[Rapidrob]

We had to abandon the AR500 at any range closer than 385 yards with most Military caliber centerfire cartridges. Even at 500 meters the AR500 just did not hold up well after a few hundred hits. My club had to fork out the cash and we bough AR550 steel for our targets. 1/2 inch thick will stop all cartridges at 385 and farther fired from our rifles with no damage to the face of the target.
At ranges closer than 385 we had to go to 5/8" thick AR550 steel in order to prevent damage to the targets.
Most of our targets have now been hit with several thousand rounds and are holding up very well.
As for the Elk, many of the shooters here have used the 6.5 Swede with clean kills at ranges farther than 300 yards which would be a common range here in NM.