I have only butt-shot one elk, a raghorn bull that had been previously shot through the bottom of the heart with a 200-grain Nosler Partition from a .300 Weatherby Magnum. The bull was obviously hard-hit, and of course would have died pretty soon, but if it had been shot through the top of the heart wouldn't have been still standing up, facing away. A second 200 Partition that clipped part of the pelvis while traveling through was what's often called the "wazoo" dropped the bull instantly. That bullet didn't exit. and I traced its path through the guts and diaphragm into the chest, but couldn't find it.
Yeah, I know Partitions aren't supposed to penetrate as deeply as many newer bullets, but I've shot more elk with the .30-caliber 200 Partition than any other bullet, from various .30 caliber cartridges from the .30-06 up, including three .300 magnums, often with angling shots. That's the only one that's stayed inside an elk, which indicates it might be reasonably adequate, even from the wimpy old .30-06. I also took my biggest bull, both in antler and body, with the .30-06 and the 180-grain Trophy Bonded Tip, at 250 yards as it stood angling away across a small canyon. It walked slowly for maybe 20 feet before stopping broadside, locked up. Another shot dropped it right there.
My wife and I have also used various sub-.30 cartridges on elk, including the dreaded .270 Winchester, sometimes with Partitions but also with other bullets. One of the .270 elk was a cow Eileen shot through the lungs with a 150 Partition, whereupon it started to stagger downhill away from her--and we needed to haul the elk uphill a few hundred yards over a ridge, before heading downhill a couple miles downhill to the pickup. So she shot it again in the tailbone, which dropped it right there. She has shot most her other elk, and a bull Shiras moose, with the .270, using either 150 Partitions or 140 TSX's. They all went down within at most a few feet.
The moose was as large as any bull elk I've seen on the ground. It stood quartering away to the left, and took a step and a half before folding up. The 150 Partition entered the left ribs and stopped under the hide of the right shoulder.
The smallest cartridge and bullet Eileen has used on elk is the .257 Roberts with a 100-grain Barnes TTSX, which dropped an average-size cow right there. The elk was standing angling slightly uphill on a slope, quartering away to the right, and the bullet went through both lungs, clipping the very bottom of the spine, before ending up under the hide of the left shoulder. She dropped the biggest cow either of us have taken last year with a 130-grain TTSX loaded to about 2900 fps from her .308. The cow was quartering toward us at around 250 yards, and staggered 20-25 yards before flopping, obviously hard-hit. The bullet broken the near shoulder just above the joint, ending up under the hide on the opposite side of the ribcage, minus all its petals. Many hunters think X-Bullets won't penetrate or kill well when they lose petals, but the cow didn't get the memo.
A good friend, a retired outfitter, has been using the .22-250 for around a decade now with yearly success. But these days he only shoots cows and raghorns, usually in herds, and likes the .22-250 because bullets won't exit, even on perfectly broadside rib shots, and wound another elk on the far side. Dunno what bullet he uses, because he's never mentioned it.
Damned if I know what's minimum for elk.
One question John, is the 270 Win as good of an elk round as the 6.5 Creedmoor?
The first great thing is to find yourself and for that you need solitude and contemplation. I can tell you deliverance will not come from the rushing noisy centers of civilization. It will come from the lonely places. Fridtjof Nansen
