I’ve killed 20 elk mostly cows & assisted on that many more cutting & hauling. I’ve used 7mm, 30-06 and 300 Weatherby shooting accubond, partitions, ballistic tips & Barnes TTSX.
I’m agnostic on 2 holes or maximum internal damage. On deer explosive fragmenting bullets worked best & fastest hands down. I’ve gravitated to monos for elk 180 TTSX going near 3200FPS works for good & bad shot angles up close and at 500 yards. Seldom need a finisher on elk occasionally do on deer.
I dislike animals suffering & dislike having to pass up shots that I can make because of bullet limitations so like the OP I’ve erred on the side of stouter construction. The other benefit of monos is I’m never worried about lead in the meat that I’ve missed or the butcher missed because of fine fragments in the hamburger.
