Filaman –
There is a big difference between solids that are designed not to expand and monos that are designed to expand.
For years I considered all of my centerfire bolt and lever rifles over .22 caliber to be “elk rifles” and, with the exception of the .243 Win I acquired several years back, have loaded them accordingly. (I’ve only developed one load for the .243, using 95g SST, not something I would use for elk.) I started elk hunting in 1982 and have only missed one year since – a benefit of living in Colorado. While I have hunted muzzleloader (primitive) seasons a few times for deer, most of my hunting is elk and deer in the combined seasons, with deer generally being targets of opportunity more than the primary goal.
Other than cost of the bullets, I’ve found no downside to using reliable premium bullets on game smaller than elk and have used them to take occasional varmints (prairie dogs and coyotes and crows) as practice for the main event. The premiums have never failed me on antelope or deer, either. In other words, they work fine for everything.
The cost difference between using premiums and cup-and-core bullets on a hunt won’t get you a cup of cheap coffee. I once calculated that several years of savings using cup-and-core bullets for elk, deer and antelope wouldn‘t buy me a cheap glass of wine at a restaurant. While it is true you can buy cup-and-core bullets for around $0.20 each, The GameKings you use cost about $0.33 each. Ballistic Tips run about $0.48 each while TTSX/LRX and Federal Edge TLR run about $0.79 each. So the savings for you would be around $0.15 to $0.46 per bullet.
In the greater scheme of things, where a week-long elk hunt can cost $hundreds$ in fuel, $hundreds$ in licenses, $hundreds$ in processing fees, $hundreds$ in equipment and $hundreds$ in housing and food, the cost of even factory ammo is in the who cares noise level.
I hunt elk and deer in my home state of Colorado. My loads are handloads and my housing is a trailer I drag to the far side of the state. Food is a mix of what I take and restaurant meals. Licenses are Resident licenses, so much cheaper than non-resident. Still, it isn’t uncommon for me to spend over $1,000 per elk. deer hunt. License fees this year will cost me $211.98 for application fees, habitat stamp, qualifying license cost and one deer and two elk licenses. Fuel will probably be in the range of $500 again. My processor charges $1.30 per hanging pound. My last cow elk cost me $308 without the straps and filets, which I process myself. That puts me at $1,019.98 for a single cow elk, without considering equipment costs or food. My equipment costs (truck, trailer, rifle/scope/laser, clothing, etc.) are sunk costs at this point – everything is fully paid for except the pre-hunt maintenance for the truck (oil change and maybe a new serpentine belt). Saving $0.46 per bullet, when I’ll likely use no more than two (one elk and one deer) just doesn’t come close to a high priority.
Other than cost of the bullets, I’ve found no downside to using reliable premium bullets on game smaller than elk and have used them to take occasional varmints (prairie dogs and coyotes and crows) as practice for the main event. The premiums have never failed me on antelope, deer or elk either. In other words, they have worked fine for everything in my experience. On the other hand, I’ve seen multiple situations where standard cup-and-core bullets failed to perform in a way I consider satisfactory. The first was on my first elk, in the mid-80s, which is why I went to Speer Grand Slams, which I used exclusively for 20+ years and for over 30 years total without an unsatisfactory result. Around 2002 I started switching to true bonded core and mono bullets in spite of the extra cost. Regrets? None.
Since my first elk I’ve only used two cup-and-core bullets on big game. The first was a cow elk with a 150g Ballistic Tip, the other a doe antelope with a 95g SST. Mostly I use North Fork SS and SS-HP, Nosler AccuBond and Barnes TTSX and LRX.
FWIW, I shoot mostly cup-and-core bullets at the range, the exception being a few zero and range verification shots before hunting season. If hunting pigs, a bucket list item, I’d go cup-and core in my AR-10, hoping for a lot of shots.
I’ll grant that standard cup-and-core bullets work fine most of the time. You see little reason to use the premiums based on your experience, I see no reason not to when trying to fill the freezer.
