What caliber are you using to get pass through shots on elk

[Texashunter21]

300 win mag

 

[Pucky Freak]

How long of a shot was it for the Elk with the 6.5 ELDx? I have a Tikka 6.5 and am deciding on Ammo again as now we have more choices available. I was using the Interlok whitetails from Hornady but thinking of trying the ELD x, Sierra Game Changer and/or Federal terminal ascent.

380 and 275

 

[RevJim]

On elk, my first with 30-06 180 Hornady Lite Magnum ( going about like the old 300H&H did not get through the skin on far side. The pass through on the other three were:
375 H&H 300 Sierra BT (made a mess)
338WM with old Barnes 185 XLC (perfection just one aggravating bullet to find a load with good speed to it, extremely slick and no LEE FCD back then.
Last one was 300WM and Barnes 175 LRX.
Deer or elk that are "too close" to any "godawful" briar patch or canyon get the High Shoulder Shot finesse from me, lol.

 

[mstolte]

380 and 275

Thank you.

 

[Partagas]

It is more about the bullet and shot placement than it is about the caliber. I like barnes bullets for two holes. My son shot a moose this year with a 270 wby and a 129 barnes. Easy pass through.

 

[Wypiti]

7mm08 140 gr nosler partition

 

[Wypiti]

7mm08 140 gr nosler partition

Hornady sst are

 

[OntarioHunter]

7mm08 140 gr nosler partition

You get elk pass throughs with those? I am surprised ... very surprised. Better find a butcher with a metal detector. Shrapnel everywhere.

 

[F250]

You get elk pass throughs with those? I am surprised ... very surprised. Better find a butcher with a metal detector. Shrapnel everywhere.

Yes. Pass through with those. And No… not shrapnel everywhere. Witnessed several.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Yes. Pass through with those. And No… not shrapnel everywhere. Witnessed several.

I shot several African animals smaller than elk with 165 gr 30-06 Partitions and no pass through. Bullets recovered only had bottom portion intact. Rest of it was splintered off somewhere inside the animals. This gemsbuck was shot twice at very close range. Second shot at only twelve yards as it ran by through the front quarter was recovered. Half the bullet anyway. First one through the chest at less than twenty yards was in the gut pile somewhere.

Shot this wildebeest at 100 yards in the shoulder. Flattened him. Bullet was recovered just under the skin on opposite side. Looked almost identical to the bullet that finished the gemsbuck. In fact, I can't tell them apart. Everything above the partition parted after impact to parts unknown.

If half the bullet disappears upon or after impact, it seems unlikely that what remains would retain enough energy/momentum to exit the other side of a seven hundred pound animal, especially if the bullet is only 140 gr coming out of the muzzle.