ELK BULLET

While living in Wyoming my go to bullet for elk was always the Swift A-Frame. It would shoot an inch group out of my rifle and was a sledgehammer on elk. I know for a fact that 10 cow elk and a spike elk hated it!!!
 
Originally Posted By: SmokelessI have killed elk with the Barnes. I have also lost elk with the Barnes.


If you lost the elk, how do you know it wasn't to poor shot placement?
 
Originally Posted By: K-22hornet.Originally Posted By: SmokelessI have killed elk with the Barnes. I have also lost elk with the Barnes.


If you lost the elk, how do you know it wasn't to poor shot placement?

Anywhere that isnt the spine(high shoulder) is poor shot placement with a barnes.
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Use a partition and you will get hydrostatic shock and good penetration.
 
Originally Posted By: K-22hornet.Originally Posted By: SmokelessI have killed elk with the Barnes. I have also lost elk with the Barnes.


If you lost the elk, how do you know it wasn't to poor shot placement?


Seriously, Any placed shot with a FMJ or TMJ [this is mostly how Barnes bullets perform] must be in the head or spine for a clean kill, every time. The Barnes line of bullets are penetrating for sure, but not controlled in expansion. Let me put it this way, if you want to shoot a elephant just bellow the but hole, and make her eyes bulge out of her head, then the Barnes is the way to go. Penetration. If you want to effectively kill an elk,[broad side shot] then use a bullet with controlled expansion like the Partition, A-frame, or even the Game King. They penetrate deep, and cause a devastating wound canal, and they kill reliably.

How many elk have you killed, with the vaunted Barnes bullet?
 
Last fall I used my new .280 ackley improved for all of my hunting. I pulled the trigger 3 times and had 3 dead animals on the other end. A bear at 205 yards, cow elk at just over 200 yards and a nice bull elk at 345 yards. All with 140 grain Barnes bullets and none of them took another step after being hit. I can't say enough about the effectiveness of the Barnes bullets. All of my critters were hit just behind the shoulder (not high in the spine or neck like stated in one of the other posts). My rifle really shoots the TSX well, didn't like the TTSX as much. Good luck, go with Barnes, shoot straight and you can't go wrong!
 
I've shoot many critters with the old X bullet, TSX and MRX and have never lost an animal period ! Either I'm just lucky or know how to shoot. Maybe a little of both .
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I'm on 25 ish years of trying to draw my once in a lifetime tag. Barnes will be a top choice to use, if my rifle at the time shoots them well.
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I don't doubt your ability, Tim. I just hope there are other bullet options in there with the Barnes, for a once in a life time event.
 
LOL...
I've got favorites of all kinds. Currently have some VLDs to try and would like to try Accubonds aswell. Killed a pile with NBT's too. Love trying new things to see how they work. This past few years it's been Barnes.

It's all good.
 
Never shot a elk with a rifle, but did with a bow and arrow. If a arrow can do it either choice of bullet can. If it was me I would use a accubond, or partition. I haven't shot a barnes bullet in my life so can't reccomend or bash them.
 
The two deer that I shot with Nosler Partition bullets looked very similar to the deer that we have shot with Barnes TSX & TTSX and the Nosler E-Tip bullets.

They all had a small hole going in and out of the deer but they all had some serious damage done between the entrance and exit holes.
 
When hunting for elk I changed from the Partition because in what I was seeing, they were causing lots of meat damage. That was important to me as I have always been a, "meat hunter". Thus I tried the Swift A-Frame and got excellent results with it. With the Swift I recoverd some perfectly mushroomed bullets that you would swear belonged in an advertisement. With the Partition I would find large pieces of the bullet. Not bad mouthing Partitions, just my experience. The, "old" Partition from the 70's, (Zipedo) now that was a deer killer.
 
Originally Posted By: SmokelessOriginally Posted By: K-22hornet.Originally Posted By: SmokelessI have killed elk with the Barnes. I have also lost elk with the Barnes.


If you lost the elk, how do you know it wasn't to poor shot placement?


Seriously, Any placed shot with a FMJ or TMJ [this is mostly how Barnes bullets perform] must be in the head or spine for a clean kill, every time.

That hasn't been my experience with Barnes, at all. The longest distance I've had an elk go after being hit with a Barnes, is maybe 10 steps.

I've shot 8 elk with my 270 and a Barnes, since 1992, and with my Dad and my 2 buddies, have been 'in' on the kill of maybe 15-18 more using Barnes. Not a head shot among them. I used Partitions for about 20 years before that. Never had a complaint about Partitions, but the Barnes just seem to hit harder.

By the way, just how many elk have you lost???

Regardless of our opinions, we can be happy that there are so many great bullet choices to be had today.
 

"Regardless of our opinions, we can be happy that there are so many great bullet choices to be had today"

Right on! the reason for my post was to get some opinions on the Barnes bullet, cause I didnt have any experience with them. I have used partitions, accubonds, a frames, interlocks, etc. in my other rifles. I have no problems with any of them

I love to experiment with my rifles and the all copper bullets intrigued me, so I thought I would give them a try if I had enough positive comments. I will experiment with small game before I use them ( if I use them at all) on large game animals.

My go to bullets have been plain old cheap Hornady
Interlocks, I've used them in my 300 Win Mag, 300 Wby Mag. 300 RSAUM, 257 Wby Mag and my 7MM Rem Mag. with excellent results

Thanks again for the great response and all your comments on these bullets, good or bad. I also hope to get a Wolf as well as my Elk this year
 
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