Who still uses non premium bullets.

[Mtstalker]

I hunt alot and have used a wide variety of bullets on deer and a couple elk. I keep getting told that i need to switch to premium bonded bullets to get the job done. I mostly use sierra gamekings and hornady interlocks. I have used partitions but i feel that in my 338 win there a bit hard for deer. Is there any reason i should switch? Is there any reasons not to use a gameking or interlock on elk? Thanks

 

[bobinpa]

If you have too much money, switching to more expensive premium bullets is a great way to get rid of it...... but I wouldn't do it. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with GameKings or InterLocks for deer, in fact I prefer Interlocks for deer in some of my guns.
My 3 favorite deer bullets are:
Ballistic Tips
InterLocks
GameKings
In that order.....

For Elk, I'm sorry but I don't have enough experience to give you an educated opinion, but I would think that your bullets would be just fine.......at least that's what experienced guys have told me.
I hope this helps you out.

 

[IdahoSharpshooter]

I've made do with Partition and Ballistic Tip bullets the last forty years in Idaho. I have also made it a point to not take shots on game past 300yds.

Rockchucks and Coyotes; the Ballistic Tip as a general rule under 500 yds.

I guess I am just middle class at heart...

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I hunt alot and have used a wide variety of bullets on deer and a couple elk. I keep getting told that i need to switch to premium bonded bullets to get the job done. I mostly use sierra gamekings and hornady interlocks. I have used partitions but i feel that in my 338 win there a bit hard for deer. Is there any reason i should switch? Is there any reasons not to use a gameking or interlock on elk? Thanks

Well the Interlock is a bonded core bullet and the Game Kings have been successfully harvesting large game animals for many decades. If your rifle is accurate with those bullets, an elk WILL die if you hit it in the kill zone with an Interlock or Game King. I see no reason for you to change.

I have killed elk with Remington Core-loct, Accubond, Swift Scirroco II, and Berger Hunting VLD.

I found that the Scirocco bullets do not expand well which leads to "pin-holing" of you don't hit bone on the way in. Didn't like them.

Lighter weight Accubonds are horrible on elk and explode on heavy muscle and bone with very little penetration. If you must use an Accubond, use the heavy for caliber weights because the jacket is a little thicker. Might help.

Remington Core-Locts work well on anything. Not the most accurate bullet, but they killed everything I have ever shot with them.

Bergers open up violenty to deal devastating internal damage, but not before penetrating 4-5" through ANYTHING in their way. One bull elk I shot with the 338 cal 250gr Berger Elite Hunter was a front quartering shot. Completely blew through center of the front leg bone severing it completely in half (nearly 2" thick bone), then opend up to absolutely destroy the vitals. Excellent performance

 

[Tommie]

Didn’t know the Interlocks were bonded. Hmmm.

 

[johnfred1965]

The premium bullets will put you in a higher weight class of animal with the same cartridge. Some marginal elk cartridges become real killers with a premium bullet. With that said though, it is just throwing money away shooting them into deer, you can take them down easy with a lead round ball.

Also, the normal cup and core bullets are built tougher in the larger calibers like your .338, so as others have said, no reason to switch.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Interlocks are not bonded. Interbonds are bonded.

I must be thinking of the SST or Interbond. I know one of their hunting bullets is bonded.

 

[JimPag]

Well the Interlock is a bonded core bullet and the Game Kings have been successfully harvesting large game animals for many decades. If your rifle is accurate with those bullets, an elk WILL die if you hit it in the kill zone with an Interlock or Game King. I see no reason for you to change.

I have killed elk with Remington Core-loct, Accubond, Swift Scirroco II, and Berger Hunting VLD.

I found that the Scirocco bullets do not expand well which leads to "pin-holing" of you don't hit bone on the way in. Didn't like them.

Lighter weight Accubonds are horrible on elk and explode on heavy muscle and bone with very little penetration. If you must use an Accubond, use the heavy for caliber weights because the jacket is a little thicker. Might help.

Remington Core-Locts work well on anything. Not the most accurate bullet, but they killed everything I have ever shot with them.

