Well, of the 7 elk I've taken, only one was with the 06. Bullet was the 165 gr. Nosler Accubond, the hit at about 100 yards. Velocity 2880 MV. Bullet hit at the short ribs and ended up (I think) in the left lung which was mostly Jello. Elk ran about 30 yards and collapsed.
The rifle was a custom on an FN Mauser with a 1 in 12" twist Douglas barrel. Neve could get decent accuracy with 180 gr.spitzers although round nose shot fairly decent groups. Went to the 165 gr. ABs and the rifle and I were happy.
I went with the slower twist as I was shooting a lot of cast bullets back then.
Normally my go to rifle for elk is my .35 Whelen pushing a 225 gr. Barnes TSX at 2710 FPS MV. Of the 5 elk taken, two were DRT and the other 3 hit so hard they were unable to get back up to run off. I did take one elk about 9 years ago using a .300 Win, Mag. and 200 gr. Speer Hot Cores at almost 2900 FPS. The elk dropped like a rock, the hit at 530 yards laser measured.
I'm thinking if I take the 06 again for elk this year, I'll try the 165 gr. Partitions loaded up to about the same speed as the ABs. Probably bring the .35 as back up.
Paul B.
