I think you might be missing my point. My lack of success has little to do with lack of effort, probably more to do where I've mostly hunted. For those of you bagging an elk on 90% of your hunts in Washington, God bless you but you are in the minority. Most of my hunting was done with a pet 270. I practiced with sierras, then switched to partitions. I'm well aware and not arguing that any gun you choose will kill an elk, my suggestion was only that elk hunting is an expensive proposition so if I were advising someone today I see no reason not to use a premium bullet. Just my personal recommendation, realizing full well the vast majority of elk are taken with regular bullets.
