elk hunting with 200 grain SMKs

[shilen30]

I would appreciate your thoughts on hunting elk with 200 grain SMKs out of my custom 300WM. Anyone used them for this purpose? How about bullet performance? I hunt in very open country and as close as I can often get is 300-400 yards. 200 grainSMKs are very accurate, consistantly between .3 and .5MOA, and no other hunting bullet I have tried EXTENSIVELY shoots under 1 MOA. Should I be OK with the SMKs?

 

[Kevin]

I think you will be more than just OK!

The 190's work great for me.

 

[COBrad]

I would think it would be okay at the ranges you described, but in my experience it will blow apart at short range if you are pushing them fast. My .300 Jarrett really likes them. Like you I get around .5 moa with them, and a solid 1 moa with hunting bullets. I had to put down one of my horses several years ago, and had my .300 on hand with 200 gr. SMK's pushing 3000 fps. I made a heart shot from 10 ft. The bullet certainly didn't exit, and when the horse fell over he lay there blinking. I quickly hit him again, but under the circumstances the bullet performance was a bit distressing.

 

[rukidnme]

Have you tried the Barnes Tripleshocks?
People are getting excellent accuracy with them and a much better choice for elk at the ranges you are discussing.

 

[shilen30]

Thanks for the info. I have not tried the triple shock, but will do so since more than 1 person has told me that. Accubonds were accurate but not consistant and for some reason copper fouled the bore worse than the SMKs (SMKs did not foul the bore), and when i went to shoot SMKs after the accubonds I got higher pressure signs and a decrease in accuracy. The 200 gr SMKs are pushed at 2900 FPS with 71.7 grains of H4831SC.

[ 04-21-2004: Message edited by: shilen30 ]

 

[chris matthews]

COBrad,
Not trying to bust anybody's nuts but I don't care what bullet you heart shot your horse with, he still would have laid there and blinked at you. I have had to put down several horses and have shot hundreds of cattle. Anything takes awhile to die when it's heart shot. Head shots are a better choice.
My point is the MK was fine and did it's job as it will on elk at any distance.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

I put 1 into about a 450-500 lb black bear at 250 yards out of my .300 RUM doing 3200fps at the muzzle. Bear was running broadside, shot entered behind shoulder and the bear went only a couple steps. The bullet did not exit but went about 3/4 of the way through. The vitals were completely liquified. The remaining part of the bullet weighed only 40g's. Not very good weight retention, but I'm not complaining and neither did the bear. If anything, I would go with the 220g just to have a little added insurance of the higher s.d. and a little more weight retention.

 

[shilen30]

Thanks a lot for the reply guys! From what I have read from this post and others, the SMKs should treat me well though I should watch shot placement.