Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Berger bullets for elk?

Not sure what you don't understand, but I don't shoot solids unless you consider hardcast in my .45-70. They don't expand worth a damn but they sure knock the stuffing out of things and they penetrate like there is no tomorrow. My preferred hunting bullet for the.45-70, though, is a 350g North Fork FP. Very accurate and very deadly. A broadside 6x6 bull at 213 lasered yards never took a step and a quartering away mulie buck at just under 200 was leaking so badly from both sides it looked like someone had sloshed blood from a bucket. Needless to say the buck didn't go far - a tail-chase 360 turn and a few steps uphill you could count on one hand with a finger or two missing.

What I look for in a bullet is reliable but controlled and limited expansion over as wide a range of velocities as possible with high weight retention for deep penetration, plus good accuracy. You can't get that combination with solids or thin-skinned cup-and-core bullets.

Like you I try for the easy angles and am willing to wait for them or pass. The one buck I shot in the ham was an easy quartering away shot until the buck stepped forward and turned away as the trigger broke. Thankfully I was using a bullet that held together and reached the sternum instead of blowing up in the ham. Bangthud.