Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting are those premium bullets really necessary

I always use Nosler Partitions for elk and mule deer and have had outstanding results. I wouldn't use anything else!

Since I love all those zeroes, and use standard and magnum cartridges that roll along at over 3000 fps, I tend to like the premiums pretty well.

And I use them when I can to break bone coming and going through vitals because I have found animals make fewer tracks when running gear and plumbing are both disrupted.Even high velocity premiums don't chew up much meat.

Plus, I never know what a hunting season might hold,so each rifle gets bullets capable of handling anything,and I won't waste any time looking for the "perfect deer bullet",so generally avoid soft stuff with plastic tips and tin foil jackets.

Shoulders and leg bones on elk are pretty tough stuff at times,and a bit of extra penetration never hurt a thing;but a bullet that can't break both shoulders might not have the mustard I want on a longer angling shotfrom the back ribs......hey, it happens. .

If I had not seen enough game (big and little)erased from view by a Partition,I'd worry about it more.

I like Coyote Hunters proforma on the cost of a premie from a handloaders perspective,and it figures out about what I got, too,but the numbers were lower cause I did it back in the 80's when I bought a pile of Bitterroots....

This winter I'm going to form 150 shiny new Mashburn cases by the COW method,put up 100 with 175 Nosler Partitions and 50 with 160 gr Bitterroots.Older brass will get the cheapie bullets for practice.

I figure that makes me good to go for anything from pronghorn to Alaskan Yukon Moose and elk,and all the stuff in between, anywhere,any time.It might "way overpenetrate" the deer sized stuff, but I also know they will be dead pronto with no fuss,and I won't have to wonder at all what happens when the hammer falls.

I don't experiment with bullets much anymore....I leave that up to the experts.

Yup, hands down they are worth it. Are they always 100% of the time necessary to get the job done? No. But they are worth their weigh in gold in certain situations. Example: 350 yard muley, hard quartering away. Bullet passes through hind quarter, shatters hip joint, and continues into chest. Muley death runs 50 yards and flops over. Would a plain ol soft point have done the same thing? Maybe. But who wants to chance a maybe? A broadside shot into the ribs at 350, take you pick. I strongly feel that if nothing else, the premium bullets offer a margin for error. My .02

Define confidence:
Confidence is generally described as a state of being certain either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective.

Ask yourself how much this feeling is worth to you, especially at first light on opening day.

P

Don't know,but I have always had complete confidence that if I put a 220 gr 30 cal Sierra RN in an elk in the right place,that elk dies,and usually right now.Probably true with any bullet one selects that is designed for the job

I've used the Partition for over 30 years. I don't give it any thought anymore. I just load them in the gun and go hunting for muley's and elk.

If I do my part. That's two bullets a year. Pretty cheap for a little peace of mind when I squeeze the trigger.

I do not need a premium bullet 95% of the time but the other 5% of the time makes the price of a premium bullet seem like a bargain.

Was posting a couple pics of Wyoming antelope in another thread and thought about this thread. I pick up Wyoming non-resident antelope doe tags around $35. A Wyoming buck antelope tag would cost me about $225 if I remember correctly. I get two doe tags and save about $155 over the cost of a single buck tag.

To save that much money by shooting standard Cup & Core reloads in stead of premium (AccuBond, TTSX, etc.) bullets I'd have to run something like 390 to 650 rounds through my barrels - every year.

As I said before - the difference in cost, at least for premium reloads I use for hunting, is truly insignificant. I remember something Dad one told me when I asked how many MPG his Lincoln Continental got. "If you have to ask you can't afford one." The same is true with the cost of my hunts - when I start worrying about the cost of the premium bullets I sure as hell can't afford the hunts.

If I put the same reasoning as a lot of post here, this might be my problem.
I run a 98 Dodge Cummins diesel. I pull a 20 ft stock trailer loaded with mules and gear. Probably goes 16,000 GVW. 95% of the mountain passes in Colorado I can pull in 3rd gear at the most. Probably 5% of the passes I have to shift down to 2nd because of grade, and tight turns, low speed required. Especialy that short Smith pass down betwen Wetmore and Silvercliff.

Does that mean I should go buy a Peterbuilt or Mack semi tractor truck for those 5% times or just keep trucking in 2nd gear when needed? The Dodge cost about $26K new, a Peterbuilt or Mack probably runs $100K+.

Makes a person contemplate.

Hardly the same reasoning. $74,000 difference in trucks. Is not the same as a few dollars difference in bullets.

No but a Kenworth makes sense!!!

That's not even the same or close to the .50 cents a bullet fired during hunting season depending on how many you actually shoot during the season.

If it takes two or three cup and core to do what or get to what one Premium does..What did you save?

Jayco

You guys are way too serious about all this gack. At least Jayco saw the intended humor I think. What does it matter who uses what.Everyone uses what they want anyhow.
Lighten up,go get cup of joe.

I thought we were just having a conversation?

Oh,OK!!!

If it takes two or three cup and core bullet's to do what one premium bullet does. you need to take a better look at the bullet's you choose and/or your marksmanship!

Every single hunter has to decide or learn,what works best for him in every situation he has been in or seen.I'm actually quite a Core-Lokt fan after having used most every bullet/ammo available over the years.Never lost game using them or store bought ammo topped with Silver Tips/Bronzepoints yada yada as I can't remember them all.The very worst bullet I used in my 270 was the new Fail Safe..They got the first part of the name right anyway!

I choose to use Nosler Partitions when applicable to the firearm I use when hunting Elk as here our season includes all the species from Whitetails, not much bigger than my dog, to Elk.I have found it to be the best for our hunting season and what it offers.

Jayco

I may travel at least 1000 mi. to get to hunt elk, all but one of my elk kills have been in the timber and the elk have been on their way out, including an assist @200 yds. with the bull rounding a point headin' down the mountain.

I have found in most cases premium hunting bullets give me great and very acceptable accuracy, save the varmint rifles, I only have one rifle that doesn't use premium bullets, it's a 1920's model Savage 99G in 300 Savage, but at only 2400 fps, I fully expect the 180 gn. Speer rnsp in hot-cor persuasion to behave much like a premium.

Gunner

I think what turned me off to N partitions is that I had Weatherby 7 mag that I could not get to shoot and the partitions were the worse.( I'm talking 4" groups at 100) Looking back though, I had it rebarrled with a Doublas air gaged barrel, put in a McMillin stock, pillar bedded and a new scope and it still would not shoot.However it would shoot the Sierra 160 gr Game Kings fairly well but that was not a tough enough bullet at those velocities. It was better toughness wise with the 175's,but not quite as good accuracy wise.This was before all these newer premiums came on the scene.
That gun turned into a Bushmaster competition grade AR, .223 ( traded)

How many Elk shoulders and bones have you shot with cup and core bullets?Did they hold up just as well and penetrate just as far as some of the Premiums?They haven't for me...And how about meat damage,which did more damage,a cup and core that can blow apart or a controlled expansion bullet that stays in one piece reguardless of what it hits?

My favorite example is this North Fork.Not many bullets that would look like this after hitting rock at 2100 fps out of a 45-70 Guide Gun.So next time you go hunting Rocks..Think North Fork.



Jayco

I have always wondered why those rocks were never DRT and rolled down the mountain side.