Best cartridge for mono bullets on elk under 600 yards?

[Macintosh]

Ill bite. Savage 270 ultralite, 1:10 twist, shooting 129gr LRX at MV of 3040 with Unknown Munitions hand loads…the Applied Ballistics chart below shows them cruising at 2114fps at 600yds…

9000’+ elevation? Has to be, even at 5000’ you lose almost 100 yards to get same impact velocity.

 

[LightFoot]

9000’+ elevation? Has to be, even at 5000’ you lose almost 100 yards to get same impact velocity.

I ran his numbers at 60 degrees and 4000 ft and got over 2000 fps at 600 yards. I would say 600 is the absolute wall for that bullet/cartridge combo. But what do I know!? I wouldn’t use a 223/77tmk for elk. .


>>>——JAKE——>

 

[JakeSCH]

I want to lean for the 6.5 PRC because it seems like it has been adopted and ammo is pretty available now and it’s a sexy newer cartridge, but based on these numbers from Barnes the ole .270 is faster and has more energy.

Barnes factory ammo is slow compared to handloads. I get 3300 fps with the same combo out of my 6.5 PRC and a 24" barrel. 3400 fps with 124 gr Hammers without pressure sign in two different rifles.

That said, spotting shots with 300 WM isn't bad on lower mag 4x to 6x. I have taken cow elk at 660 with that combo.

I actually started looking at the 338s, but got an x bolt max in 300 win mag 1:8 twist that I I’m gonna try loading with 212 lrx bore riders. Will have to single feed because of overall length but the number are impressive if it will group with those.

I have also killed 6 elk or so with a 338 RUM and 260 hammers...it is a different beast. Works great but much more difficult to spot impacts sub 400 yards even with an aggressive muzzle brake.


Mono's are small in / small out...so I like the extra frontal area. That said, the 6 UM or 6.5 PRC option would be a good middle ground. Put it through the lungs fast they will die.

 

[Bmhunts]

tikka superlite 270 win, factory barnes 129 lrx, hunting area around 7900', 3090 fps avg. at the muzzle, 2211 fps at 600 yards. Works great on elk.

 

[Macintosh]

For what its worth, this is my tikka 270win trued velocity (oem 22” stainless barrel) with barnes factory 129gr LRX, at 8000’ and 1000’. I hunt at home mostly between 1000-3000’, but theres no elk here. 8k is more realistic for elk for me. Have never shot an elk with this gun/load though.

8000’ elevation:


1000’ elevation:

 

[Str8shooter]

9000’+ elevation? Has to be, even at 5000’ you lose almost 100 yards to get same impact velocity.

Sitting about 8400ft . If I lived/hunted at 5000 I might consider 270 wsm if was starting from scratch

 

[Northshorelumber]

I live and hunt at altitude shooting 7PRC. If you need solids , Hornady CX is decent factory ammo.

 

[roosiebull]

6UM

 

[Highvoltage1]

I’d throw the 270 wsm in the mix. The 129 lrx at 3200 looks good on paper. Best wishes

 

[OKHunter84]

I also meant to say earlier, I have been shooting intermediate size (308 case size) cartridges for several years. Over the last couple of years I’ve built some larger cartridges; 300 Norma Mag Improved and 338 Norma Mag Improved. Im planning an elk hunt among other larger animals in the next few year so I wanted more horsepower so to speak. All you “but a .223 can……” commenters can save your breath.

Anyway I have shot nothing but suppressed rifles for the last 13 years and I HATED brakes. But quite frankly the suppressors on the larger cartridges was not allowing me to spot shots. I reluctantly purchased one of the Ti Pro 5 port brakes from the Rokslide store. The first time I shot it on the 300 Norma I was shocked. The recoil mitigation was almost unbelievable. To speak using cliche’ terms the felt recoil was about like my .308. This on a 9.5# rifle shooting 230 Berger Hybrids over 3100fps.

I still don’t enjoy shooting a brake on the bench because I usually double up hearing protection but the ability to easily spot shots in the field is well worth the trade off.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Proj

I don't enjoy brakes either but you're definitely right. Once you step up to larger calibers then the suppressors just don't cut it for spotting impacts. I have a 6.5CM and with a suppressor it's still easy to spot impacts.