Choosing a bullet that will reliably expand and exit elk.

[The big greasy]

I’ve heard nothing but good about the partition. Accubond I’ve read and whiteness not great performance that a bullet like this is so raved about. Maybe it was just fluke. A small moose was shot a couple times from a 7mm mag and the bullet didn’t penetrate the front shoulder at all.

Imo it’s either a Barnes tsx, ttsx, or Nosler partition. The only beef I have with Barnes I’m my experience is it’s a small entry and small exit hole, but insides are liquified.

 

[Choupique]

heard nothing but good about the partition

It still is the gold standard for a hunting bullet IMO. The only reason I don't use them is that .338 partitions are $2+ a piece, just for the bullet...

 

[The big greasy]

It still is the gold standard for a hunting bullet IMO. The only reason I don't use them is that .338 partitions are $2+ a piece, just for the bullet...

With a bullet like that, and an animal on the other end I would pay the 2 dollars lol. I’m just bias to the Barnes tsx I guess.

 

[Choupique]

Yea if only it worked that way. The reality is the vast majority of mine will be launched into the berm or steel plates and that's a big chunk of money for a dude without a lot of play money. I'd pay $200 each for them if they helped me find stuff to shoot at!

Shooting deer with a .338 win mag does make the bullet basically not matter as long as it does some kind expansion or fragmenting or whatever. Doesn't take a $2 bullet to get that.

The 180gr partitions from .30-06 was always my favorite general purpose hunting getup prior to small bore enlightenment.

 

[The big greasy]

Yeah I guess if your banging steel with them, yeah it’s expensive. I just load for a gun for animals and eat the bullet price, so it doesn’t shoot much.

 

[Pharmseller]

One of the reasons I switched from Nosler to ELDX was availability. Nosler bullets were really hard to find for a long time.

 

[Smokinyotes]

Although they don’t always pass through every animal I’ve shot with 180 Swift A frames out of my 300wm has gone straight down.

 

[he_lives]

One of the reasons I switched from Nosler to ELDX was availability. Nosler bullets we’re really hard to find for a long time.

Same for me. Luckily availability is decent these days.

 

[Hydra6]

I lucked into some 7mm 155 grain Terminal Ascents I will try in my 280AI and new 7PRC. I will say that the Hornady Precision Hunter 162ELDX 280AI slayed multiple critters efficiently.

 

[Bissmatt87]

This year I shot a raghorn bull at 234 yards with a 200 grain federal terminal ascent bullet out of a 300 win mag muzzle velocity around 2800 fps. Both were broad side shoulder shots. One exited and one was stopped in the off side hide. The recovered bullet showed perfect performance.

 

[FredH]

I have used a bunch of different bullets on elk. Had to experiment. From a 30-06 went from a 150 gr. Speer Hotcor to 180 gr. Hotcor to 180 gr. Partition. Happy but got a great deal on 200 gr. Partitions, bought enough to last for a couple decades while using 200 gr. Hotcors as it's understudy. Of the bunch the 150 gr. Hotcor was the only one I didn't trust to get through a shoulder and do enough damage to the lungs/heart. It worked just fine on shots through the ribs but no exit. My 7MM experience started with 175 gr. Hornady, then the 160 gr. Partition, Caught every 175 gr. Hornady shot into an elk but every elk shot was quickly down. I even caught the 160 gr. Partiton once but it was a frontal shot. I had good luck using the 150 gr. Ballistic Tip also. No exits though. So then I moved up to a 338. Exits every shot. Various 250 grain bullets. Mostly Sierra. On the other hand these Sierra's didn't expand much at long range and caused a few long tracking jobs. Then on to the 300 Magnum. 200 grain Partitions and I had the perfect elk cartridge. It was too long for easy exits in and out of the truck, loud and this one was light so it did kick some. Still I was happy with it but went back to my 30-06 because I just like the rifle better. I also used a 35 Whelen when I lived in Western Washington with 250 grain bullets just because I had one. Short ranges and various angles it always delivered elk if not always exits.

 

[buffybr]

Low chest, just behind the heart so it still pumps, you will have blood spraying everywhere!

A bull elk that I shot low chest, just behind the shoulder with a 168 gr TSX bullet from my .300 Wby only made 3 jumps and sprayed blood 10' out on the fresh snow from both sides.

The lower arrow in this picture shows the .30 calliber entrance hole in the hide and the top arrow shows the beginning of the expanded hole in his chest.

The upper arrow in this pic shows the expanded TSX bullet exit hole from the chest, and the lower arrow points to the 1" or so bullet exit hole through his skin on his off side.

For about 20 years my elk rifle was my .30 Gibbs shooting 180 gr Nosler Partition bullets. I've rarely spent a lot of time looking for the bullets in the animals that I shot, but here are 180 gr Partitions that were just under the skin of the off side of 6 of those bulls.

As designed, the front half of the bullets quickly opened to quickly transfer the bullet's energy into the animals, and the intact back half pushed the bullet deep through the animal's body, but the large flat front area of the remaining bullet didn't have enough energy to go through the skin.

On one of my African hunts I used my 7mm RM shooting 160 gr Accubonds. One of my PH's, who also handloaded his 7mm RM, was continually impressed with the large internal wound channels that my Accubond bullets made in the animals that I shot.

 

[streamerfish]

Depends on what you mean by expansion and how often is reliable exit.

Ive seen a fair number of elk taken, I dont think I've seen a singular bullet exit more often then a 65% - 70% of the time. And those were a pretty small sample size.

The vast majority of those elk being taken by accubonds, partitions, and other bonded bullets, with some barnes monos mixed in.

My general thoughts are...the more the bullet fragments, or the more it expands the less likely an exit. The less it expands, the better chance of exit.

And when in doubt shoot a partition.

 

[Whitefox82]

My CA Traverse 300win liked both TTSX 180 and Federal TA 200s. I am using the TA because of the higher bc and had no problem going in and out a bull this fall at 350 yards. Not a massive amount of blood in the snow but he was only on his feet for maybe 10 seconds before falling over and sliding down to a bench. I’m sure a soft point would produce better blood with a larger front entry but when in grizzly country or Alaska I want my rifle filled with bullets that will penetrate even at full velocity. My 2 cents