Not being argumentative here, just presenting what may be an alternative (and perhaps unpopular) viewpoint.
What is meant by "don't do well"? Don't hold together/ don't provide a pretty looking recovered bullet? Or don't kill?
I've shot whitetails with a 180 Ballistic Tip from a .300WinMag and the bullet basically blew up like a grenade, but they dropped like they had been struck by a bolt of lightning.
Some would call that a "bullet failure", or a "failure to perform" but others would ask: "At what point in the animal's demise did the bullet 'fail to perform'?" I know, I know, I'm talking about whitetails not elk, but elk are not so much bigger that a crazy amount of penetration is required to reach their vitals.
Nearly any bullet meant to perform at long range will "overperform" at close range. But it will still kill, sometimes spectacularly. Are we looking for a beautiful elk to perhaps get mounted? Or a beautiful recovered bullet to display?
I spent some time working for a bullet manufacturer that we all know the name of, making bullets. One thing I learned in my time there is that there is no perfect bullet. Bullets are engineered to perform in different ways and at different impact velocities.
If a bullet is "soft" enough to open up and perform at 800 yd, it will likely fragment at 25 yards or even 100 if the initial velocity is high enough. If a bullet is tough enough to hold together at 25 yards, it is unlikely to open or perform at 800 yards.
Anything can happen if we make a bad shot, but I submit that putting nearly any bullet traveling North of 3000fps/ 4000 lb•ft of energy right in the chest cavity of an elk (or nearly any thin-skinned creature)- it will not be survivable.
All that said, confidence is everything and if you aren't confident in the ELD- type bullets it may make sense to use something else. The Barnes LRX are pretty good performers at distance. At 25 yards it's likely to "overperform/fail", and strip the petals off the bullet, but the shank is nearly indestructible and will still penetrate deeply and kill things.
I stick with the 175gr because I can get them going pretty fast. At 200 grains the shank is starting to get really long, causing more friction and it's more difficult to get them going as fast as I would like them to go.
What is meant by "don't do well"? Don't hold together/ don't provide a pretty looking recovered bullet? Or don't kill?
I've shot whitetails with a 180 Ballistic Tip from a .300WinMag and the bullet basically blew up like a grenade, but they dropped like they had been struck by a bolt of lightning.
Some would call that a "bullet failure", or a "failure to perform" but others would ask: "At what point in the animal's demise did the bullet 'fail to perform'?" I know, I know, I'm talking about whitetails not elk, but elk are not so much bigger that a crazy amount of penetration is required to reach their vitals.
Nearly any bullet meant to perform at long range will "overperform" at close range. But it will still kill, sometimes spectacularly. Are we looking for a beautiful elk to perhaps get mounted? Or a beautiful recovered bullet to display?
I spent some time working for a bullet manufacturer that we all know the name of, making bullets. One thing I learned in my time there is that there is no perfect bullet. Bullets are engineered to perform in different ways and at different impact velocities.
If a bullet is "soft" enough to open up and perform at 800 yd, it will likely fragment at 25 yards or even 100 if the initial velocity is high enough. If a bullet is tough enough to hold together at 25 yards, it is unlikely to open or perform at 800 yards.
Anything can happen if we make a bad shot, but I submit that putting nearly any bullet traveling North of 3000fps/ 4000 lb•ft of energy right in the chest cavity of an elk (or nearly any thin-skinned creature)- it will not be survivable.
All that said, confidence is everything and if you aren't confident in the ELD- type bullets it may make sense to use something else. The Barnes LRX are pretty good performers at distance. At 25 yards it's likely to "overperform/fail", and strip the petals off the bullet, but the shank is nearly indestructible and will still penetrate deeply and kill things.
I stick with the 175gr because I can get them going pretty fast. At 200 grains the shank is starting to get really long, causing more friction and it's more difficult to get them going as fast as I would like them to go.
