Hello Everyone,
          My encore loves 150gr bullets, and I'm curious if that's enough for an elk someday.  It's a sub MOA shooter with the 150's and it starts to open up significantly with 180gr bullets.  I've taken a couple deer with the 150 coreloks and they didn't complain one bit, but they were under 100 yards and the bullets passed through just fine.  
 
          Knowing that elk are tougher I'd be thinking of loading up some Barnes TSX bullets over the most amount of powder I could SAFELY get.  My local range only goes out to 300 yards and that's the farthest I'll be comfortable shooting because I have nowhere to practice shooting any farther.  
 
           Anyway, let me know what you think.

What caliber is your rifle?

Usually, it's good advice to go with a heavy bullet, but if you are getting bad groups with the heavy ones, then I'd rather have you place your shot accurately with a lighter bullet.

Kinda what the rock said. Depends on the caliber. A 150 out of my 7 mag, yes. Out of an '06 no.

RJ

I use 145 grain bullet out of my 7mm mag for just about everything, and have no problems.  I'm pushing them at around 3150 fps, and they're bullets that mushroom without coming apart.
 
But, like rockin and RJ said, it depends heavily on caliber/cartridge.
 
What caliber is it, and what kind of velocity are you getting with it?
 
Daryl

Sorry guys, I can't believe that I didn't put the caliber on there. It's a 30-06 with a 26" barrel. I can't believe I forgot to put that on their. :D

I'd suggest that a standard cup/core not be pushed too much faster than what Daryl quoted and even less if possible...
 
You may get close to it with a 150 and that long a barrel out of an '06 off the top of my head...
 
You gonna lug that long thing around the hills?

Quote from: rockinbbar;62725What caliber is your rifle?
 
Usually, it's good advice to go with a heavy bullet, but if you are getting bad groups with the heavy ones, then I'd rather have you place your shot accurately with a lighter bullet.

 
Like you have room to talk....
 
You going to be around the house come late October /early November as I'll probably be up in your necko the woods?

My encore doesn't feel to be any longer than any other hunting rifle I've held.  Granted it's a couple inches longer than my 336 30-30, but that's to be expected with anything.  It's 40.5" long so it's about the same as anything else give or take an inch or two.  I could lug that around as well as I could anything else I suppose.

Ahh...It's an Encore, that changes everything as they are shorter than your standard rifle....
 
If you're going cup/core route take a look at the Hornady Interlock, Winchester Power Points, or the Speer Hor Cores as I consider these to be the best cup/core bullets out there...
 
Of course if you go premium then that's a different conversation....

Define "opens up significantly". Elk are real big critters and personally I would prefer a 180gr bullet that shoots 1 1/2 to 2 inch groups over a 150gr that's under an inch. Everyone talks about sub MOA and it's nice if you're rifle will do it but it's not really necessary in a hunting rifle especially for elk sized game. If you are going with the lighter bullet then in my opinion that necessitates a premium bullet like the Partition or TSX. This year I'm taking a 30-06 as a back up with a 165gr Partition at about 2850fps and my friend will be shooting his '06 with the same load.

Greg,

Now, you know I wouldn't use a precise rifle with a light bullet to hunt with.....:D

Give me a call sometime. I'll fill ya in...

What I meant by opens up significantly would be that the ammo I've tried once I get into 180 gr bullets goes from sub moa to 1 1/2" - 2".  I understand that an elk in a pretty huge target, but I know I'm a first timer and if I ever got the chance to go elk hunting I'd feel a lot better knowing I had more accuracy for the sake of 30 more grains of bullet weight.
 
If it gets too questionable it may just be easier to get another barrel for that rifle as well.  It's an easy change on an encore.  If I did spend the money on another barrel I'd want it to be significantly bigger than a 30-06, something like a 338win mag.  But I'm not familiar with what's a good bullet wieght for that caliber either.  From what I've heard they are pretty abusive on recoil too.

Ted, do you know the twist rate of that Encore barrel? If it's  a 1:9 it's made to shoot heavier bullets like 180's. If its a a slower twist (1:10 or 11)it will shoot lighter bullets better, but should still handle 180's.  I tried some Remington core lokt 180's a few years ago in the '06 but like you couldn't get them to group under 2".

What brand of bullets were the 180's you tried? I have tried just about all brands and the Seirra game kings are about the most accuate and they won't empty your pocket book. The Nosler ballistic tips are accurate enough but don't hold up under elk conditions. The same goes for Hornady's SST. Both were impressive on pdogs and rockchucks.

 The Swift ScirrocoII's are well constructed and hold up well but I've had some accuracy issues out of my 300RUM Sendero SFII. Mostly due to varying weights in the same lot. There was a 5 grain spread between bullets. When I switched to Nosler Acuubond my problems went away. The Nosler Accubond is not that expensive for a premium bullet, about $21 for 50, which is less expensive than the Swifts.


I've seen a couple of Encores shoot and have to say they can be pretty accurate. Especially when feed the right bullet and powder combination.
Keep dinging with it and it will  come around.

Wanting to have an elk rifle that will shoot one-hole groups is no crime either.


RJ

My barrel is a 1 in 10 twist to the best of my knowledge and an identical barrel on Midway.com.  I tried the Swift Scirroco's and they weren't too swift.   Using Scirroco's my groups went straight to 1 1/2" to 2" groups immediately.  For my rifle, those bullets are just aweful!  I also had a 300RUM BDL and they didn't group well in either.  About the best I can expect from 180's on up is 1 1/2" groups.  I'm going to keep fooling with it, but I think the 150gr is the sweet spot for my barrel.  
 
Maybe it'll be the excuse I need to get a bigger barrel someday if I ever get to go elk hunting.
 
I'm not an accuracy nutt, because being a great shot doesn't make someone a great hunter, but when it's your first time hunting something, and you're not on your home turf, it's easy to get the jitters and not make the best shot, especially in field shooting positions.  That's why I expect sub MOA accuracy out of any hunting rifle I use.  That's the only way to really know that if I miss a shot, it was all my fault.

If you can get 1 1/2" with a 180gr bullet then take it. I'd happily sacrifice 1/2 an inch for 30 grains of bullet. That's pretty significant.
 
I shoot a 200gr Barnes in my 338 for elk. I don't find the recoil too bad but then my Ruger 77 is a bit heavier than an Encore.