Well as I said, it's your elk, and I don't care what others use. As long as I don't have to recover them it's not my monkey or my circus.
We do disagree, but that doesn't make me right and you wrong, or the other way around.
What you did say is " I judge a bullet by it's ability to kill reliably and quickly."
I would agree but for the word
quickly.Chasing them for some time
after the 1st shot hit is why I am sour on them. I have had to do it a few times now. Deer and elk both.
I like the old saying
"do all your hunting before you fire the rifle".
My pastor killed a nice Mulie buck with
4 Burgers, from a 270 last season. 3 hit in the chest, 2 of which were
very well places. The 4th bullet killed the buck from about 10 feet away with a nick shot (which did exit) Whole drama took him about 1-1/2 hours.
IMG952016101395173647042 by
Steve Zihn, on Flickr
I was not on that hunt, but the results were not a bit surprising to me.
He did pretty much the same thing with a 30-06 just a week earlier shooting 165 grain bullet. Took 2 shots and the deer ran about 500 yards . One hit too far back, so we'll not accuse the bullet of ill performance on that shot. Next, one right through the chest, but no good or fast results. Last one did the job-------
about 30 minutes later.Those are just 2 of many
many such stories I have heard, and 2 of about 12 I have seen with my own eyes.
Probably 75% of the game I have seen killed with Burgers didn't go very far, but that doesn't mean the Burger was better than anything else. And from the horrid blow-ups I see, they are not as good.
I think it's unreasonable to say if they had taken identical hits from a Nosler partition, any bonded core bullet, a Remington C-L or a Winchester Power Point that the results would have been as bad
or worse, being that I have seen those others work a lot better for a lot longer. I have not cared for the Sierra Game Kings very much because they usually shed their jackets, but at least they hold more weight then Burgers do.
I have seen plenty of bad performance with other bullets but I can say with 100% certainty
I have never seen worse then I see from burgers. Not ever. Not on any game. Not from any caliber and not from any bullet weight.
I have seen game run when hit well with other bullets too, but any other hunter with about 50 years of experience behind him have seen such things.
The thing is, of all the times I have seen it in 50 years or so, about 85% of those were hit with Burgers and those were all in the last 12 years or so. The other 15% are spread over 50 years with deer, elk, moose, bears, caribou and antelope hit with other makers bullets in all other calibers combined.
Off the top of my head I can remember having to go after game that were hit well with 4 Sierras, three 30 cals and one 150 gr 7mm,
1 Remington CL 100 gr .257.
2 Speer bullets, one 9.3mm 270 grain and one 120 grain 257.
One 225 grain 338 Hornady on a moose, one 250 grain 338 Hornady, also on a moose.
There may be a few others that i am not remembering right this minutes too.
But all those combined don't come to the number of game animals I have seen, or had to chase down myself, shot with Burgers just in the last 12 years.
All will have to make their own choices. I only write this for the readership to ponder. I don't expect to change anyone's mind.
Only experience and having real world comparisons will do that.
I share what I have seen and what I have done, and I'll report the bad with the good. I don't use Burgers because the first 2 years I shot them I never shot at game with them, and I had the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of my friends and clients.
I always prefer learn from the mistakes of others instead of having to make them all myself.
I have shot game with bullets that I didn't like for the given purpose too, and I have done it as recently as last year. Hornady 170 Gr 8MM SSTs are not what I'd choose for elk again. Yes, I killed a nice bull, but 2 rounds were fired and neither exited, one of which came apart. Outstanding accuracy, and the bullets went about 18"-22"" deep, so I would give them high marks for a deer round, but I like better performance for elk. Here are the pics of those 2 bullets and an unfired one to look at.
PA110001 by
Steve Zihn, on Flickr
As you can see, it meats my personal definition for a failure of a big game bullet. Core separation on one. I'd give them a C as a grade. Passable, but not great.
I am going back to Nosler Partitions for my 8MM now. The SST shot flatter, so I thought I'd give it a chance. I did.
And now I am going back.
I want bone breaking ability with exits on elk, every time.
Deer are not so big or tough. So if I can get 60% weight retention on a deer bullet without core separation I am happy.
My standards are my own. No one is in any way obligated to agree, but that's what i have come to after 5 decades of killing big game and guiding hunters who kill big game.
"Your mileage may vary"