Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Are premium bullets needed for elk?

The 3 biggest bulls I have l killed all went down with 1 shot with a Sierra GK. Two with a 7mag, 160 gr and one with a 180 gr out of an .06.

I am past 50 elk killed. First one with a.308 and a 165 gr Remington Bronze point in 1966. All in between have been with the .308,180 gr GK, 45-70 and 405 gr Remingtons, 30-30 ,170 gr fl pt, 50 cal.maxiball, 50 cal 348 gr Powerbelt, 7mag Remington,7 mag Weatherby (most with 160 gr GK, some with partitions), many with the .06, with either 180gr GK or 220 gr rn, several with the 180 gr partition.

Pick a bullet that is designed for the impact velocities you expect and go elk hunting. If that is on the north side of 2800-2900fps or so, then yea,you probably need a tougher bullet.

I have not seen one bit of difference in how the elk died that I have killed vs what was on the head stamp of the cartridge or the bullets I used. The ones that I did not make perfect shot (there were a few) went a ways, the ones I did, fell over pretty quick
Either the elk are a lot tougher in other areas than where I hunt, or some hunters need to figure out how and where to shoot elk