What bullet and weight would you suggest for elk inside 100-150 yards?

Thanks

165, 180, 200, 220 would all be just fine. A 30 cal. favorite of mine is 180 grain Sierra's out of a 30/06 so a 7.62x54 would be similar.
You will hear plenty of opinions that elk "need" a premium bullet and maybe they do but (there's always a big but) in my experience it is not a requirement to kill an elk. I have had best experiences with 180 grain Sierra's, not so good with Speer 180's and Accubond 180's but they did get the elk down.
Elk can react differently each time you shoot one, sometimes they go right down with a good shot like the rug was pulled out from under them, other times the same shot will seemingly have no effect on them and neither does the second or third shot until they look like they are going to go back to feeding and fall down dead instead. I've seen both of these reactions from a multitude of rifles from .338 Win Mag on down.
I've come to the conclusion on elk its not so much the rifle caliber but its the shot you take and even then don't have an expectation that they will fold up and bleat there last like a whitetail. Keep shooting till there feet are in the air.
Good luck on your elk hunt!

+ 1 colorado'

Well I learned to shoot with a 7.62 x 54 R and I still have that old rifle too. I make no bones about it I like Nosler Partitions for my hunting. That being said, Just load a 180 gr Hornaday and go elk hunting or what have you. My old Mosin Nagant 1891 was made in 1938, its a little loose now, I had it since 1961, I just run a patch thru it every now and again.

In Finland (that's in Europe, not Wisconsin), we've probaby taken more moose with the 7,62x53R (I still don't get it why it's called the 54 elsewhere?) than with all others combined.
Today, the .308 and .30-06 have taken its place but the same bullets are still used.

People here tend to be extremely cheap when buying their ammo, and consequently non-premium non-bonded JSP bullets are used (the law requires use of JSP or expanding i.e. modern expanding non-lead bullets). Over the years, the most common have probably been the Sako Hammerhead 200grs and 180grs, and Lapua's similar bullets usually in 180grs.

There is no reason not to use a premium bullet on elk (or on any other game, for that matter).
My recommendation would be to use the bullet that gives good accuracy in your rifle in the 180grs range.
If you can find a good 200grs bullet, for sure there is no reason at all not to choose that.
160grs is probably OK for elk, but I am not of the lighter weight and higher velocity school but rather of the other one.

So good ones would be e.g. Nosler AccuBond (I wonder why Snellstrom hasn't had that good experience with the AB?), Barnes TSX, Lapua Naturalis, Norma Oryx. These have most consequently gained the best test results, and the users seem plenty pleased with the performance, too.

- Lars/Finland

quote:

Originally posted by Schauckis:

So good ones would be e.g. Nosler AccuBond (I wonder why Snellstrom hasn't had that good experience with the AB?), Barnes TSX, Lapua Naturalis, Norma Oryx.
- Lars/Finland

Its not that I had a bad experience I just didn't have good ones.
I've shot quite a few elk with 180 grain Sierra Gamekings in my 30/06 and every time I got exits, never a recovered bullet, from very short range to 425 yards, bones or not I got exits. The 2 bull elk I shot with 180 grain Accubonds I recovered both bullets, first one large bull elk broadside high shoulder shot at 180 yards, dropped right there and I walked up and finished him recovered bullet weighed 114 grains, second bull 35 yards going away at a steep angle, hit him high at last rib found bullet just where the ribcage and neck meet. Bullet was a shred of copper never weighed it but I'm guessing 40 to 60 grains max and no core. That bull took a little more shooting but also got it down. After both those experiences out of my '06 I wouldn't hesitate to use that bullet again but for deer not elk. I'm sure they are great bullets as others are having great results maybe I had a bad batch?
I will stick with what has worked well for me and recommend them to others based on my "on the ground" experiences.
I'm not slamming Accubonds I just wasn't impressed thats all.

The Finns use 53r in their designation because they use a slightly tighter bore, anwhere from .308, to .3095 in their rifles. Only a few of the military rifles were made in .308, and those were used a lot in the wars against the russians.

I killed two deer with the sierra 200gr btsp last year chugging along at 2350 fps so that it tracked the settings on my iron sights. At that speed there is plenty of penetration and no real need for a premium bullet.

This round really shines with heavier bullets in Finnish rifles. I think of it as a 30-40 Krag with a bit more horespower. I would not have any qualms about hunting elk or moose with a 200 grain bullet, but I would not want to carry that heavy of a rifle for days on end in the mountains.

The Finnish rifles really shoot. I managed the attached target with iron sights at 300 yards with an M-39 Finnish surplus rifle that is in very good shape.

In fact, I've understood that our bores were bigger than the standard - I don't handload, but some claim that .311 bullets are perfect for the Finnish rifles.

The 53R designation could not refer to this, as it's the case length.

O.T. but here's my 100m (110yds) target shot with an original m/ 1895 Winchester lever action in 7,62x53R (see, we call that, too, the 53R!): two 4 shot groups measuring 38 and 42mm, i.e. approx. 1,5" and the two-shot group is 12mm. The distance between the rings is 25mm (1").
Open sights, of course. Ammo used was Sako Range FMJ 123grs.



- Lars/Finland

outstanding for that old of a lever gun. i have not tried any of the lighter bullets in my rifles. going to try and shoot some cast bullets as soon as i save some money for new molds and sizing dies.