Thought I would share my experience with these pills and their close range performance on elk. The setting is opening day of the MT general elk season. I had slowly worked my way down into a large park where I had encountered elk in the past. I had positioned myself on the edge of the park with some shooting sticks, sitting behind a downed tree. I could hear some elk heading my direction in the timber behind me, but decided to stay put and adjust my sticks to where I had seen other elk enter the park on different occasions. Things got quiet and I could see them sneaking through the timber. The lead cow got to the edge of the park to check things out like they always do. She started heading (quartering) towards me, cutting across the park. The rest of the elk were filing along behind her; I finally saw what I thought appeared to be a bull in the timber based on his hide color. With all the elk out in the park, he came out of the shadows and stopped behind a pine tree. The lead cow was about 30 yds from me at this point and I was worried about getting busted. Finally, he started on the same path as the rest of them. Once the shot was clear, I let him have it. The first shot hit him hard in the front shoulder; he reared up like a horse and tucked that leg a bit, but was on the move shortly after the shot. I chambered another round and put it a little bit higher and forward of the first shot. With the bullet's impact, he tucked all four legs and slid to a stop. He was anchored.
Both shots were right around 100 yds. For the first shot, he was quartering towards me so it was a frontal shoulder shot. It broke the shoulder, damaged a lung, and some of the projectile exited the hide on the opposite side. The second shot would be considered a broadside-high shoulder shot. Some of the shrapnel must have hit the spine based on his reaction. It is safe to say the first shot would have killed him, but one more round was cheap insurance.
Muzzle velocity was 3085 FPS out of a .300 RUM. With the hide off, I found one pin hole for an entrance hole on the front shoulder muscle; this appeared to be the first shot. Once I took the front shoulder off, the damage became more apparent. The bullets had clearly started to expand and multiple ribs were broken with each shot. There was no indication of the second shot exiting.
I'm not a "Berger Guy" by any means. In fact, this was my first experience with any of their products in any caliber. I shoot a lot of Hornady and Barnes products but these bullets performed well and wanted to share my experience.
Both shots were right around 100 yds. For the first shot, he was quartering towards me so it was a frontal shoulder shot. It broke the shoulder, damaged a lung, and some of the projectile exited the hide on the opposite side. The second shot would be considered a broadside-high shoulder shot. Some of the shrapnel must have hit the spine based on his reaction. It is safe to say the first shot would have killed him, but one more round was cheap insurance.
Muzzle velocity was 3085 FPS out of a .300 RUM. With the hide off, I found one pin hole for an entrance hole on the front shoulder muscle; this appeared to be the first shot. Once I took the front shoulder off, the damage became more apparent. The bullets had clearly started to expand and multiple ribs were broken with each shot. There was no indication of the second shot exiting.
I'm not a "Berger Guy" by any means. In fact, this was my first experience with any of their products in any caliber. I shoot a lot of Hornady and Barnes products but these bullets performed well and wanted to share my experience.
