Reloading

[thinkingman]

I moved this thread to "Guns & Ammo."

I will say that of all the bullets you bought, none are suitable for elk hunting. Bullets may be hard to find right now, but if you're hunting elk this year you need to find something better. Just about any bullet made by Barnes would be a good choice. Or possibly look for Nosler Partitions, they're not as popular as they used to be so maybe you'll have better luck finding them.

Agree with Bobcat, most of those bullets are not elk bullets.
Barnes or another solid are where I'd look.
140gr solid is plenty of punch.

[BULLBLASTER]

Screw Barnes. 

 
Who would have thunk all these buolets were no good on elk?. 

[7mmfan]

My go-to load for my Ruger M77 Mark II 7mag is as follows:

63 gr IMR4831
154 gr Hornaday Interbond OR 162 Hornaday Interbond (both seem to group equally well for me).

Both of these produce sub 3/4" groups for me if I'm doing my part   

The plus is that they seem to group identically to the same weight SST's which are almost half the price, so I shoot SST's all summer and then send a few Interbonds down the tube right before hunting season to double check. They're always dead nuts.

I used to use 154 Hornaday Interlocks, and they grouped just as well and I killed lots of animals with them. Since I've switched to the Interbonds, I've recovered all but 1 bullet, which is something I never did with Interlocks.

The last 3 elk I've killed with Interbonds all froze on the on the first shot through the boiler room, but did not drop, requiring a follow up shot (I keep shooting until they're on the ground). The only elk I killed with an Interlock dropped in his tracks.   

That's my  , hope it was helpful!

[Biggerhammer]

Screw Barnes. 

 
Who would have thunk all these buolets were no good on elk?. 

The current administration is trying to rewrite history, must be rubbing off.

[Wetwoodshunter]

Thanks guys, lots of great info here. I think I'm going to buy a full box or Bergers in 168 gr, and SST in 162 and start working up loads with these two.

I talked with my friend I'll be hunting with from Montana today and he said most shots are in the 300-500 yard range where we will be. He said for him the Berger is the best of the best. That being said, I know they shed a lot of weight.

The SST I can afford to shoot and it a pretty proven round. If I can get interlocks or interbonds even better but given a shot I think if I get an accurate load i can get it done.

[Biggerhammer]

The SST is a excellent choice with the 7mm Magnum chambering at 300-500 yards. It will have bled off a little speed and will perform well. I still like the 140 Nosler ballistic tips for 300 yards plus with the 7Mag. Find most of them just under the hide on the off side.

[Crunchy]

I shoot the 168 bergers out of my Rem 7mm mag.  67.5 grains of H1000. I want to say O-give is 2.725 and that should put you just off the lands.  Should be around 2950 fps.

[Whitpirate]

I moved this thread to "Guns & Ammo."

I will say that of all the bullets you bought, none are suitable for elk hunting. Bullets may be hard to find right now, but if you're hunting elk this year you need to find something better. Just about any bullet made by Barnes would be a good choice. Or possibly look for Nosler Partitions, they're not as popular as they used to be so maybe you'll have better luck finding them.

I'm pretty confident I saw a Berger 168 kill an elk last season so what exactly are you basing this on?

[bobcat]

I moved this thread to "Guns & Ammo."

I will say that of all the bullets you bought, none are suitable for elk hunting. Bullets may be hard to find right now, but if you're hunting elk this year you need to find something better. Just about any bullet made by Barnes would be a good choice. Or possibly look for Nosler Partitions, they're not as popular as they used to be so maybe you'll have better luck finding them.

I'm pretty confident I saw a Berger 168 kill an elk last season so what exactly are you basing this on?

An elk can be killed with a 22 but that doesn't mean it's ideal.

[Whitpirate]

I would say 4 step performance to a 380"+ bull down is acceptable and even desirable.  But I also counter that the shooter has to do their part.  I've seen plenty of .338 and 30-06 go wrong with the "right" bullet setups.

[Biggerhammer]

I moved this thread to "Guns & Ammo."

I will say that of all the bullets you bought, none are suitable for elk hunting. Bullets may be hard to find right now, but if you're hunting elk this year you need to find something better. Just about any bullet made by Barnes would be a good choice. Or possibly look for Nosler Partitions, they're not as popular as they used to be so maybe you'll have better luck finding them.

I'm pretty confident I saw a Berger 168 kill an elk last season so what exactly are you basing this on?

No!!!! Say it isn't so. There is now way a Elk of any sort could be snatched from this world unless it was by some clown dressed head to foot in new Sitka Gear( Price tags still attached) with a Tikka Gassed up with some cool guy Barnes bullets.

[Mike450r]

Find the big game hunting bullet that shoots best in your rifle and use it with confidence.

Do not take someones opinion on the best bullet and use it unless of course it also happens to be the one that shoots best in YOUR rifle.

[xXLojackXx]

I moved this thread to "Guns & Ammo."

I will say that of all the bullets you bought, none are suitable for elk hunting. Bullets may be hard to find right now, but if you're hunting elk this year you need to find something better. Just about any bullet made by Barnes would be a good choice. Or possibly look for Nosler Partitions, they're not as popular as they used to be so maybe you'll have better luck finding them.

I'm pretty confident I saw a Berger 168 kill an elk last season so what exactly are you basing this on?

An elk can be killed with a 22 but that doesn't mean it's ideal.

I'm not following your logic. Either you don't have any real world experience shooting Berger bullets, or you're just reiterating what you heard on another forum. My advice would be to load some up and go kill a bear or elk. You'll be pleasantly surprised. Do they retain weight like a Barnes TSX or a Nosler Partition? No. But do they do more terminal damage than those? Yes.

Tip: do NOT hit an elk in the shoulder with a Berger or SST if avoidable. You will grenade the front quarter beyond salvage. It will definitely die, but you'll lose meat. The bear I shot with an st's out if a 300 WM had jello for a heart and lungs when I gutted it. Perfect broadside shot through the heart and lungs from 337 yards and it was game over. Bear didn't take one step, literally got knocked on it's side and I found it exactly where it was shot.

[bobcat]

I shot two deer in Wyoming last year with Bergers and my bighorn sheep in this state. They worked fine but I still would not hunt elk with them, and for just the reason that you stated in your post- you can't shoot them in the shoulder!

Why restrict  yourself like that when there are bullets available that allow you to shoot an elk anywhere? That's the logic I don't follow. Unless you hunt elk where the opportunities are so numerous that you can pass up shots all day long until you find an elk that will stand still long enough to allow for a perfectly placed bullet behind the shoulder and through both lungs.   

[Bob33]

I'm not following your logic. Either you don't have any real world experience shooting Berger bullets, or you're just reiterating what you heard on another forum. My advice would be to load some up and go kill a bear or elk. You'll be pleasantly surprised. Do they retain weight like a Barnes TSX or a Nosler Partition? No. But do they do more terminal damage than those? Yes.

Tip: do NOT hit an elk in the shoulder with a Berger or SST if avoidable. You will grenade the front quarter beyond salvage. It will definitely die, but you'll lose meat.

You made his point. In the real world, bullets don't always hit exactly where you want them to.