Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Black Powder Elk Load?

I use a J.P. Murray carbine- load is 580 grain home-cast minie bullet over 74 grains of FFG. Recoil gets your attention but it makes a big hole and I have never had an elk travel further than 100 yards after impact. Then again I don't take a shot unless I am cloise - as in under 100 yards - and fifty is better.

Terry

What twist and make barrel are you shooting them in? And exactly the powder range I ran last year with a 410 Hornady. Tough to find something that can stop that load.

I'll tell what I saw one time that I have tried to figure out for years. The first big bull I killed was in Co. Shot it with a great gun- 270 why mag- Japan, 24 in light barrel, with Federal cartridge with bear claw bullet.

He was a big 5x5 with 15 or so cows east and up high from Vallecita (sp) lake a few miles.

He had a big broad head buried in the spine at the lumbar/tenderloin level that was totally healed. There was an open hole in his side just behind the back edge of the shoulder and about 8-9 in. above the bottom of the chest. It was barely draining a little pus and was almost healed with a dark cartilege like fibrous material that encompassed a big 54 cal. lead hollow base ML slug that had mostly flattened and stopped at the rib. I have in my mind that it was also a HP, but can't remember for sure.

Was the hunter far away and held high for a perfect hit or what happened to keep the bullet from going through the heart.

I wonder if the guy who shot him the year before knows he made a perfect shot, except for centering a rib.

No telling. The bullet could have passed through another elk and hit yours. It's hard to believe a 400-500 grain bullet would be stopped by a rib at any respectable distance.

Yea, a real weird deal for sure.