I just got back from an Elk hunt in Colorado with my son, grandson and several friends. My son and I were shooting two of my rifles in .358 STA, both using 270 grain North Fork loads, mine at 2850 fps and his at 2950 fps, the difference being a "Lilja" barrel as opposed to a Winchester Custom barrel, both having Winchester actions. My 14 year old grandson was using my .338 Lapua with 240 grain North Forks at 3000 fps. To make a long story short, my grandson and I both killed cows the first morning, then became Bull hunters the remainder of the season, playing a great deal along the way, helping others get out their Elk, etc. The real story was my son's Elk. He shot a big bodied 4 X 5 at 125 yards, with no other animals in close proximity. When he got up to the Bull, he noticed a cow bedded down some twenty yards behind the Bull, with legs drawn up underneith her, head down as if asleep. When she didn't blow out as usual, he looked closer and noticed blood on the side of her head. He found a bullet hole in the side of the head, and she was dead as a door nail. The next day he dug out a perfectly mushroomed 270 grain North Fork bullet that had penetrated the Bull through both shoulders and continued on to lodge in the opposite side of her cranium. He and I were the only hunters on the mountain shooting that bullet and I was two miles away on top of the mountain. The bullet is quite impressive to say the least, everyone in camp commenting on it's toughness, and the perfect mushroom. This bullet is awesome, being both accurate and tough. In my opinion, anyone using the fast magnums in need of a tough bullet that will hold up under any circumstances need to take a look at the North Fork. www.northforkbullets.com will get you there. Good shooting.

[ 11-19-2003, 01:44: Message edited by: phurley ]

I have shot Buffalo, Eland, Impala,Zebra,elk and deer with Northforks and everyone I have recovered and that is quite a few all were perfect mushrooms...Probably as good a bullet as there is anywhere....

I have even smashed the spine on Eland and Buffalo and that is a real test of bullet integrity, and they were both recovered with perfect mushrooms, I don't know of another bullet that can do this...

Ray,

What would you suggest for a .338 win mag? The 225 grain or 240 grain?

Ski+3

phurley:
I decided to try some 225 gr. Northforks in my .338 mag for use on moose & elk. Sad to say, I was skunked on both but I can attest to the accuracy. It's one of the most accurate premium bullets I've found for this rifle.

SkiBumplus3:
In talking to Mike at Northfork, he told me the 240 gr. bullet was intended for larger animals such as the bigger bears. He did tell me that accuracy drops off beyond 200 yds. I can't attest to that as I haven't tried them. If I got after a brown bear (a possibility) I'm going to go with the 240's & change my scope settings to probably about +2" at 100 yds. Don't know if this helps or not. Bear in Fairbanks

So with your cow tags filled, how did you legally tag the cow you shot? OK, I am just being pickey. Also, how do you not see a cow elk? I have certainly shot "twofers" before, but I knew I was doing it with proper tags.

Great bullet though.

PHurley, Big congrats to you and your son and the rest of your party. You've got to have Mike post that bullet on his website. Just curious though, did your boy get into any trouble? I sure he didn't but I was just wondering. Not too bad shooting to get two Elk in one shot..

To comment on the North Forks. Pat helped me with a load for my .340 Wby. As it turned out I had a different bullet shoot better. But I'm going to go back and try the northforks again. They didn't shoot bad at all. Still just at an inch but I didnt too much time to work up a load.

Boman ---- We were all tagged for both Bulls and Cows, therefore my son simply filled his tags at the same time. Colorado this year and last sold Cow and Bull tags over the counter in certain hunt units, ours was one of those units. ------ Larrys --- The Bull my son shot was standing facing him at 125 yards, with cedars covering the mountain behind him. The Cow was laying under a cedar some 20 yards behind the Bull, with her legs drawn up underneath her in the normal bedded down posture. It was even hard to see from the position of the downed Bull, much less from 125 yards down the mountain. He noticed the Cow while repositioning the Bull for gutting, and initially thought, well there is a bedded Cow, noticing she did not blow out at first sight of him, then noticed her head was down on the ground instead of up and alert. He then observed the blood on her head, approached and then reconstructed the whole story. The final proof being the North Fork bullet only he and I were shooting in .358 Caliber. Later after digging the bullet out, it fit perfectly the intrance hole, thus revealing the presence of the mushroom after penetrating the Bulls shoulders, then continuing through the scull and imbedding in the opposite side of the scull in the fully mushroomed state. All I can say is, perfect performance from an excellent bullet. Good shooting

[ 11-20-2003, 17:35: Message edited by: phurley ]

PHurley,

Thats about exactly what I figured. What an amazing story. Big Congrats to you and your crew again. Thanks

Does your son feel at all "cheated" in this situation? I've never encountered it myself but I might be a little bummed that I was already done hunting after one stalk/shot. But then maybe that's been compensated for by the great story he'll have for the rest of his life.

Either way, fantastic story. I'll have to try those North Forks sometime soon.

Gonzo ---- Actually he was glad he had his season over with a full larder, and had time to take care of the meat at a leasure pace. We are a group of 14, which included three junior hunters this year. The youngsters all got their Elk this year, with the the many lessons learned from the experience. The rule is after tagging out you help the other successful hunters with getting out their animals, with their boundless energy the youngsters are an asset at that point. It is kind of nice to relax the last couple of days and do the packup chores for yourself and those still hunting until the last minute. We had lots of meat to take care of this year, which makes for a nice trip home. Good shooting.

[ 11-26-2003, 20:08: Message edited by: phurley ]