One must realize, that Elmer grew up in a time where there were no 'premium' bullets. The Nosler Partition of his time, was unreliable, made on the screw-machines. Some worked perfectly, but likely as often, if the impact vel. was too low, they'd just pencil through.
The cup and core bullets of his day in the smaller calibres were not very reliable penetrators. He liked an exit wound.
His greatest rival, Jack O'Connor, liked the 130gr. Silvertip .270's, but then his average on Canadian moose in B.C. was 3.8 per moose killed. Ridiculous and too soft a bullet for those, but then, maybe he was just a lousy shot?
My buddy's wife does well on deer, moose and elk with her .243, she's a hell of a good shot. Her Kudu was close, at about 100yards - .270 with 130 TTSX - DRT.