Best Elk Bullet
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Engineering101
Well-Known Member
There is no best elk bullet. What bullet you use depends on what you are trying to do with it and how far away you expect to be from the animal. You already said "blood trail bullet" which implies you expect to have to trail the elk. Others might be after DRT. Some people (like me) are sensitive to meat loss because we like to eat elk and having more of it left over is better. Others just want it dead and the more dead the better. I'm willing to let the elk go say 20 yards and then drop over dead as long as meat loss is near zero. The bullet that does that best for me is a 210 grain TTSX in 338 cal traveling 3,200 fps at the muzzle. However BCs are no where near the ELDXs which appear to be a good compromise between 90% weight loss and none as with the Barnes. If you are expecting very long shots the Barnes are not a good choice as they will slow down too much to be effective. So... pick the bullet that does what you want it to do and fits the way you will be using it. For example, a hunting buddy of mine loaded up some Nosler ABLRs for his 13 year old daughter to shoot a whitetail doe at 50 yards. The muzzle velocity was 2,000 fps to keep recoil down and being a very soft bullet it worked great and dropped the doe in her tracks. A lot of bullet boxes have pictures right on the box of what the bullet looks like at various impact velocities. That right there should tell you a lot. Good luck whatever you pick.
You are right I do expect to trail them. I don't like shooting them in the front shoulder. I have been shooting 185 berger but I'm changing. With a bullet design to break apart like that I was always worried it wouldn't make it through. The hard part about out west is you can shoot them from one ridge to another or in the dark timber 30 yards away. I have seen elk hit with 338 that didn't drop. Extremely tough animal. Witch is way I'm looking for what most are using. Thanks
Broz
Well-Known Member
They will exit when you get out to where they have slowed enough to slow down some of the expansion.
In this story you will see an exited 215 Berger recovered from the dirt and rock.
First Montana Elk by David Hewett - Long Range Only
Here you can watch one pass through my wife's elk on video. Note the dirt splash behind and the visible exit when the elk turns.
Diane Brozovich's 2016 ELK Hunt Video with the Christensen Arms ELR - Long Range Only
The average weight retention we see from recovered Bergers is 50%. Here is one from last season from the far side of a bull elk. Just under the hide. We actually had 3 that looked like this just this past season alone. Always check tips to be open, and use heavy for caliber offerings when using fragmenting bullets. The past two seasons we have taken 112 elk from the ranch I manage. The large majority of these were with Bergers. They do what I need to kill and kill fast, especially if the shooter is off the mark a little. This is what I use.
Hope this helps get some facts out there.
bigngreen
Well-Known Member
I used to shoot Barnes and accubonds, the best thing g that ever happened was starting to shoot Berger's but since they are a cup and core it's up to the loader to load the right weight for the application. In the 30 cal I load the 215 Berger in everything from my 308 to a 300 win, anything with more capacity gets a 230 gr. In hundreds of elk I've seen taken it would be real hard to top what I've seen done with a Berger. Every year I load the flavor of the day bullet just to test since we get a lot of chances to have many elk killed a season with our rifles not just our 2 tags, every year I come back to Berger's.
I shoot all my elk trying to place the bullet over the heart, I try everything not to shoot elk in the shoulder and I see horrified blood trails and a high percentage of exits.
I shoot all my elk trying to place the bullet over the heart, I try everything not to shoot elk in the shoulder and I see horrified blood trails and a high percentage of exits.
orangediablo
Well-Known Member
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Have good results with TTSX in 300 winnie out to 500yards or so with minimal meat loss
Nice Hat now let me get some facts out there. The second story was nice but that was a .338 totally different gun. As for the first 50% is to much for me! Anyone who wants the facts call Berger and ask them their bullet is designed to loose it mass and not exit the animal period end of story! Call them. If they come out it is not what they were designed to do. I have shot or have seen 30 deer shot with 185 Berger and it is a cold day in hell if the Berger exits. shot 3 this year no exit from 100 -250 away. just facts and these are 190lb whitetail not 800lb elk. Thanks for your response but nothing is changing my mind about these bullets. I have been using and logging results from me and my buddys for years and none are completely happy. I have lost deer that ran off after a being shot running across a field. Two years ago I shot a deer standing in a field and it ran off. Found it the next and 200 yards from where I shot it no blood trail. Shot behind the front shoulder clipped the top of the heart and destroyed the lungs and not a drop of blood until I found where it was piled up. I did exactly what it was designed to do.They will exit when you get out to where they have slowed enough to slow down some of the expansion.
In this story you will see an exited 215 Berger recovered from the dirt and rock.
First Montana Elk by David Hewett - Long Range Only
Here you can watch one pass through my wife's elk on video. Note the dirt splash behind and the visible exit when the elk turns.
Diane Brozovich's 2016 ELK Hunt Video with the Christensen Arms ELR - Long Range Only
The average weight retention we see from recovered Bergers is 50%. Here is one from last season from the far side of a bull elk. Just under the hide. We actually had 3 that looked like this just this past season alone. Always check tips to be open, and use heavy for caliber offerings when using fragmenting bullets. The past two seasons we have taken 112 elk from the ranch I manage. The large majority of these were with Bergers. They do what I need to kill and kill fast, especially if the shooter is off the mark a little. This is what I use.
Hope this helps get some facts out there.
BULLBLASTER
Well-Known Member
If you don't like the on game performance of the Berger you most likely won't like the eld x. I killed 2 deer with them last fall and both had the bullets come apart. I recovered one bullet that started at 143 grains and weighed 87 grains and the core had separated from the jacket.
I will second what Broz says about the 215 Berger. To me it is the best choice for the 30 cal.
I will second what Broz says about the 215 Berger. To me it is the best choice for the 30 cal.
"Horrified blood trail". Great the bullet didn't do what it was designed to do per Berger tech support. FYI The 230 Was not designed and are not recommended to be used for hunting because the jacket is thick and not designed to expand per Berger tech support. The 215 I don't know anything about I use the 210 on my long range ultra mag. Again I'm not doubting the accuracy of the Berger. My custom 300rum you could cover 5 shots with a dime at 100 yards and a nickel at 400. I haven't got a chance to shoot it longer yet life is busy. Ok just looked up the 215 they are target bullets not hunting bullets.
bigngreen
Well-Known Member
Broz don't need to call Berger and find out how their bullets work though he could just pick up the phone and call Eric or Bryan he has no need to since Berger is more than aware of Broz data on elk killing!!
Maybe you should have asked sooner how to use the right bullet and you could have been saved a whole lot of heartache, if you look at what guys who shoot a lot of elk with Bergers shoot you will not find them shooting mid to light weight bullets, they will all shoot heavy for cal mostly the 215 and 230 in the 30 cal, makes a HUGE difference!
I've NEVER had a 215 Berger stop in a deer, even hard quarter with a 308 blew a 2 inch hole out, chunks of heart, lung and gutts all over the place since it was a hard quartering shot, my 9 year old daughter tracked him by the blood trail which was short.
The most elk I saw shot in one year was right at 300, the lowest in a single season was in the 20's, I load and build rifles for a number of high count elk guides who shoot 30 cals, the two best 30 cal elk bullets are the 215 Berger and 230 Berger hands down.
I test new bullets every year to see if I can find one better, shot two elk this year with bullets most would hail as "elk bullets" perfect hits and both ran 200+ yards with zero blood, they were dead just the exits were small because of the nature of the bullet. When I find a better elk bullet I'll stop shooting Bergers!
