Well, this rifle and load dropped a couple of small bulls for 2nd season 1 shot each, DRT. We hunt for meat and like to kill younger animals, eslecially the bulls, as I think they taste better.
Brother and I used my rifle on 2 separate days since it was dialed in so well. Nothing very far- mine was 320 and his was 245. Wow those Bergers explode like it was hit with a shotgun at point blank, and put lead everywhere, but they sure do kill quickly with pure quartering to and quartering away lung shots. No bullets recovered, just lots of fragments and liquefied viddles inside.
We have a ranch with irrigated meadows and have elk grazing on it all summer, but more often than not they split by the time hunting season comes around because the cattle ususally get turned in around October 15th and that runs them off to the neigboring wilderness. Which sucks, cause we feed the elk but don't ever get to harvest any of them before they split.
This year was different and we tried to keep the cattle off the place till after hunting season and it worked. The elk usually come out to our place to graze at night then go back to the neighbor's before daylight because our place doesn't have much cover and the neighbor's is full of timber and willows where they bed down.
So we camped out near the fenceline stupid early and froze our tails off waiting for enough light to see anything. (It gets stupid cold here..gonna be 14 tonight). Sure enough, just as we could finally see, we found the herd working it's way back across the fence. Shooting off the top of the tractor to get above the cross fences, I nailed the first one. I was prepared to shoot to about 600 if aboslutely necessary as that's how far I had practiced, but they were crossing closer than expected, so it wasn't too terribly difficult of a shot with a good rest. Those high bc bullets slung at 2900 at the muzzle are still bringing plenty of heat at 600 and are still minute of elk.
Next day I wasn't expecting them to come back and do the same thing but we camped out anyway and they did come back, and bro nailed one for himself but from behind little knoll- he had to sneak/ stalk up closer because they weren't in a good spot to get a shot from the tractor.
It's nice to get good clean fast kills without any running as they taste better and I hate to see animals suffer. That said, I'm not sure what these bullets would do hitting heavier bone before getting to the vitals. Do they penetrate after a shoulder shot?