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ML roundballs just punch a hole. They do not deliver hydraulic shock like a high powered bullet, and they do not cut a wound channel like a broadhead. No way I would shoot an elk in the neck with a roundball. Unless you get the spine or jugular, I think its a huge mistake.
30 years or so ago I decided to take a whitetail doe in the neck with a .45 ML at about 20 yards. Hit smack in the middle of the neck. Doe dropped like a ton of bricks... then 10 seconds later jumped up and led me on a 1/2 mile tracking job before I lost the trail. Lesson learned - roundballs are very accurate and effective but they punch a small hole, the bigger the animal the longer the tracking job.
I have harvested dozens of deer with roundballs, 45 and 54 cal. Heart & lung shots are always very effective. EXCEPT for the first elk I got with a ML. I bugled, he came after me ... I admit, I actually was a little scared. Buck fever or nerves or whatever, I shot high and spined him. He continued to drag himself after me by his front legs while I put 6 or 8 roundballs into his lungs over about 15-20 minutes before he finally expired.
That is the day I switched to conicals for anything bigger than a whitetail.
The big heavy conicals have worked well for me on elk, moose, bear, and caribou. All heart/lung except 1 bear (right between the eyes).
thats my experience and opinion, take it for what its worth.
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