Got PA Cow Elk Tag

I hit the elk lottery in PA... Got a call Saturday from the Game Commission telling me I got a cow tag in unit 12.(one of the best units). Due to age and health this will be most likely my last elk hunt. Thinking of using a Sharp's 45-70 and boolets and black powder that I have made... Looking for advice on a good choice in boolets for elk...I have moulds for 525 Postell, 500 Gov't, 405 RN, and 350 Gould HP.
Think I have a couple more, but they were Lee with smaller lube grooves that I do not prefer... Not sure of what range and I know that any of these will be more than enough for Wapiti...I will be doing range work to see what accuracy I can tweak for each boolet...not sure how my homemade BP will compare to Swiss, but anxious to work up some loads and run thru the chronograph...
I would appreciate your suggestions for choosing the best hunting boolet for elk... thanks in advance for your help.

I don't hunt but have been a fan of the lyman 510 grn govt round nose as an all around bullet for a long time.

You should be fine with your home made and a meplat boolit if you have a mold. I would crono your loads to make sure your powder is generating enough velocity. A tapered boolit will give you more powder space if you can find some.
This deer was taken with home made powder and a flat nosed boolit in a 40-65. Velocity was 75 FPS slower than Swiss but the deer couldn't tell the difference, he went about 30yd and dropped.

Bob

Elk are tough. The 45-70 is tougher and the 400gr class bullet is more than enough. Lyman's 457 124 in 30/1 or even 40/1 would be good.
If you have a Lyman 457 193 mold which is the Marlin lever bullet with a flat nose cast in the same alloy, results would be the same.

For hunting, try soft (er) tin/lead alloys.

As in using any rifle and load, where you hit the elk will make the difference.

It sounds like you are going to have a great hunt! I wish you success.

Another vote for the 400 grain boolits. I really like Lee's 459405 boolit. Hollow base and generous lube grooves. It has worked very well in every 45-70 I ever tryed it in. 457193 is a good boolit for smokeless in my Marlins. 500 ish boolits are in my opinion a bit over board. The tough Elk are thin skinned and the 350's and 400's do very well at Black Powder speeds.

Sure hope your hunt goes well. Take lotza pictures for fond memories both game AND camp.

Good luck

I'm not really an expert on elk, but I have taken three of them, one with a Shiloh 45-110, and two with a Shiloh 45-70. Based on my results, and watching a couple of my friends take elk, I will say that the 500 grain Govt. bullet you have will be your best choice. Ideally, you want a broadside shot through BOTH shoulders, and an exit wound. The exit wound causes an air leak that collapses the lungs and puts the animal on the ground right now. Lighter bullets do not always give this exit wound and air leak. With the 500 grain round nosed bullet, any velocity around 1100 fps will get the job done. Good luck.

Thanks to all for your feedback...it is greatly appreciated. Sharpsguy, never taking an elk(have killed moose & caribou) I am cudrious as why you prefer to take out both shoulders on a large boned animal. High shoulder shots(DRT) used to be my preference on deer so there was no tracking. Since then I found a way to cook whole shoulhers with the meat falling off the bone and all the silver and connective tissue dissolved... I would think a double lung or heart/ lung shot would be preferable on a meat hunt...trophy hunt perhaps a different story

You want a through and through WITH an exit wound in front of the diaphragm. The entrance wound will often fill with fat and tissue and thus not give a good air leak. The internal pressure inside the chest cavity blows the exit wound open and you have the air leak that collapses the lungs and the animal goes down quickly, The 500 grain Govt bullet doesn't tear up a lot of meat, and doesn't leave a lot of bloodshot meat. If you want to tear up a lot of meat and have a lot of what's left blood shot, use the Gould hollowpoint. A pass through behind the diaphragm doesn't collapse the lungs, and results in a long tracking job.

Whatever you choose, it should put meat in the freezer. Shot placement is everything.

Enjoy the hunt. One day I would like to do the same.

I found a good target of elk vitals from Berger bullets. I am not a computer guy, but downloaded a PDF and printed copies at Staples for $0.13 each. Will try them on next trip to the range

Update:. I just ran across original post. Kudos to a who offered help and especially sharpsguy.. I took a nice cow on first evening hunt thru the shoulders with my home cast 500 gr government bullet. One would have been plenty, but guide nervous with me using BP...shot her twice thru both shoulders, complete passthroughs..First shot she reared up on back legs and staggered about 30 yds closer... I reluctantly placed 2 ND one in the same spot,,,she staggered less than 5 yds and was done.
Again thanks for your help
Kindest regards,
TheMoose

Sweet! Picture of the Cow would be great as well as your rifle and boolit. Congrats on the hunt. I remember driving in PA and seeing an Elk along the road for the first time. Having just come from AZ and the west having seen a great deal of elk I almost drove my semi off the road cranking my head around. Shooting a nice cow with not only your own boolit but homemade BP is a great achievement. :drinks:

Sadly, I do not have real good pictures...and I have never figured out how to post them. I guess I just need to set down and get it done. I don't want to mislead anyone... I used home cast bullet, homemade lube, but Swiss BP. I did make a couple small batches of my homemade BP that shot very well but I didn't have enough on hand before hunt or time to make more. I used H&R Buffalo Classic with SWFA mildot scope... I also took 1874 Sharp's, but left it in camp first day

I have shot more than a dozen elk with the 45-70, a Marlin 1895. I have used the Barnes 300 gr Original(soft copper, pure lead) at 2200 fps. I use the 300gr for flatter trajectory and less recoil in the lightweight Marlin Most shots more or less broadside or quartering away. Mostly pass-thru's, all one shot stops, a few coup de gras, ranges 340 yards to 50 feet, a few large bulls, some cows, smaller bulls.

TheMoose; Well done. Ya gotta love the H&R Buffalo Classic. Easy shooter and quality from stem to stern. 725