Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting How many different bullets have you killed elk with?

375 H-H 270 round nose Remington factory load 100 yards. one shot broadside lung shot fell within 20 feet. Bullet shopped in offside shoulder. 5x5 raghorn.

30-06 Barnes LRX 175 grain 100 yards. Broadside double lung pass through. Went about 100 yards. Exit hole was about the size of a quarter. 5x5 bigger raghorn lol.

308 win 165 Sierra bt 165 yards through front leg clipped heart. Bullet stopped in far shoulder. Died within 10 feet. Cow.

308 win 165 BTHP 400 yards hit low, 100 yards hit low, 20 feet between the eyes. I will admit to buck fever getting the best of me. Cow.

The only 6x6 that I have shot was with my bow. Double lung 35 yards, dead within 15 seconds 30 feet from shot.

Cow 210 gr Barnes X .338 WM 80 yds. Heart shot pass through, not a lot of internal damage. Ran 50 yds.

Cow 150 gr Corelokt .30-06 100 yds. Shredded the heart, pass through. Staggered a few steps.

5 pt bull 225 gr Accubond .338 RUM 320 yds. First shot double lung, shattered off side shoulder. Bull collapsed then stood back up. Second shot quartering to, through neck into chest. Neither bullet exited.

Cow 200 gr Accubond .300 RUM 589 yds. High shoulder shot. Lungs shredded, punched through scapula, severed spine and exited. DRT.

Huge bodied 6x6 bull 200 gr Partition 8mm Rem mag 450 yds. First shot double lung, hurried second shot broke the leg just below the chest as he was staggering toward a steep drop off. He was down but still alive when we reached him 20 minutes later, so a third shot through the heart. Found the first bullet against the far shoulder, classic Partition expansion profile, opened up back to the partition with a little front core remaining.

Well let see;
200 grain Sierra 30 caliber from 300 Win Mag. Bull
250 grain Nosler Partition 338 Win Mag. Several elk
250 Barnes 35 Whelen cow
250 Sierra 338 Win Mag 2 cows. Terrible performance
200 grain Nosler Partition 30-06. Probably 10 or 12 elk.
180 Trophy Bonded 30-06. Bull
180 grain Remington Mushroom Cor-Lokt (old style discontinued @1960) 30-06. Bull and cow
170 grain Remington Mushroom Cor-Lokt (old style) 30-30 cow
150 Nosler Partition 270 Win several cows

40 grain CCI 22 long rifles from Colt Woodsman, Cow and bull
255 Cast 38/55 Win bull

That's about all I can remember off hand. There are probably several more that escapes my memory. And before you start howling about the 22 long rifle kills, they both died so fast and they died with far less trauma and faster than any of my other kills.

260 120Barnes TTSX
308 Barnes 150 TSX
280AI Barnes 150 TTSX
338-06 185 Barnes X
338-06 210 NP
338-06 AI 210 NP
338-06 AI 250 NP
338 Win Mag 250 NP

I've only shot one elk (cow). Used 7mm-08 with 140 TTSX.

270 - 150 gr. Partitions x 9 times

30-06 - 180 gr. Sierra boat tail x 2


Turns out sierras kill pretty darn good. The elk were not ashamed of dying to a cup and core, but I do prefer a premium boolit

Off the top of my head, almost certainly forgetting some, various yardages, various cartridges (243, 270, 30-30, 300 Sav, 308, 30-06, 300 WSM).

Myself:

.243"
100gr Interlock

.308"
150gr Gameking
150gr Interlock (SP)
150gr Core-Lokt
168gr TTSX
180gr Accubond


Witnessed:

.277"
150gr Powerpoint

.308"
150gr Interlock (round nose)
165gr GMX
165gr Core-Lokt
180gr Core-Lokt
180gr Interlock
180gr TTSX
180gr Federal Trophy Copper (whatever bullet that is)


General notes: Heavier bullets that hold together consistently get more penetration than cup and core bullets and therefore kill more consistently. I've seen cup and core bullets fail a whole lot of times. Of course this doesn't always mean a lost animal, you can make an elk die with anything, especially if you hit them anywhere near where you are aiming, and you are aiming in a good spot. Light for caliber Sierra Gamekings have got to be the worst I've seen and I think Core-Lokts are the best cup and core bullets.

Elk aren't bulletproof, they are just big, and you can't get too much penetration. Bonded and monolithic bullets just do such a better job, consistently. Still never used a Partition but they should work great for the same reasons.

Well here are mine-

.550 pure lead roundball- one cow Elk from full stock flint Hawken - in 1992, CO
.550 pure lead roundball - one small bull - same rifle -drew in 1993, co

Encore rifle- 280 Remington- 2008- 140grn Accubond- Oklahoma , once in a lifetime draw

Several with 135 grain Magnus Broadheads with my Osage Selfbows I make.

Mike

I was just contemplating things in general and it came to me that there are many ways to dispatch an elk, get a rifle to shoot 1/4 moa, and have optics that can discern the pube on the left nut of said fly at 800 yards. But there are only 3 kinds of elk hunters; those that get out there and kill elk, those that hunt and wish they could get an elk, and those that do neither yet tell everyone else how to do it!

180 Nosler Partition in Mauser 30-06.
One shot at 180 yards, she dropped right there. Two other elk standing near looked up at the shot and then went back to grazing.

Tagging in to watch this thread. I'm contemplating which 7mm or 30 cal bullet for an eventual WY Elk hunt. I've actually learned more from this thread than other threads titled "Which bullet for Elk"... etc.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed.

Just one Berger VLD 140 GR in .270 WSM Took a cow and a bull here in NV in 2017

.30 165 gr Sierra HPBT
.30 200 gr. Speer
.30 180 gr.Horn. Interlock BT
.30 180 gr Nosler Part.
.338 250 gr Nosler Part
.30 200 gr Nosler Part
.30 150 gr. Nosler BTBT
7mm 160gr Sierra HPBT
7mm 140gr Nosler BTBT
.338 200gr Accubond
.338 210 gr Nosler Part
.30 200gr Accubond
.338 225gr Accubond
.30 165gr Accubond
.270 140gr SST
.30 150gr Accubond
.375 260 gr Accubond
.30 165gr Nosler Part.