mini, maxi or round ball for ELK

[rimrock]

between my friends and myself we have used all three projectiles on ELK in several states over the years, in mostly 54 and 58 caliber hawken style rifles, loads have varied as each rifle likes a different charge weight and type of powder.
my custom built 58 caliber hawken style rifle has a 40 inch 1" barrel and prefers round patched balls,over 110 grains of 1f its heavy but very accurate
my friend jack prefers a tc renegade 54 cal with mini balls over 80 grains of 3f
AL likes a 58 mini in his 1861 springfield replica loaded with 76 grains of 2f
the main thing we found is that like most hunts its shot placement more than caliber or the projectile that counts, even a soft lead mini doesn,t always exit and the soft lead round balls seldom do, but they all kill very effectively

what do you guys use on ELK HUNTS

[captchee]

well it depends on when and were .
up in hells canyon when hunting Bulls in or around the rut , its close range and u use a bernard mini .
out of the canyons and down lower where i dont have to worry about the bulls making 100 yards and then a mile down in some hole .
i use RB .
if i had to avarage i would say the mini gets about 2% of my hunting

[GF.]

My little bro has a trophy bullet out of a cow that he shot through the spine & shot at about 35 yards with a .58 conical. Not that she went anywhere.

Nor did the one he shot at about 20 yards with the same load - that slug probably went farther past the point of impact than the cow did.

JMO - and as a matter of personal preference, if I had a .58 that was real accurate with a ball, I'd never think twice; I'd just load her up & go.

FWIW, all my BP Elk hunting has been with a .54 RB; only one cow to show for my efforts, but we did track her down, so no losses. Had my shot placement been better, I don't think it would have been much of a tracking job.... Just place your shots like a bowhunter and avoid shoulder hits. We used to have a guy around here who had killed a good number of Elk with shoulder shots using a .50 RB, but I wouldn't choose that shot and probably wouldn't care to risk it....

Suspenders and a belt, don'chaknow....