Bergers open up violenty to deal devastating internal damage, but not before penetrating 4-5" through ANYTHING in their way. One bull elk I shot with the 338 cal 250gr Berger Elite Hunter was a front quartering shot. Completely blew through center of the front leg bone severing it completely in half (nearly 2" thick bone), then opend up to absolutely destroy the vitals. Excellent performance

Interlocks and SST's are not bonded bullets. Interbond's are.

 

[johnfred1965]

Look up Terminal Ballistics Research on google. Nathan Foster evaluates hunting bullets of all calibers on actual game, at many different velocities. Very educational if you have a question about bullet or caliber.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Is it obvious that I don't use Hornady bullets for hunting??? Lol. So about my mistake there guys

 

[JimPag]

I hunt alot and have used a wide variety of bullets on deer and a couple elk. I keep getting told that i need to switch to premium bonded bullets to get the job done. I mostly use sierra gamekings and hornady interlocks. I have used partitions but i feel that in my 338 win there a bit hard for deer. Is there any reason i should switch? Is there any reasons not to use a gameking or interlock on elk? Thanks

Lets face it, you don't need premium bullets for deer. Too thin skinned and their bones usually get smashed very easy with regular bullets. Elk & moose are a different story. Yes you can kill them with conventional bullets, but their bones are a lot tougher than a deer and once in a while one of your non premium bullets could deflect or just fragment if striking a bone. If your going to hunt Elk, yes I would suggest a premium bullet. I'm a big fan of the Barnes Triple shock and the Swift A Frame. If you want to see just how good a bullet stays together, fire them in a stack of dry newspapers.

 

[Barlow]

I hunt alot and have used a wide variety of bullets on deer and a couple elk. I keep getting told that i need to switch to premium bonded bullets to get the job done. I mostly use sierra gamekings and hornady interlocks. I have used partitions but i feel that in my 338 win there a bit hard for deer. Is there any reason i should switch? Is there any reasons not to use a gameking or interlock on elk? Thanks

No reason to switch whatsoever. Barlow

 

[jimbires]

I use hornady interlocks for deer . I've used accubonds for elk . I'll use accubonds or a partition for elk or moose . I've tried the Barnes copper bullets , I'm not sold on the results . my thoughts are , some of these premium bullets are not only not needed , but really not wanted for deer hunting .

 

[Mtstalker]

I do like sierras, they always shoot great. I cant count how many deer i have killed with the 100gr gameking in a 243 win. My 338 loves them too, but i havent shot any elk with them. I have only used the interlock in elk and they only go 10 to 20 yards with a double lung shot. I have found peices of jacket from the hornady on the exit side. I was told by a guy that "that is bullet failure, the jacket came apart" and all i could think was how is it a bullet failure? One shot and its dead. If its dead with one shot i dont care how the bullet looks obviously it did its job. I guess i will stick with them, any preference if they shoot the same out of a rifle.

 

[akajiggs]

Lets face it, you don't need premium bullets for deer. Too thin skinned and their bones usually get smashed very easy with regular bullets. Elk & moose are a different story. Yes you can kill them with conventional bullets, but their bones are a lot tougher than a deer and once in a while one of your non premium bullets could deflect or just fragment if striking a bone. If your going to hunt Elk, yes I would suggest a premium bullet. I'm a big fan of the Barnes Triple shock and the Swift A Frame. If you want to see just how good a bullet stays together, fire them in a stack of dry newspapers.

I hunted elk for many years in Colorado with a 300 Win mag and in those many years killed a few elk. All one shot kills with a 180 gr Sierra G K.Hell,I thought the G K's were a premium bullet.
Jim

 

[spencerhenry]

I have killed a lot of elk, I have forgotten how many. Mostly with a bow however, but the ones I have killed with firearms and the people I have guided that used firearms, have shown me that elk are really not the hard to kill beasts many claim them to be.
I have killed a few moose too, all with a rifle. And a couple of big black bears. I used Sierras for years for everything I used a rifle on, mostly on deer. I found Sierras to be of light construction and often came apart into bits. I used Speers for a couple of seasons, and then for some reason I used some Hornadys. I really like them for terminal performance in my 338 and in my 270. The biggest bear I shot took 4 of the 225gr Hornady bullets before he piled up, they were all killing shots and I suspect I could have stopped after the first shot, but I have a policy that if its still moving, I keep shooting. I recovered 3 of the 4 bullets, all were perfect mushrooms with core and jacket still together with weight retention being about 80%. I used the same bullet on my last moose, with the same results. They did not exit, but were recovered just under the hide on the far side.
I once had some nosler partitions that I loaded for an alaska moose hunt. I did not get to kill a moose with them, but I could not get the same accuracy out of them as the Sierras.

