Maximum lethal range-175 elite hunter

If we just want to talk about the specific bullet the OP asked about, my last elk was killed with a 175 elite hunter going about 2,570 when it hit him. It turned the heart and lungs into a soupy mess, he went about 5 steps and went down, quickly expired.

I'd have max confidence in that bullet all the way down to 2,000 fps impact velocity.
 
If we just want to talk about the specific bullet the OP asked about, my last elk was killed with a 175 elite hunter going about 2,570 when it hit him. It turned the heart and lungs into a soupy mess, he went about 5 steps and went down, quickly expired.

I'd have max confidence in that bullet all the way down to 2,000 fps impact velocity.
I've got to try those in my 7 SAUM. It's been shooting the 180 Hybrids so well I've been hesitant to change anything but I like everything I've heard about the 175 EH.
 
The Elite Hunter, being a hybrid ogive, has a good size cavity, mixed with a longer nose overall, so you get a good balance of strength yet soft construction.

To quantify it better (referring to my previous post), I'd limit your max range with the 175gr EH to an impact velocity of 1600fps on smaller game and/or shot placements where the amount of resistance is lower. For larger game or higher resistance shot placements (like shoulders) you could go down to 1400fps.

The other thing to consider though is that with a high BC bullet like they, the distance you'll be at at 1600fps and especially 1400fps will be pretty far. Ensuring you made the correct firing solution is critical. Getting down to 1400fps will really be allowing wind to influence the bullet a great deal, especially if the wind varies along the flight.

That said, this is one reason why using a bullet constructed like this Berger is very useful because it's very forgiving and if the wind or elevation was off a bit from your calculation and thus you impacted a bit off your mark, the wounding produced will be wide enough to still get the job done. I'm not saying it'll make up for big errors though, nor am I saying it means you can take shots you're not skilled enough to make. I'm talking about skilled long distance shooters making a small error out in the field in harsh conditions and the bullet being forgiving to that and allowing you to still make humane kills. It's helping you stack more odds in your favor.

So, long story short, plug in your MV, bullet details, and environmental conditions into a ballistic calculator and see what distance it hits 1600fps and that's your max range with that bullet.
 
Your going to get 1000 different opinions asking this question. Most Berger bullets according to what the manufacture states is 1800fps. A lot of people have had success down to 1600fps for reliable expansion. Shot placement is key to any kill and personally the most important thing to be concerned with first. The other two variables are later concerns cause you need to be able to make the shot before being concerned about minimum energy and velocity. Also they are dependent on one another. Energy is a factor of how much impact/shock/push the bullet has on and object upon impact. Velocity is the motion or driving force that creates the energy. 1000 of gel test online showing how bullets react at different velocities. Youtube it.
 
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