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I got drawn again this year for a cow elk tag. Last year I shot a nosler partition 150 grain bullet out of my 270 win and was very happy with that bullet. I've been addicted to reloading for the last couple of years and for some reason I'd like to try another bullet besides the partition even though I know they work well. I have a few different bullets loaded for my 270 including a 150 grain grand slam, 150 grain hornady interbond, and 140 grain barnes TSX. They all shoot pretty well. All less than 1.25 inches at 100 yards, and there's not really one that is much more accurate than the other. Which of these bullets would work the best for elk? I've heard someone say that they hesitate to use the TSX on smaller than 30 caliber rifles which was kinda disappointing because I was leaning towards that bullet. I haven't heard much about the grand slam or the interbond. | ||
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Go ahead use the TSX, that cow will tip over. I drew my CO cow and mule deer tags. Phil NRA Life Member since 1976 philny1@zoominternet.net 877 485-6270 Visa/MC accepted , plus 3% We have to save the Earth, only planet with beer!! "Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading". Thomas Jefferson | |||
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Accubonds or TSX will serve you well. Which ever one your gun shoots best. Free men should not be subjected to permits, paperwork and taxation in order to carry any firearm. NRA Benefactor | |||
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oppenions vary. Like a44 holes every one has one. (: but find the one you like best and use it. check your expantion on impact for bullet failure. your speed will affect this problem. find the speed your gun likes with the bullet you like and smile very time you drop an airmail package to your friendly critter of choice. | |||
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Try the TSX, most likely will become your favorite. Swift A-frames aren't bad. JL | |||
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Why mess with success? The performance of the partition might be equalled, but it won't be exceeded. | |||
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I have used Winchester Power points, Nosler Accubonds, and Barnes X and all of them killed a cow elk. Most were 150 grains but I shot 2 cows with 130 grain. Good luck and shoot well. Jon | |||
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I've always liked cheap bullets with that said of the bunch I prefer the Interbonds. Sometimes you can find factory seconds too. It's hard to beat a successful bullet like the Partition though. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit"--Aristotle (384BC-322BC) | |||
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They will all work. Have taken numerous cows with the Speer 180 Sp BT in 30-06. Eat meat every time and can eat right up to the hole. Alan  | |||
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I like Noslers so.......... | |||
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TSX. I always like the "I like cheap bullets" reply. Every time I counter that reply with, "How many times you gonna shoot your hunting loads every year?" Two? Three? Cheap bullets are great for punching paper and familiarization. Do yourself a favor and spend the extra $2 every season and buy premium hunting bullets. By the time you factor in license, tags and supplies (fuel, food, etc., etc.) premium hunting bullets are just about the cheapest thing on your list. JUST A TYPICAL WHITE GUY BITTERLY CLINGING TO GUNS AND RELIGION Definition of HOPLOPHOBIA "I'm the guy that originally wrote the 'assault weapons' ban." --- Former Vice President Joe Biden | |||
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I have used the 150 gr. Speer Hotcor to good effect. This "cheap" bullet works very well. Leftists are intellectually vacant, but there is no greater pleasure than tormenting the irrational. | |||
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i'd suggest you stick with the partitions, but if you just have to try another bullet, try the a-frames. after all the "fail to open" and "penciled through" stories i've heard and read about the tsx, i wouldn't use them. others will have a different opinion. | |||
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1) A lot more than 2 or 3. 2) the "cheap" bullets work | |||
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Remember that "cheap" bullets were all hunters had up until after WW-II. It was "cheap" bullets that almost eliminated the game animals in North America. The biggest problem with "cheap" bullets is that the game more often than not falls in its tracks, depriving the hunter of the exciting sport of following "a good blood trail" for several hundred yards. | |||
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I have used the 140 gr TSX and 150 Grain Nosler in my 270 win on quite a few elk. I actually prefer the TSX of the two bullets, but they both work great. If you were talking big bulls, or even long range shooting (350+), I would recommend stepping up in bullet diameter to 30 cal. One of the longest shots I ever attempted on an elk was with my 270 shooting 140 gr. TSX. The bull was laser ranged at 545 yds, and dropped to one shot through the heart and off shoulder. The bullet was recovered under the hide on the off side. I sometimes claim to be disappointed the bullet didn't exit, but maybe that is asking a bit too much from a 270?  The bullet looks like an advertisement from Barnes.Good hunting. Bill | |||
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When I was young, and had little cash, 30 cal core locks where primary hunting fare pushed by a 300 win mag. Later, I learned to reload and started using partitions. I was impressed about how much more versatile they where and how hogs would drop right then and there. They were my standard fare until about two years ago. Next I moved to Barnes TSX. Not only do I get drop right there performance, I now have exit wounds. If'n your happy with cheap bullets, more power to you. I rather have an animal that looks like they have been drill pressed rather than spending the wee hours of the night looking for a wounded animal. | |||
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Use what ever you want....they will all kill. ________________________________________________ Maker of The Frankenstud Sling Keeper Proudly made in the USA Acepting all forms of payment | |||
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I drew a cow tag last year in Utah. I shot that elk with a .270 and a 130 grain TSX. Powerful expansion massive internal injury and dead right there. DW | |||
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Anytime I've stuck a Core Lokt bullet (aka cheap bullet) in the proper spot, I haven't had to spend any time tracking. Seems some folks think that if they spend enough for a bullet they can just point at the big middle and blaze away. I do agree that NP's and Grand Slams are good elk medicine. | |||
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NICE!  ______________________ Hunting: I'd kill to participate. | |||
