According to Greg, one of the main reasons for using premium bullets is their extremely predictable performance. He used the Barnes 180-grain TSX, which he puts in the super-premium category, to drop this heavy-bodied bull elk.

A blizzard had driven the elk down off the mountains to the ranch lands around Craig, Colorado. Finding a shooter bull among the thousands of elk seeking refuge on the high plains ranch we were hunting wasn't difficult, but getting within shooting range of a wall-hanger was.

We'd been dogging a herd of some 80 animals up and down the hills for the better part of the morning. We got as close as 50 yards several times, but I never got a clear shot. They were headed towards more open country, and they weren't spooked, so we took cover on a brushy hillside and watched. Shortly, they strung out and began to feed on the opposite face. Travis, my guide, spotted a nice 5x6 working its way towards an opening and talked me on to it. "Do you see him, Greg?" he asked.

I found the bull, settled my Browning A-Bolt onto the shooting sticks, and tracked the 5x6 through my scope. Travis called the range at 390 yards, so I held the 400-yard bar of the Swarovski's TDS reticle on the bull's shoulder and followed its progress. When it stepped into the opening, Travis cow called. The bull stopped and looked up for just a second, but it was long enough. I heard the solid smack of the bullet striking bone and saw the wapiti wobble for a second then stumble two or three steps before it collapsed in a cloud of snow.

As we walked across the draw to tag my bull, Travis admitted that he wasn't pleased when he found out I'd brought a plain old .270 Winchester. According to him, previous .270-toting hunters had not done so well on their bulls. But when we discussed those incidents, Travis conceded that their shot placement was lacking, and perhaps most importantly, none used premium bullets. That's too bad because as Travis saw firsthand, the .270 Win. is a very capable elk round when stoked with a premium, controlled-expansion bullet.

Double-diameter expansion, bone-crushing penetration, and 93- to 97-percent weight retention are why so many hunters swear by tough, premium bullets such as the Federal Trophy Bonded Bear Claw and the all-copper Barnes TSX.

Why You Should Go Premium
Not all premium bullets are designed to deliver deep penetration and controlled expansion. In fact, premium bullets are designed to fill a number of roles.

Hornady's A-Max and Sierra's MatchKing, for example, were designed to punch tiny groups in paper at long range, while fast-expanding bullets, like Nosler's Ballistic Tip and Hornady's SST, deliver explosive expansion on varmints and deer-sized game. For bigger, tougher game, such as elk, moose, and eland, stouter designs like the Barnes TSX or Nosler Partition are designed to bust brawny shoulders and drive deep on even the steepest quartering shots.

Whether we're talking about target bullets or hunting bullets, "premium" denotes predictability. Regardless of type, premium bullets can be expected to deliver a certain amount of expansion and penetration within a given velocity range the overwhelming majority of the time. That predictability is why so many hunters are willing to pay a little extra to go the premium bullet route.

Bullets For Deer
First of all, you don't need premium bullets for deer. Hornady's Spirepoint, Remington's Core-Lokt, Winchester's Power-Point, and Federal's Power-Shok bullets have been dropping deer quite handily for a long time and will continue to do so for as long as those fine folks will crank them out. That being said, premium designs, such as Nosler's Ballistic Tip and Hornady's SST, tend to be darn accurate and absolutely devastating on deer- and pronghorn-sized game. Some hunters complain about excessive meat damage, but a recovered deer yields way more meat than one that's wounded and lost.