I don't understand all this talk of expansion. Use a bullet with a large flat meplat and you don't need expansion. An air cooled WW bullet of 35, 9.3 or 375 caliber at 1600 - 2100 fps will put a two inch hole clean through the animal, busting up shoulders, spine or any other bone it hits. Even with a shoulder shot, you don't get bloodshot meat and can eat right up to the hole. If they don't fall right over, they bleed out fast.

I'm sure other calibers will work, I've just not tried them.

I thought this sounded a little familiar...

To follow up in the same thread, Dan did take a Moose with his 357 Mag levergun. The details are on his site somewhere, but I think he only shot it twice in the shoulder, but thinks the first one would have been enough.

I kill Elk practically every year, but use condoms in an 06. I do shoot just behind the shoulder and they go down real fast. I'm only useing a 165 Corelokt at 2730fps.

I have been packing a 375 Win some of the time, but the Elk just haven't cooperated when it's in my hands. Maybe next year? I'll be trying the Lee 250 out of air cooled WW.

Is there any followup from Bartsche on his exploits?

quote:

Originally posted by gutshot_again:
I don't understand all this talk of expansion. Use a bullet with a large flat meplat and you don't need expansion. An air cooled WW bullet of 35, 9.3 or 375 caliber at 1600 - 2100 fps will put a two inch hole clean through the animal, busting up shoulders, spine or any other bone it hits. Even with a shoulder shot, you don't get bloodshot meat and can eat right up to the hole. If they don't fall right over, they bleed out fast.

I'm sure other calibers will work, I've just not tried them.

I agree, big hardcast are great and penetrate forever. But if you have ever tried a soft nose, hard base on small game about the size of Deer, you might really like them. They expand to do more initial damage as a expanding jacketed bullet, AND penetrate pretty well after that. For coyote sized game they stop the animals MUCH faster. For Elk sized game, i would stay with the heavy, all, hardcast as you mention.