 

[Flouncer]

Look up Terminal Ballistics Research on google. Nathan Foster evaluates hunting bullets of all calibers on actual game, at many different velocities. Very educational if you have a question about bullet or caliber.

If that is the guy I am thinking of nothing is good enough. There isn't a bullet alive that will work at xyz . . .except a Woodleigh. I deleted my book mark as a source after thinking about it.

 

[JRS]

Nothing wrong with the bullets you use. Shot placement is the key.

 

[Prose]

I have two opinions on this. One is about piece of mind and the other is about shot placement. These are opinions and I'm not so convinced as to only use a single type of bullet... after all the animal has some input in the equation.

If you have regular access to regular hunting use a regular bullet. If you are going on a once-in-a-lifetime hunt, it's worth the extra .30 cents for that piece-of-mind factor.
Example:
Let's say you live next to a trout stream and you have a fly-rod from the local sporting good store for about $50 bucks. You are a rainbow slayer and nothing under 15" is ever going to over-power you. Are you going to take that rod to fish on the kenai?

Second Opinion:
Cup and core behind the shoulder animal runs a little ways dies every time

Bonded, high shoulder shot, break bones, DRT

Highly Kinetic, neck shot need an explosive bullet

 

[AckleymanII]

Way back before the internet, I killed 7 bulls with a 7x57 and 140g Sierra's, and two with a 7 mag with the then brand new 140g nosler ballistic tips. I kept off the shoulders, picked my shots, shots were closer because I was riding a mule(elk never see a man on a mule unless they are running their mouth). All animals died where they were standing, except two that were on a dead run quartering to us. At the impact of the 140g ballistic tips, they hit the ground immediately, tongues stuck way out, front legs quit working, kicked a couple of times is all.

Later on, all we put in for was cow tags. A 243 with 100g partition was my choice, never any problems.

No matter if you use a 458 winchester, if you don't hit them right, you are in for one heck of a tracking job, because they will run down in the deepest thickest canyons you can imagine.

I hunted with an old mule man that had killed or seen killed over 200 elk between Az, NM, and Colorado. He hunted with a 300 Winchester that looked like hit had been through WWI and WWII. He shot Rem core locts, I watched him kill several bulls across a canyons with a darn old 3x9 Redfield, the bulls just flopped.

I think that the biggest mistake a hunter can make is to choose a bullet that does not put a lot of shock on an animal in the temporary wound cavity that is created by the bullet disrupting arteries, and other organs.

I made the mistake of taking my neighbor and his brother elk hunting on my Cadillac mules, and had pack mules with panyards to pack the elk out on. These two did not know how to shoot, gimped up two nice bulls, and we had a heck of a time putting them down after a hellacious tracking job. They just jumped off the mules and started hosing down the elk with their BAR's. I never took them elk hunting again. It is guys like this that make me think of "super bullets" to kill elk with. Also, they don't practice, sight in their guns, clean their guns, and of course want to shoot everything 600 yards and under.

Elk are not hard to kill. The vast majority of elk are killed with a 30/06 with 180g Core locts and a 270 with 150g Core locts.

Before you ever pull the trigger on an elk of any size, ask yourself this question, "how am I going to:
a. get to him?

b. get him out?

Quartering up an elk on a steep mountain side is dangerous to man and beast. If you have to leave part of the quartered up animal over night, then have a plan. Spread moth balls all around the kill to ward off bears and lions. It is a butt hole puckering event to walk up to your elk kill and see that is covered with branches, grass, and bear crap!