The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Minimum caliber for elk under these conditions:

Bottom Gun · July 22, 2000, 09:06 AM

Rocky Road,

I've had good results with the Sierra 165 BTHP myself, but only on deer, coyotes, etc. Never anything large like elk. I've never been able to recover a bullet. They've always exited, even on angling shots.

I'm loading them for 30/06 with 49.0 gr of IMR4064. I'm out of town right now and don't have my loading book here, but I believe that load gives me about 2600-2800 fps velocity according to Lyman. I'll have to run some through my new chronograph to see what the real velocity is. Might be surprised.
My Sako groups this load sub m.o.a. and the old Garand likes it as well.

I've avoided spitzer type bullets, preferring to use hollow points. I used to shoot an old star barreled Springfield which would badly deform any soft points in the magazine. This Sako does it also, but not so badly. Anyway, I didn't feel these mushroomed flat "points" on rounds in the magazine were very conducive to accuracy, so I switched to HP.
Another excellent HP for varmints is the .30 cal Speer 125 gr TNT. They are quite accurate and very explosive when they land. I was very pleased to discover my Garand does extremely well with these in front of 52 or 53 gr of IMR4064.

I'm going to look at some of the 180 gr slugs today. Guess it won't hurt to work up yet another load.

Thanks for your input, Guys!

Bottom Gun

July 22, 2000, 09:06 AM	#27
Bottom Gun Senior Member Join Date: October 13, 1998 Location: Arizona Territory Posts: 1,092	Rocky Road, I've had good results with the Sierra 165 BTHP myself, but only on deer, coyotes, etc. Never anything large like elk. I've never been able to recover a bullet. They've always exited, even on angling shots. I'm loading them for 30/06 with 49.0 gr of IMR4064. I'm out of town right now and don't have my loading book here, but I believe that load gives me about 2600-2800 fps velocity according to Lyman. I'll have to run some through my new chronograph to see what the real velocity is. Might be surprised. My Sako groups this load sub m.o.a. and the old Garand likes it as well. I've avoided spitzer type bullets, preferring to use hollow points. I used to shoot an old star barreled Springfield which would badly deform any soft points in the magazine. This Sako does it also, but not so badly. Anyway, I didn't feel these mushroomed flat "points" on rounds in the magazine were very conducive to accuracy, so I switched to HP. Another excellent HP for varmints is the .30 cal Speer 125 gr TNT. They are quite accurate and very explosive when they land. I was very pleased to discover my Garand does extremely well with these in front of 52 or 53 gr of IMR4064. I'm going to look at some of the 180 gr slugs today. Guess it won't hurt to work up yet another load. Thanks for your input, Guys! Bottom Gun