I'd ask someone like
@michael458 about the Raptors. On paper they sounds pretty good, if they shoot well in your rifle.
Of course I would use the 200 Flat Base Raptor. "Michael, that is insane, 200 gr bullet in .366 caliber, it does not weigh enough for eland"
Yep, 20 years ago that would probably be true, no sane individual would consider such a thing, but 20 years ago we did not have the Bullet Tech we have today with Generation 1 Copper and Generation II brass CNC machined bullets. 20 years ago, no one could have imagined such a thing.
Gen 1 and Gen 2 bullets behave and work differently than Conventional Expanding Bullets. They introduce trauma differently.
1. Gen 1 Copper ........... Most Copper bullets such as Hammer and Lehigh petals/blades start to shed after 2-3 inches of penetration, these petals/blades remain close to and inside the wound channel which causes extra tissue damage and trauma transfer. They do not radiate too far from center and shed all along the wound channel. The remaining full caliber slug/bullet continues to penetrate, and penetrate far deeper than most any conventional expanding bullet is capable of.
2. Gen II Brass Raptors........... Behave differently than the Gen 1 Bullets. Once inside tissue or aqueous medium 1.5-2 inches, all the blades shear at the same time. These are blades, not petals, they slice and dice their way through tissue. For the first 3-5 inches of penetration after shear, the blades are working close with the remaining center bullet, which is by now a broken beer bottle wadcutter solid, these blades slice and dice tissue as it expands away from center, this tissue remains a massive wound cavity, does not collapse back on itself after the main bullet passes. After this point the blades radiate away from center and the remaining slug as it continues to penetrate. Blades then become secondary projectiles inside the body cavity slice and dice organs, blood vessels and anything else they come in contact with, the remaining slug continues to penetrate the same as the Gen 1 bullets. Massive trauma and tissue damage is inflicted. Major blood loss from the blades as vessels and organs are sliced. Raptors are the most devastating bullet I have ever witnessed in any caliber, and I have used many different bullets in the field. Raptor's also penetrate deeper than any conventional bullet within the caliber, even at 200 gr compared to 286 caliber conventionals in .366.
I developed a 9.3 B&M, which is a 2.240 inch RUM case. My only medium B&M. It was also the last to go to the field in my personal lineup. I am not much on small bores. Regardless I took it on a shooting mission in South Africa for its first outing. At this time I was using the 210 gr ESP Raptor/Solid, "Enhanced System Projectile", it could be loaded as a Raptor, or a Solid. I used only Raptors on this mission. I did not shoot eland, as it just never came about. I shot over 20 different animals from impala to zebra, the 210 Raptor was effective in the extreme on these animals in comparison to what I had seen in past years with other mediums such as 358 STA and 338 Winchester. Which I have taken eland with both of those and conventional bullets.
Here is how it went, any animals under 250 lbs were all DRT on the spot with the 210 Raptors at 2900 fps. Wildebeest and oryx size animals 50% hit the dirt DRT and the other 50% ran for 20-30 yards and expired. Zebra, well they are tough as hell as anyone knows that have taken them. No zebra were DRT, they all ran and all expired on the run with massive blood loss and tissue damage. One ran as far as a 100 yards and expired.
I can't show you a recovered bullet, because all of them exited from any angle I fired. Even the zebra, and zebra are not small animals. No recovered bases, all exited.
In the test work before hand, the terminal tests, the 210 ESP Raptor penetrated substantially deeper than any conventional bullet tested here.
Not on the tab for the bullet, but I looked it up the 250 Barnes TSX went to 17 inches
Even at extremely REDUCED velocity penetration was deeper than conventionals
After the South African shoot, we were in Australia for a family buffalo cull with our friend Paul Trucolo. The 9..3 had performed so good on plains game, I thought to give it a go on buffalo with several different bullets, and yes, including the 210 ESP Raptor. I shot around 10 or so buffalo with the 9.3, and buffalo reacted like they were being bitten by flies! Not very impressive at all. But it was not the fault of the bullets, they all performed as good as possible and did the job. But at 9.3 or .366 caliber, it was just not noticeable by buffalo........... not enough caliber to impress. I put it away as I was having to shoot the damn things several times to get a reaction..... and finally put them in the dirt. Waste of time on buffalo, oh you can kill them, but it just takes a lot to do so. What I can say here as well, there were NO 210 Raptor Bases Recovered, all of them exited.
I did not care for the 210 ESP all that much and never really used the solid part of the bullet. And I had a sneaky feeling that they were not as stable as I wanted, ESPs are strange bullets, they don't always adhere to standard stability rules. I had Dan at CEB design a 200 gr Flat Base bullet and it was magic. Today that is all I use in the 9.3 B&M is the 200 Flat Base.
So, I never shot eland with 200 Flat Base Raptor, but from the experience with the 210 ESP with plains game and even buffalo, I would tend to believe it would do just fine for eland.
But that is up to you, I know what I would do.
I took both these zebra at the same time with the 9.3 B&M. My Daughter and myself.