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don't overlook the ballistic tip i have personally killed 40+ elk with them.cows,calves and big bulls add in antelope,mule deer,whitetail,black bears wolves,alaskan moose,hogs,axis,auodad caribou,coyotes...... and havn't died of lead poisening, yet... | |||
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I have used the TSX with great success in my 7x57 on elk for years. First with the 140gr now with the 160gr. Both have worked great, good blood from great pass through. Not a single "fail to open in 100s of animals shot. Perry | |||
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I usually only have to shoot at each big game animal once, or maybe twice, not a lot more than 2 or 3. Sorry for your luck... If it takes more than one or even two shots to drop an animal you really need more time at the range. That difference, one or two shots while hunting, is about $2 and that is what I was referring to. I was not recommending he not practice with his hunting rig. Hunting and range time are two different things. Olarmy, so you load up 300-400 rounds of premium hunting loads (Partitions, whatever) and hit the range just for practice? WOW! You obviously have more money than I or you shoot each of your hunting rifle(s) more than 400 times a year. That's where I use cheap bullets, at the range. Blems, seconds, whatever is on sale. It is easy to kill paper (already dead) and you rarely have to track it (stapled to the backing, remember?) unless the wind is really blowing. That creates a whole nother problem... I work up my hunting loads to shoot same POI as my cheap practice loads. I see no reason to practice with premium bullets. I can load cheap bullets that shoot the same and there is absolutely no discernable difference at the range. Plus I can shoot quite a bit more for the same money. I never said cheap bullets don't work. More game animals have been killed with Remington Core-Lokt bullets than quite possibly ALL other bullets combined. However, premium bullets will give you an extra margin when the going or the animal gets tough. If you hit them the first time where you are aiming with any decent bullet, presto! dead animal. Premium bullets simply give you some extra margin for error because unlike many on this board, I am not perfect and shots sometimes go perfect, sometimes not... "A good man's got to know his limitations." ---Det. Harry Callahan | |||
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Flippy: your question was:
My answer was " a lot more than 2 or 3". How do you get from that answer that I shoot every game animal 2 or 3 times?? Let me clarify: I have the opportunity to shoot a lot of deer every year. It is VERY unusual that I ever fire more than one bullet per deer. Hence my second answer "cheap bullets work". It doesn't take much to kill a deer if you hit them right. "Olarmy, so you load up 300-400 rounds of premium hunting loads (Partitions, whatever) and hit the range just for practice? WOW!" Where the heck did I say that?  Flippy, how about you use whatever makes you happy, and I'll do the same. | |||
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While this is absolutely correct, it is the same as saying a Model T was basic transportation, and why on earth would you need more than that? Truth is you don't. However, for less than a dollar a round difference, why would you drive a Model T? Like I said, we spend THOUSANDS of dollars and HOURS OF VALUABLE TIME to persue the passion of hunting, why would you scrimp on something that is arguably one of the lowest cost items in the whole deal? | |||
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You can use a golf club if you are quiet enough. O.K. let's say you shoot 50 deer a year. If you use cheap bullets you save maybe $30? How much does a tank of fuel cost? | |||
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Good example. My truck runs fine on Regular gasoline. I could pay extra for higher octane fuel but the performance would be the same. Could I afford the extra 10cpg? Sure. But why waste the money. Same with deer and premium bullets. BTW, If it makes you feel any better, I do have a couple of rifles in which I use premium bullets. A 264WM gets fed 125gr Partitions and a 270WSM uses 130 Accubonds. If the velocity gets up there, I see an advantage to using a premium. But for most of my rifles, 270, 280, 30/06, 25/06, 257AI, 257 Bob, etc, speers, Hornadays, and even Sierras work just fine for deer. You ain't gonna change my opinion, and I ain't gonna change yours. Let's save our energy. end of conversation. | |||
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This should not be viewed so much as an argument between premium and standard bullets (though it has escalated to such  ) but rather of matching the cartridge and bullet to the game hunted and the velocity window at which the combo performs best.In moderate velocity cartridges, heavy-for-caliber "standard" bullets often penetrate within a few percentage points as the premiums and do more damage along the way. For most hunting with these calibers, the standard bullets are a logical choice unless they just don't produce the required accuracy, etc. In the magnums, where high impact velocites beyond the design parameter of the bullet can cause it to fail, or for those who prefer light-for-caliber projectiles, then yes, a premium does make sense. There are exceptions to every rule, and the Accubonds are one of them. Like the advertisement claims, these bullets will expand all the way down to 1800 fps and still retain ample integrity at higher velocities as well. I even use them in such cartridges as the 6.5 Bullberry IMP (aka 6.5x30-30 AI) as they excel even at these pedestrian speeds (130 grain AB at 2626 fps). My longest kill on a hog was with this load, and the range was 292 yards, which is farther than I typically like to shoot them at. But the bullet entered through the shoulder of the 180 pound hog, wrecked the lungs and exited tight behind the opposite shoulder, leaving a quarter-sized exit in its wake. But back to the point at hand: I haven't found the need for anything that burns a pound of powder to laser a 4000 grain projectile at warp speed. To those who have: More power to ya'. But you can only kill an animal so dead, and if the proper bullet is chosen for the task at hand, there is no reason a cup-and-core offering can't be successfully used to harvest an elk. Match your bullet to the cartridge and game being hunted, and you'll be enjoying the fruits of your labor long after the season has ended...         Bobby Μολὼν λαβέ The most important thing in life is not what we do but how and why we do it. - Nana Mouskouri | |||
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I will answer the question you asked...between the three mu 1st 2 choices would be the interbond or the TSX...and if you want to use a TSX and your rifle shoots in an an 1 1/4 than by all means use it... You said you like reloading...there for playing around with stuff rxtends your hunt. Use the TSX.... Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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