Originally Posted by Magnum_Bob
Well this bullet or that bullet damned if I can figure out why anybody would use a fragile bullet and try to punch the near side scapula on an elk. I understand breaking them down but aim for the FAR shoulder after you have run it thru the vitals. Seems like a no brainier to me but then I use Nosler partitions and hunt elk not try to snipe them in the next county. Mb



Damn it. I have 140gr ELD-X's loaded up for my cow elk hunt this season. I'm trying to remember what I used to kill my last two elk's (memory can't even go back that far). On the last elk (2 seasons ago) it was too dang hot to load in the garage so I just purchased 1 box of Federal Premium 168gr Berger Hybrid Hunters. The accuracy, speed and ballistics were so good, I purchased 3 more boxes. Anyway, she was 218 yards out; the shot was a frontal chest shot that exited the left shoulder. It blew out her lung and destroyed her shoulder. She went maybe 20 yards and expired.

So I consider the Berger a high frag bullet / low weight retention bullet and it still had enough to punch through the shoulder from the inside out.

For the member who said they took a 69 yard shot (I think it was) with a 7RM, initially, I would say the 7RM pushed those bullets so fast that at they didn't expand and penciled through the animal. But they also mentioned that there was not exit. No exit would lead me to believe the bullet stopped and expanded to some degree. So at less than 100 yards, an ELD-X traveling more than 2500+ fps at POI entered the animal, and stopped (probably on bone). idk. Elk are tough critters. I once shot one in the cheek from 100 yards out and the bullet deflected (150gr Hornady SST) and the second shot went into her eye socket.

Remember, not everyone has a happy ending, so be happy when you can