Elk Hunting Loads with BH209

[oregonelkhunter]

I am a new member. Just purchased a T/C Encore 209x50 for a New Mexico Elk Hunt in November. After alot of research, I have begun working up load for Barnes T-EZ with BH209 powder. I need some expert advise.

My question is, assuming the loads are equally accurate, and that longer shots are more likely than not, which load would you choose to hunt elk with :

250gr Barnes TEZ at 2000-2100fps or 290gr Barnes TEZ at 1800-1900fps.
or does it really make a difference.

Thanks, in advance, for your help. OEH

 

[cayuga]

Now this is just a personal opinion and I base it on no in field experience. BUT if both were accurate equally, and there were long shots, I would still go with the Barnes 290 grain. That little extra weight IMO is a plus. Not that a 250 grain would not do the job, but from what I read from the elk hunters, they like around a 300 grain bullet with good velocity. That 290 looks like a perfect match. They get great penetration and Barnes will almost guarantee you the expansion you are looking for. Good luck with your elk hunt.

 

[kyelkhunter3006]

I'll second that!

 

[roebag]

I know from doing penetration tests in my centerfire 300 win mag that a 30 cal 165 grain Barnes X penetrated farther than a Speer Grand Slam 30 cal 180 grain and a 30 cal 200 gr Sierra Game King into the same material. My philosophy on this is that bullets of tougher construction don't need to have the same weight to penetrate as deep.
Interesting stuff foresure. IMO this is especially important when it comes to muzzleloader rifles. Use a tough bullet and go a little lighter. You may need the extra distance gained over the penetration difference

 

[ART338WM]

Although I loooooooove the 290 TMZ out of my 10ML-II, I would say you would be well served with eithor the 250 or the 290 TMZ as they are both excellent performers and weather you shoot them into a deer, elk or sand they will 99.9% of the time retain over 98% of their original weight.
And thats with me shooting the 290 TMZ at over 2400fps and the 250s at around 2600fps and recovering them from the sand at the range.

Never shot any animals with them, but have seen enough of both recovered from being shot into balistic gell and wet newspaper to know they work as advertized. If you need farther reasurances go over to Doug's and post your question there as there are allot of TMZ users over there, more than one of which has taken allot of deer with them.

Called Barnes and the tech rep I spoke with said all of the Barnes all copper muzzleloder bullet are designed to open up at a minimum velocity of 1050 FPS on up to vertually infinity.

Good luck on your hunt.
Arthur.

 

[oregonelkhunter]

Following up on my original post, I ended up using the 290gr TMZ with 125gr of BH209 in my T/C Encore to take this elk at 210 yards. The elk dropped within 10 yards and started rolling down hill, stone cold dead. The bullet was a complete pass-through (as occurs with most Barnes all-copper bullets). This load was shooting at 2145fps at the muzzle. I am sure it was substantially less at 210 yards.

http://www.modernmuzzleloader.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=14537&highlight=,

I have now taken elk with the Barnes muzzleloader TMZ sabots, the Barnes Expander sabots for rifled slug guns and the Barnes Triple Shock Bullets for my 340 Weatherby. All have been immediate kills. All have been pass-throughs. (Must be some kind of triple play)

Good Hunting. OEH