150gr for elk?

[quackaddict]

A friend and I have a cow hunt this fall. This will be his first elk hunt and my first elk hunt with a rifle. He shoots an .06 and is setup with 150gr Corelokts. I told him that I thought that bullet would be on the edge of too light, but maybe I'm wrong? Should he step up in weight a little?

I was planning on staying with 165-180gr Nosler Partition or Accubonds...but 165 Corelokts do shoot really well for me.

 

[Pagosa]

Thats all I shoot out of my 30-06 and 7mm. All the bulls/cows and deer I shot with the 150 gr coreloks were dead in about 5-10 sec.

 

[JohnCushman]

I shoot 150 grain Fusions out of my 30-06 and wouldn't hesitate to shoot an elk with that set up. My first elk was with 150 SST and dropped her dead in her tracks, but my new rifle doesn't like them and shoots the Fusions very well.

 

[HighDesertSage]

Shot placement.. shot placement.. shot placement..The best bullet in the world won't help you if you shoot an elk in the guts.

 

[Bill Zent]

Be safe and go with a 180. A thicker jacket will usually give more penetration as all shot chances are not ideal.

 

[double_a85]

Every elk I have shot were with 150 grain ballistic tips out of my .270. Never had to track any of them, dropped instantly from the shot or within 10 yards.

This year, I am actually dropping down in weight to the 140 grain accubonds.

As ishootdasmallones said, its all about shot placement. Thousands of elk have been killed using a 243 with 100 grain bullets.

 

[SakibombNM]

I had a Cow hunt this past year. I have a 30-06 and used a bullet weighing 150 grains. I shot her from 275 yards, she took three steps down hill and expired very quickly. What unit is your cow hunt?

 

[shoots-straight]

I've killed upwards of 40 some elk, nothing bigger than a 150 gr. bullet. Using the heavier bullet isn't any safer for you, might be at longer ranges for the elk though.

 

[MTbowhunter84]

I think people have a mindset that you need a large round to kill an elk. It was stated pretty well that shot placement is key. That is plenty of a round to put an elk down. As long as they are confident and make a good shot you should be good.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

If 85 grain .243 bullets don't bounce off, I don't think a 150 grain .30 caliber bullet will.

He will be absolutely fine.

 

[quackaddict]

I figured that a 150gr bullet would be plenty, I was just wondering about a 150gr Corelokt. I've just heard that the 150s seem to not hold together that great on elk-sized targets, but it sounds like they'll work just fine. Thanks for the input guys.

And Sakibomb, we'll be in unit 57.

 

[dan.kirkpatrick]

150s will work fine with good placement,,a higher grain might help punch better on a long or imperfect shot.

 

[Flatrock]

Here's a pic for you. The bullet on the left is either a .375 Partition or Accubond. I can't remember.... The middle one is a 180 grain Core Lokt out of a .300 and the one on the right is a Barnes tipped TSX from a .300. I was recently in Africa and my 2 brother in laws were both using Core Lokts and I was using the Barnes. They got a few bullets back and they all looked like that and they didn't lose any animals. The Core Lokt I think weighed 80 grains in that picture while the Barnes weighed 177 grains.

 

[1_pointer]

The one on the left is a Partition.

 

[the nikster]

I think part of the equation has to be the characteristics of the bullet at the muzzle, down range, at impact and after impact. The last 2 being of critical importance. To greatly oversimplify, many bullets are essentially the same diameter as a pencil. If I push the pencil through the heart muscle, the length of the pencil (weight) really means little compared to cross sectional surface area (diameter of the hole). A 1" long pencil will do the same damage as a 6" long pencil. The trick is to get the pencil to expand and do more damage.
I do not discount a heavier bullet having a desirable effect. I just want to point out that GENERALLY: the extra 50 or 60 grains are just following the first 100 through the same hole, if that makes sense.

 

[DrH]

I've killed 49 elk, with 120, 130, 145, and 150 grain bullets in rifles from .25-06 to .30-06, at ranges from 5 yards to 350 yards. Some dropped where they were, most went 30-50 yards. All were one-shot kills, and all were conventional bullets. Nothing bigger than a .30-06 or heavier than a 150 grain bullet is required, at short or long ranges.

 

[Sneaky]

Nothing wrong with a 150 grain Core-Lokt. I used one from a .270 to kill a big bodied bull in CO several years back. Didn't take but a few steps and fell over. I've also killed dozens of deer with them. No problems.

 

[GSP4EVER]

I second the Fusion bullets. Ill have to look around and see if I can find the pic, but I recovered a 308 from a MN buck I shot last year. Good expansion and after getting the bullet cleaned up it retained, if I remember correctly, 94% of it original weight.

 

[sbhooper]

The Core Lokts have killed untold thousands of animals over the years. What little I have shot them at targets, they seem to be fairly accurate. The new bonded ones are especially interesting. I would not hesitate to use them, but I think my choice would be a 165 or 180. Shoot what you are comfortable with, but I have always felt that after investing all the money in an elk hunt, I prefer to have some insurance rather than just a minimum. Insurance to me is a Partition.

Pound for pound, I don't think that elk are as tough as white-tailed deer, but they are large and require some penetration.

 

[RobG]

I personally like to put a bigger hole in the animal, preferably right on through. I shot one in the lungs with a 270 and it trotted 100 yards without a drop of blood before it gave a big splat and keeled over and died. Luckily it was a good shot so it didn't go far and I was able to follow the tracks in the snow.