powdr

I tried the 115 bt's about 10 years ago. They were not tough at all - didn't like bone. I shot the rest of them into song dogs. They make a real good mess out of em. The Hornady 120 was the toughest I've used but starts dropping like a rock past about 250. I settled on the Sierra 120 because it really shoots well and falls right between the Nosler and Hornady for tuff. If I wasn't going to shoot a premium bullet for Elk I'd shoot the Hornady. I also heard a few good things about the 120 partition but never could get them to shoot worth a squat. Whatever you choose, just shoot strait and you'll do fine.

257: I agree with you that the 120 gr Hornady and Sierras are good bullets, accurate and good terminal performance. But am confused that you picked the Sierra after commenting that the Hornady drops fast past 250 yds, since the Sierra's BC is worse than the Hornady's.

There seems to a game with hunters to see who can kill an elk with the most inadequate bullet/caliber. The idea is to choose a bullet not recommended by the manufacturer and shoot it from a small caliber gun to see who can kill an elk without wounding too many. Nosler recommends the BT for deer and antelope, not elk. Their engineers have put in a lot of time testing it to know what it's good for. For elk they have AB's and PT's but those are too well built for the game players. To play the game, it's necessary to use the BT and hope it doesn't fail like Nosler predicts it will.

Have a heart. Elk are too great to wound. Use a bullet designed for the job.

The b.c of hornadys 120 flat base h.p is better than the sierra 120 boat tail ? I wouldn't have thought that. All I'm going on, is what I've seen. Try the test, sighted at two, shooting at four, with the same load of powder. I'm interested if you'll get the same result.