It's hard to go wrong with a Partition for elk. The Barnes TTSX is another good choice, and there are others.

I have no doubt that your rifle will stabilize a 160 grain bullet. I shoot them in my 7x57, which has a lot less case capacity, and they work fine.

You'll get disagreement on this, and sometimes I get heat for it:

A standard cup and core bullet will open as long as it impacts at at least 2100 FPS. Some cup and cores will open at 1800 FPS. Standard cup and core bullets tend to start to break apart at about 2800 FPS. Anywhere between their minimum opening speed and 2800 FPS, they will produce a practically constant 14 inch wound channel.

Switching to a Partition or a TTSX gets you reliable opening at 1800 FPS, and the bullet will hang together at whatever speed you can push it to. In their operating range, these bullets will produce a practically constant 16 inch wound channel.

As long as the impact speed is in the designed operating window, you'll get essentially the same length wound channel, determined by bullet construction, give or take hitting one of the very large bones.

Additional speed gets you more range, not more killing power.

Most of the guys I know favor heavier bullets, which seem to survive contact with one of the large bones better than a lighter bullet. But my hobby is ballistics and target shooting, and you'll get better advice on that from someone who is a better hunter than I am.


Be not weary in well doing.