I will second the 150 grain partitions and hornady spitzers from the 270 as excellent bullets. Both are accurate and have a high enough sectional density for great penetration. Have never had either fail me nor the people I have reloaded for.


Can't speak from personal experience, but if I had a 7 mag, I'd at least try the 160 accubonds. Great bullet those accubonds. In my 300WM though, I could not get consistant accuracy as I did with the various sierras (they'll work alright, but not like the partitions and accubonds). As I stated before, I don't know how many guys I have heard of using the 200 grain accubonds out of the 300 RUM with outstanding accuracy (most using RL25), and the reports show very good kill performance.

Since I am still in the infancy of working up loads for Colorado elk, I would like to pose yet another question.

I do not have any reservations trying any recommended bullets for elk. I think I have my mind made up what to use in my 300 RUM, either the Scirocco, partition, or accubond.

However, is their any bullet that you experienced elk hunters would highly recommend I NOT use? To qualify, I will not use a Sierra MatchKing, all though I've seen them drop many animals on video. Great for some, but I have ruled out that bullet, and also the Ballistic Tip...the latter is personal preference, even though, again, many hunters have dropped big animals with them. I myself have killed so many deer with them I couldn't possibly tell you how many hundreds from my 270.

Finally, this question is also posed for the .270 and 7 Rem Mag. Thanks again. I look to you elk hunters for advice and rely upon it heavily.

Partitions are great, and so are the Speer Hot-Cor (Magtip, Grand Slam etc.).
Then again the big heavy Hornady spitzers and round noses are very excellent and very cheap compared with some of the fancier bullets out there.
Not many people give traditional lead and copper heavy bullets a chance, but I will swear by Hornady's stuff.
Same goes with Sierra GameKings.
Very excellent bullets that have gotten a bad rap from people who use them improperly.

-Spencer

Well, I've killed a fair number of elk over the years, with several calibers and bullet weights. In general terms I have come to prefer the heavier weight premium bullets, in magnum calibers, because they tend to stay together on the close, inside 200 yard, shots. I think the ones you have mentioned should all be good bullets, though I have only used the partitions. I no longer use the partitions because they give lousy accuracy in an otherwise very accurate .300 Jarrett I shoot elk with. This year I will be shooting the Accubonds because my rifle shoots best with 200 gr bullets. I have shot the last half dozen or so elk with 200 gr Sierra boattails and they kill elk fine, but no exit wound on shots inside 200 yards. I like exit wounds for the blood trail. First and foremost I shoot the most accurate bullet for my particular rifle. For long shots, 500+, my preference is still Matchkings.

Don't use light for calibre bullets and avoid the round noses unless you are willing to slow them down a bit.
As for the others, feed the .300 RUM 200 grain partitions, the 7 mag 160s, and the .270 140s or 150s.

If you use premium bullets you can easily go as light as 140gr in the 7mm's and 165gr in the .308's.I have taken several elk with the 140gr partition out of my 7mmstw's.

I've shot through elk (at close range, too) with 130 gr. copper bullets leaving the muzzle of my 7mag at 3300+ fps. With premium (lead) bullets, I'd stay with 160 gr and up, or 175 gr. with common cup bullets. JMO, Dutch.

I have a .300 RUM and advise you not to use a Scirocco on elk! They are constructed similar to a Ballistic tip and open up way to fast, inn fact I'd use a Ballisitic tip BEFORE I'd use a Scirocco!!!! Barnes TSX,Accubond,Partition are all good choices for this caliber and larger animals.

bowhuntrrl

Doc ----- I reload all my own cartridges and I have taken Elk for years in New Mexico and Colorado as well as Moose, Brown Bear, and Caribou in Alaska with three bullets. Nosler Partitions in 180 and 200 grain with a .300 Win mag. North Forks in 180 grain and 200 grain in .300 Win mag, 240 grain in .340 Wby, and 250 grain and 270 grain in .358 STA. Barnes XLC in .340 Wby in 225 grain. ----- I use premium bullets on animals larger than Deer, for Deer sized game any bullet will do. With me this is a hard and fast rule. Good shooting.

You asked what bullets specifically to stay away from in your .300 RUM.

Obviously, the splendidly accurate Ballistic Tip is designed for something else entirely (except in the .338 and .375 calibers), so avoid it. The Sierra boattail designs COULD give less than satisfactory penetration in difficult circumstances, and the same is true of the Speer boattail designs (which are not "Hot Cor").

Considering that the cost of bullets is negligible compared to the cost of the elk hunt, I would use a tried and true Nosler Partition if it shoots well in my gun (interestingly, I have found Partitions to be very similar in accuracy in most of my guns to other bullets, and in some instances superior.) Although I haven't used any, I would suspect the Nosler Accubond would also be a good performer.

As to the .270, Jack O'Connor observed that the only difference he could tell in the 130's and the 150's is that the 130's acted quicker. Of course, O'Connor usually place his shots rather precisely in the ribs, so that would be expected. I would recommend a Nosler 150 in .270, although a 140 Accubond would likely do the trick.

As one respondent observed, a 140 Nosler in 7mm is adequate, but why not buy a little insurance with a 160, or even a 175 if your rifle handles them well?

YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG USING BARNES 'X' BULLET ON HEAVY GAME

If I were going to load a round for elk with a cartridge of that capacity I'd go with either the Swift A-Frame or Speer Trophy Bonded Bear claw in 200gr spitzer. You can push it fast enough for flat shooting and they're damned tough bullets in the event you don't get an "ideal shot" and have to drive it deep to make the kill.

Good luck...

I like a certian type of standard bullet at 06 type velocities. For Elk I stay away from Hot Cores, Sierras, BTs and such. Not because they are bad bullets, but just because I prefer a bullet with a fluted tip for that sort of work because it stands to reason that their tighter mushrooms will penetrate better than a much larger one.

Some bullets I like to use for Elk are Hornadys, Grand Slams, Mag tips and Deep Shoks.