Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Elk bullets - calmly

Used their Grand Slam bullets years ago on deer and one elk, they worked pretty well. Don’t know if the mag tip was much different than those. These days with all of the excellent premium bullets we have like the Swift, Nosler, Barnes, North Fork and Hammer I don’t use anything else out of a magnum for elk.

Not a long distance hunter. Longest shot on elk was with my BDL in 270 Win. 150g Partition at 3000 fps. Elk went about 30 yards then laid down and died. Partitions or A-Frames even with their BC being less than ideal are still my bullets of choice, except for my 500 Jeffery which loves the 570g TSX.

Mine too, along with Accubonds and Hammers.

I know for a fact the Speer 165 BT is "soft", I used to load it for my friend's 30-06 for those little Texas deer (about like a Pronghorn). One of them took his best buck a tad over 300yds. We all took behind the shoulder/heart/lung shots on them, not much meat! I just figured a lot of the guys who like to use Match bullets (dump all the energy inside) guys may have tried them. No doubt they would on cow elk. I just wondered about the occasional shoulder shot, if they bloodshot alot?

The old Speer Mag Tip has a beefed up jacket, pretty tough bullet. I'm going to see if this 300 WSM likes them. Its a "spare" rifle anyhow, may never end up killing game with it, but it will accompany me on elk hunts/coyotes/deer/antelope/exotics for sure. I'm going to shoot those 165's around 2950-3000 like a "hot" long barreled 30-06! ha

At those ranges you must be missing the shoulders and spine bones to get pass throughs? With the exception of the AB, I would think the barnes would shed petals and speed if they hit bone other than ribs.

Monos are the best bone crushers I’ve seen.

^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^

And if you don’t go “light for caliber” like many people like to do……you can often get end to end penetration on elk sized game…..even after hitting heavy bone!

As a general comment - accurate, fast, high weight retention, deep penetration …..what’s not to like! memtb

Two of the three cows with the 270 were quartering away shots, and both bullets ran through quite a bit of internals prior to exiting on the off side. I did not check the shoulders for any damage as both dropped within feet of where they were standing. The 150 grn TTSX recovered did shed two pedals.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/19123055/barnes-ttsx-130

The 270 130 grn TTSX posted in the Image Gallery was recovered from my Aoudad this year. Again, quartering away at 278 yards. It did not shed pedals and weighed 129 grns. It mirrors what Blacktailer posted earlier.

All of the elk I have taken with the monos pretty much had a double diameter exit wound and none of the cows have gone more than 50 yards. My friend still uses the 165 Accubond in his 308 with great results as well. The one big difference I have seen is the amount of blood-shot meat damage on his elk.

I was impressed this year with the performance of the 7mm-08 with the 120 TTSX.

I have gone the full circle of using 280, 7mm Mag and 338 Win Mag for elk and now back to using the calibers listed above. If I ever win the lottery and draw a bull tag, I'll reach for the 270 as I have confidence in that rifle bullet combination.

I may try the 270 Trophy Copper rounds next as they are E-Tips which Federal adds relief grooves.

You are one first-class Canadian idiot.

Density physics must be omitted in Canada's grade schools.

Are you related to Jackson Handy, by chance?

Sorry, Winters!

Well, I lost the Bid on those Speer 165s, just as well. After some thought I ordered some 154 Hammers to try. They have a short nose, was told they work swell in a 300 WSM. Make Do Won't Do, lol.
P.S. It can be called a "Mono" but a big 44 and/or a big 45 caliber 300+ gr Hard Cast with a wide Meplat is supposed to be real a "Bone breaker" too. I've shot alot of backstops, etc with 44 Mags, 45 Colts (in revolver and levergun) 444 Marlins, 45-70 and penetration was not lacking, ha. I have shot a couple dozen Plains Game , Texas Exotics, local Game, near and far with Barnes X, and Barnes XBT, XLC and TSX and I like them. I've shot alot of Hammers, but no Game yet. It would take a pretty big bore heavy softnose to take Game on some of the angles I have using them! But Life is short, I like to experiment.

Jim, I’ve never personally used them…….but I don’t think that you’ll be disappointed! memtb

Hey there Uncle Memt, I have shot wads of them when I was living in Texas out of that old 1917 Enfield Sporter. I have only shot Barnes TSX & TTSX 165s from the last two 300 WSMs I've loaded for, and they were wicked for my friend on elk, Red Deer, etc. What I love about Hammers over Barnes, Memt , is seating depth is a non issue with them! Near, far, they don't seem to care, ha. I have to load pretty short on this new to me Kimber. Meanwhile, my very favorite rifle, the Mark V ULWT A-Square is being reamed to the 338/06 Ackley Improved, which is a good looking round to me, and plenty fast enough for how I hunt. I have smaller rounds, but 338 and up are serious elk medicine, Amen? And there is an Aussie who has used that 154 HHT on alot of game of all size down-under in his WSM. Swears by them.

Well, I don’t guess that I’ll have to work very hard to convince you of their worth! So, good luck with this, your latest endeavor! memtb

Jim, I have 3-4 boxes of the Speer 165's if you're still interested in trying them.

Don’t confuse the poor thing. She’s too “dense” to understand that the word “mono” does not imply a particular density value, nor that density is not the most important variable in penetrating hard barriers like bone.

Or skull? lol

Thanks Young Teeder, but I'm going to wait. In fact, I'm not very sure they aren't "too pointy" to work well in this particular rifle. I "think" it has a sorta short throat and it may be just the way I measured it. At the moment, its the only .30 cal in my cabinet and it is a spare. Thank you though for thinking of me!

👍

Grandslams are very short.
One of the reasons I prefer them in my 7mm-08's, along with working great.

215 Hybrids have worked great for me. If there's anything better I haven't found it yet. I also use 180 hybrids in my 7 RM and they are almost as awesome as the 215s on elk.

Well DAYUM!! That's where they all went! Maybe not a bad investment......worth about $75 per box of 50 now and not getting any cheaper.

Don't mind me....just jealous is all. I would have done the same, except I do have a 7mm-08 and a 7mm Rem Mag. Perfect for the mag and not too shabby in the '08 either.