Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 308 win with 165 sst suitable for elk?

I have used Hornady Spire point's and then interlock's a whole lot of year in a 308 165gr. Never once a failure or bad proformance of any kind. I use the Hornady interlock 117gr bullet in my 25-06, never a failure or bad proformance. The premium bullet so many use work well but for me in mot case's not needed. i found the two best weight bullet's in my 308 to be the 165 gr and the 180 gr, best accuracy with them. I have tried partition's but never had much luck getting them to shoot well but generally well enough for hunting. The only experience I have with bonded bullet's is with the old Speer hot core bullet's. I'd be shooting them today but the Hornady bullet' out hot them by a bit. In regard to calling a Hot Core a bonded bullet, I have recovered several shot into wet news print to stop them. I never aw a Hot Core shoot loose from the jacket. It was my bullet of choice in an old 7mm Rem Mag. I don't hear a lot about them anymore and don't see them a lot. Vernon sold out and his business took a step backward.

never had an issue with a 7-08 sst or amax on elk
cant see where you would have an issue

My sister has killed elk, one being a real nice 6x6, with an -06 shooting SSTs. They worked well. I don't know if they were 165s or 180s though.

Broadside or neck shots inside 200 yards the SST will probably be fine. Sharp angles, longer rages, or shooting through a shoulder they are a very poor choice and could ruin your hunt. If you don't mind passing up shots because you loaded an inferior bullet stick with th SST.

My favorite is the TTSX but Accubond and other stout bullets are a better choice. I've killed them with NBT but also had one blow up on the ribs and run 600 yards before dying - luckily it was in the snow.

I have had two "failures" using an sst 165. One on elk one on deer. I am not sure if I had hit the elk at 90 yards.(my wife who was standing next to me at time of the shot said I absolutely hit it). I found blood on the whitetail shot....just no deer. How ever I have had good repeatable luck with the ftx bullet but at ranges over 150 yards. I would assume the ftx and sst are very similar. However I no longer buy sst bullets.

This^^^^^

AMG08,

I know nothing of SST bullets. However, were you to use a 165 grain Partition, make sure you have your quartering stuff with you.

Hornady interlock 165 gr is a Elk's worse nightmare. They hold up very good. And they shoot great. All I shoot are the Interlocks from 25-06 to 300 Wby and have never looked back.

Here is what a 150gr Interlock looks like after killing a 325" bull from a.308.

IMO, the SST is the worst mistake Hornady ever made. They may shoot OK, but they are flimsy crap. An elk deserves better. I have never had issues with a standard Interlock, Nosler Partition, or Accubond.

It is your hunt, but an elk deserves better than an explosive piece of crap bullet. If you must use them, go with the 180-grain, as the other may very well fail. I think that they are actually worse than an A-max target bullet on game.

Take some time and money and find a premium bullet that works for you. This year I plan to use a .308 with 165 nosler acubonds.

I shot a cow elk two years ago with a .338 RCM 200g SST Hornaday load at 2950 fps muzzle. The range was 380 yards, according to the ballistic tables at impact it was 2400fps.

The bullet ended up shedding about half its weight with what ended up being a near side shoulder shot. Fortunately there was enough residual weight to continue through the vitals. The remaining bullet base was 95 grains.

The sst bullets are my favorite deer bullet and I use them in a 7 mauser, .280, .300 sav, and .308 with great results, but something stronger is needed for elk.

I've killed a few elk with the 308 Win in a Savage 99 and a couple Kimber Montana. The 99 loves 165 grain Speer Grand Slams. The Montanas like the Hornady 150 grain GMX. Both work well for elk. The Montanas also like the 130 grain TTSX. Not sure I'd try them on elk though.

Bought some 165g SST's yesterday. They will be used to work up practice loads for son-in-law's 30-06. If they work out I'll try to match the load using AccuBond or TTSX.

While I agree wholeheartedly with DonFischer that premiums are not needed in "most cases". It is the other cases I'm concerned about.

Not all "premium" bullets provide the consistent performance I want and the old Barnes X bullets were a prime example of same. Barnes TTSX have been uniformly excellent performers for my group, as have Nosler AccuBond and Partition, Speer Grand Slam and Swift A-Frame.

If using factory ammo I would try to find two loads that shoot about the same, as verified at the range, one a cheap practice load and one using a proven premium for the actual hunt. As a handloader, I find shooting premiums is no more expensive than standard factory ammo and often less. Shooting SST's and other cup-and-core bullets for practice further cuts the costs. Once a premium load is developed the incremental cost of using them on a hunt is vanishingly small when compared to the other costs of the hunt. I've found even development costs can be cut significantly by shooting a string of loads with .5g increments and finding 3-4 consecutive shots that group well. Pick a load in the middle of such a string and retest and quite often you are done. Shooting premiums doesn't have to empty your bank account.


"Plan for the worst and work for the best" is a motto that, if followed, will save you a lot of grief in all facets of your life.

You could also try the Swift Scirocco in 165gr. Outstanding bullets. Can't understand why more guys don't use them.

I'll admit right up front that I've never shot an elk BUT I have loaded the 165 SST in my 06 and killed a couple animals with it and I do load it for a friend's 308 & seen him shoot a couple animals with it.

The hogs I shot w/ early models pushed to 2950-ish from my 06 went down but the bullet was extraordinarily frangible like old ballistic tips. Personally I wouldn't use those on elk myself but I'm sure they'd work if you were cautious about the shot placement.

The newer ones my friend has put through whitetails at speeds a couple hundred fps slower seem harder as they've held together thru double shoulder shots.

Again I haven't ever shot an elk (it's on my to-do list) but when I do it'll sooner be with a 165 Interlock (non-tipped version) than SST.

Good luck w/ yer hunt!!

I have seen multiple elk die from 308s stoked with 165s and 180s. All one shot kills.

Not a fan of SST's, Use the BTSP!

Can't wait to get my 165g SSTs to the range for some water jug testing. If they don't come apart in the first jug or two I'll be more than a little surprised.

I'll be interested to see what you find. The 165 SST's were far and away the most accurate bullets in my previous '06, but I never found anything but fragments in the backstop. Maybe they're tougher than they were 10 years ago. Maybe 100 fps less from a .308 will stress them less. I'll be looking forward to your pics.

FC

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