Last week on opening day of the local elk season I was packing my Chapuis 9.3x74 loaded with 286 grain Prvi Partizan bullets and 54 grains of Reloader 15. About 0900 another hunter shot a five point bull and broke it's leg and possibly put another bullet in it's belly. When the bull came by me I could see the broken leg and decided to stop it there. My first shot should have entered high in the back and angled down through the chest. I was shooting uphill as it was going away at about fifty yards. At the shot the bull turned broadside and I put another into the chest, the bull laid down and as I approached it got up and started towards me, I then put a third round into the chest from the front, the bull turned and started away and the first shooter shot again and apparently hit it in the spine and it went down.

The elk rightly belonged to the first shooter so I never got the chance to check the bullet performance, but they didn't impress the bull or me. I'm switching over to Nosler or Norma bullets for elk. I immediately switched back to my 375 H&H and Noslers, a couple of days later the results were quite different.

I shot a deer with the same load last year and they seemed to work OK, but based on that and what happened this year I'm guessing that the Prvi Partizans are too soft so I'll just use them for practice.

elk hunter
I've heard people say they are soft and heard others say they killed Cape Buff with the PRVI's, so who knows. I hope you don't take this wrong but unless you got a chance to go over that elk and see exactly where he was hit and what the bullets did I don't think you can make that kind of judgement yet. I've seen elk take solid hits that should put them right down from .338's and other rifles, also seen them knocked down by what some wouldn't call an elk cartridge so as you know with elk sometimes how they react to a hit isn't what you are expecting, especially if wounded and fleeing. I'd say give them another try maybe you didn't hit him quite like you thought you did?
I have some 285 grain PRVI's loaded for my 9.3x62 that I may carry this year for elk. I've shot plenty of them into water jugs and sand to get an idea of how they may work and I think I'll give it a whirl. I must admit I've been tempted to carry my .257 Roberts this year for elk, I'm kinda on a streak with it now.
Good luck with yours

They are soft, ook on hogs and such.

Get some North Fork 250 or 300 grain bullets and you will be a hppy man indeed

Snellstrom,

Good luck on your elk hunt. If you use your 9.3x62 and the Prvi's let us know how they worked.

I may be wrong about the Prvi's being too soft or possibly my shooting wasn't as good as I thought, but I think I'll just to use the Prvi's for practice as I have about six hundred left and I shoot a lot more practice rounds than I do at game.

I have enough Normas and Noslers to keep me in hunting ammo for quite a few years. I've shot Noslers for years and have had nothing but great results when freezer training elk, this year was no exception. I put the 9.3 away and went back to my 375 and the results were vastly different and right in line with what I have come to expect from it loaded with Partitions, bang, smack, go put my tag on the elk.

Lawndart,

I might try North Forks some day, but I think I'll try the Normas and Noslers first since I have them.

Darn, now I have to wait another year to go elk hunting.

I know what you mean.

The Nosler 286 grain Partition or 250 grain Accubond in 9.3 are awesome bullets as well.

Prvi = Practice

While I do not have experience with that particular bullet, others in the Prvi Partizan lineup seem to be a tad on the soft side across the board.

With that being said, however, a wounded animal can be a heck of a lot harder to kill than one that is not revved up on adrenaline. Since you did not get to check bullet performance, I wouldn't condemn the bullets just yet, though your choice of sticking with Norma and Noslers for future excursions is definitely a sound one.

Hey which Norma's are you shooting?
I picked up some Norma Alaskan's in 286 grain which are shooting very accurate and to the same point of impact as the PRVI's but I heard they were just as soft as the PRVI's?
In a sand bank behind my targets the PRVI's hold together better than the Norma's for whatever that means and both are a bit better than the 270 grain Speer.

Snellstrom,

The Normas that I have are marked ".365 diameter 285.5 grain soft point round nose" and are probably from the 60's. They were a gift from a friend when I got my 9.3. I'll try them on deer first to see how they compare with the Prvi that I used on deer last year. I'm thinking that I'll cut a Prvi and a Norma apart to see how they're constructed. I'm leaning heavily towards the Nosler Partition for elk as I've had nothing but good results from them in other calibers.

Again, if you take an elk or other large game with a Prvi bullet let us know how it worked.