30 Cal. SMK's for Elk?

[Ernie]

I read in some older posts where a number of you have used 168 & 175 SMK's with good success for deer & elk. My question is what velocity range do you believe that these bullets will perform well?
I'm one of those odd ducks that uses a Remington XP-100 center-grip in 7.82 Patriot for elk hunting. Chronoed 150 grain loads are @ 3,000 fps from the muzzle. I have just shot some 180 grain Game Kings that were just under 1/2 inch (4-shot group @ 100 yards). Haven't shot this load @ 200 yards or chronoed it yet.
Given this information what would you suggest?

Thanks

Ernie Bishop

[Michael Eichele]

Hey,

SMK's actually perform well under a wide variety of velocities. With SMK's though, is that a good rule to go by is the faster they go, the heavier they should be. That is of course in the hunting application. For elk, with your loads, I would use 190 MK or even the 180 if that is what my gun liked. I probably wouldnt feel as confident with a 150 but that is just me. I have a buddy who killed an elk at 430 yards with a 180 SMK at 3100 FPS at the muzzle. I killed a dall sheep at 763 with a 168 at 2661 and a caribou at 300 with the same. So, the moral is the bigger the game and the faster they are, the bigger the bullet, at least for hunting with MKs. But they do work very well. If anything, they blow up a little more if you are close, hence the more lead is better routine. I hope that helps

[Ernie]

Michael,
Thanks for responding. Yes, it helps.
On your 763 yard dall shot with the 168 SMK, was the bullet going 2661 @ 763 yards or from the muzzle?

[Michael Eichele]

I am glad it helped.

The 2661 was muzzle velocity. At 750 the velocity from my gun and surrounding conditions that day my velocity would have been very very close to 1605. I did acheive complete penetration, but there was NOT much noticable upsize on the exit. The only reason I can justify this set up for sheep at those ranges is that dall sheep expire very easy. They dont take much to dispatch. Accuracy is needed for these small distant critters and not killing power.

[p dog shooter]

I shot a cow this fall with 180mk's at 2950 from my 300 win mag. 273 lasered yards one shot the cow went about 30feet from the shot. Took her behind the rt shoulder about 1/3rd of the way up. The match kings well do under.5 out of this rifle the 180 game kings around 2 in.