I used the 175gr Gameking in my STW on a small blacktail @ 60yds, the bullet came completely apart after hitting the spine. I used a 9mm to dispatch the animal. My brother shot a small blacktail with a 160gr Speer Hotcore, which completely shrapnelled after hitting a leg bone. We then tried Barnes 160gr X-bullets, the next four deer dropped like rocks, very little meat damage. The fifth deer though ran off after the X-bullet had broken its front leg, took out one lung, and perforated his abdominal cavity and exit'd. (one tough little deer) After chasing the deer over hills and streams for two hours, finding blood and chunks of bone along the way a second X-bullet through the neck finished him off. On all five deer we shot with the X-bullet the bullet kept on going. Since the blacktail deer are fairly small we decided to go back down a step in bullet toughness. I think the 160 X-bullet (with the blue coating) might be the best choice for elk out of the STW. Last year we tried two new bullets for deer. My brother chose a 160gr Swift A-frame, which had mushroomed perfectly in our water testing. It dropped the largest blacktail we've shot so far on a broadside shot, but failed to exit, it was mushroomed beautifully up against the far hide. I was supprised it didn't exit. (the only weakness the A-frame has is that its B.C. is an average .450 instead of the .500+ most of these other bullets, which would only make a difference out past 300yds) I went with the 154gr Hornady Interbond SST. I chose this bullet over the 150gr Swift Scirocco because the Scirocco didn't hold together very well in water testing. I didn't get a deer last year, but I did use the 154gr on a 300lb blackbear. At 100yds the bullet completely passed through the bear (lung&heart), he ran about 20-30yds and collapsed. I just got in some 160gr Nosler Accubond, but haven't loaded them up yet. I'll water test them soon. I take plastic milk jugs with water and line them up and shoot into them. If the bullet comes apart or fails to penetrate 3 milk jugs (each jug is about 6" wide) I won't use it for deer. I prefer and honest 4-5 jugs of destruction. The X-bullet has passed through 7 and kept going.(a couple times) In fact we've never been able to keep the bullet in line with the jugs long enough to stop it. I hope this helps.