Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Bullet Advice Please

Maybe you can, but I’ve stood next to or been on the same mountain as that old Goat with him flinging them old screw machine turned 180’s at elk, and a lot of them had a good back pack ride to the bottom of the mountain via 180 PTs

I've had excellent results from Hornady Interbond bullets on elk.

The place to buy Nosler bullets is shootersproshop dot com.

From the OP list.

I am solidly in the Barnes camp.

Do not use 143ELD-X on elk, unless you want to use a bunch of them. Shot last fall's bull 6 times with 143 ELD-X's from 6.5 Creedmoor @ 200 yards. They acted like varmint bullets. I personally will not make that mistake again. Have used .308 Interlocks without issue - so not a Hornady Hater, but the 143ELD-X is not an elk bullet.

If you like how the Partitions work, I'd not let the price of a few boxes of ammo/bullets deter me for a last hunt. Of those you listed, I'd be looking at the Barnes offerings.

No bigger fan of Partition’s terminal performance than me, but given the choices the TTSX’s in a heartbeat…

I’ve killed lots of elk with the 270 and 150 NPt’s, some with TSX’s and TTSX’s with other chamberings. They are both good.

I can buy NPt’s cheaper than I can buy TTSX’s.

Exactly right. They are about $1.40 bullet for .277 / 150 gr. So what, you get what you want... If you dont want to spend that , you can get good bullets from Speer for about 30 cents a piece. Hornady is about 40 cents. The whole hunt will cost you $1,000? but your choice of bullets will add an extra $20 .

I'm a "thrifty Scots-Irishman", I find a good load with the bullet I want to try ( i.e. Barnes, etc) and then set up a load as identical as I can with cheaper Hornady's, Speers, etc. I shoot them for practice (or deer/antelope), and then re-zero/hunt with the Fancy's for elk! I get lots of trigger time in and get many hunts out of a box of Premiums that way.

Good practice indeed!

I had Nosler Partitions fail to do their job on Caribou in Alaska with well placed shots , that Sierra's made em fall over DRT. Went back to Sierra game kings and used match king same loads to dial in the rifle. You dont want a Caribou running away 5 miles in the snow and then stop bleeding , you want em to drop where you shoot em ! Same with elk , Moose , or Bears , especially Bears !
I'm not a fan of Barnes Bullets after trying them , but thats me being anal about accuracy and expansion.
The Old Remington RN Core-Lokts performed the Best for me in several rifles over many years , then they were discontinued.
Rich

???
What was the deal with partitions on caribou? Details?

I am not a big Nosler fan as their concentricity and accuracy generally hasn't been impressive to me, but I have never had a partition or accubond not kill well if I actually hit something with them.

The bullet went completely through the rib cage without mushrooming and left a pencil hole thru part of the heart and lungs and the bull Caribou started running 1/4 mile and crossed the Richardson hwy and went up a hill before falling over and was still alive. When that happened he pumped adrenaline thru his body and the meat tasted like sweat , even after aging it was horrible. Most 30 Cal 180 gr bullets don't exit an animal that big (300 + pounds) , and it was a good heart Lung shot at 50-60 yards . Never used Partitions again after that.
Rich

Same here Mike. Doesn't even come close to mattering. Filling my 55 gallon fuel tank hits me way more than a few boxes of bullets to hunt with.

Make that 3 of us.

Heck, I'll send the OP a handful of 270/150 Partitions if that will help. They seem to work

Wait - There's a bullet that will make critters run to a spot uphill from the road then fall over? That is the most perfect performance possible, next to them just dropping right in the road! I gotta get me some o' them Partitions!

Jokes aside, Rich, I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with a Partition, but you are in a very small minority. Maybe you had a faulty bullet?
Rifle-wise, I've only killed elk with Partitions, ABs, or TSX and no complaints with either.

Cheers,
Rex

I have noticed the exit holes from partitions can be deceiving and there a lot of damage created while the petals fold back prior to the rear portions exit. Since you examined the internal damage though, I'ma glad you were able to recover your caribou.

Today’s Hammer Bullets are kinda like a high velocity impact with a partition. A lot of initial damage, with a large base continuing on….often with an exit. JMO memtb

If a bullet goes completely through an animal it has wasted a lot of energy and is also unsafe for possible unseen hunters downrange, or in the case of Caribou herds , wound another animal on the other side of it . I like a bullet to mushroom and stop before exiting the animal and impart 100% of its energy to make a Humane 1 shot kill. I still have bullets recovered from Big Game that did what they were supposed to do. I have done extensive Bullet testing for accuracy and performance over the past 50 years , and just because a bullet has a fancy name does not mean it will work in real life !
Rich

One of the primary rules for shooting…..know your target and what is beyond!

A rule that most “sock puppets”, such as yourself……tend to ignore or am completely oblivious too!

Congrats….another to the growing ignore list! memtb