They will come apart on impact the majority of the time, even when they hit small deer---- but from a 308 or 30-06 it won't matter all that much on deer (unless you object to the meat loss)
I would advise AGAINST their use on elk.
Their breaking up inhibits their penetration, and there are a LOT of other choices that don't come apart as badly, so why take the chance?
My experience with game kills and game bullets is that the closer you get to the low end of the power scale when hunting any game animal, the more important bullet design becomes. To clarify, there is a wide variance in performance of 150 grain bullets which you can load into a 30-06 but I think you would have trouble finding many that would not kill small deer well.
If however we were talking about shooting deer with a 223 I lean HARD toward the use of premium bullets that hold 70% or more of their weight. Reason: a 30-06 has a lot of power to spare for deer hunting. A 223 doesn't.
It is also not the best policy to assume a good deer load is going to be as good on an elk. Many are. Some are not. And there are only 2 ways to know which ones are not.
#1 is make your own mistakes.
#2 is to ask others that have made them, or seen them made.
I fall into both categories, but as someone with a LOT of experience in using (and seeing used) good and bad bullets on elk for about 50 years, my counsel is to avoid them for elk.
Not that you can't kill elk with them, but I can promise you many better choices exist.
Well said, S. Deer are not an issue, but there are damn sure better selections for elk. Virtually any bullet will kill a deer.
