Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Monolithics - easing into 308 bullets

DF, I've just seen FAR too many monolithics fail over the years, including a TTSX from the 308 Win. IMO, they require really high velocity, and for me, enough BC to open at 550+ yards.

I doubt there's any monolithic I could run in the 308 which I'd use on a bull elk at 550 yards, but there are a veritable truck load of copper/lead bullets that I would be more than comfortable with.

That's one I plan on trying in my 270.

I got some 160's for my 7RM, may try RL-26. They do look good and have good reports so far.

Midway seems to be out of them. Must be a lot of demand.

DF

The Trophy Bonded Tip bullets seem to have more availability, like every other bullet, after the new year. Thinking maybe due to an ease up in production demand for loaded ammunition for hunting season. I’m going to pick up some 7mm 160’s for my 280AI as soon as availability is back. Hoping they come out with a 6.5 soon.

bwinters-

We've been using MRX, TTSX and now LRX since they came out - elk, deer and antelope. The results have been impressive, with no lost game and right around half the animals dropping straight down at the shot. None of the others have gone more than a few steps. No bullets recovered. Did not care for the old X bullets due to inconsistent results on coyotes, never used them or TSX on big game.

Daughter #1 uses the 130g TTSX at 3045fps in her .308. No elk or deer with it yet but it has been a hammer on antelope with the longest shot over 300 something over yards. She killed her mulie this year with her hubby's .300WSM and a Barnes 165g TTSX VOR-TX load - 192 lasered and down like a rock.

I've taken 5 mulies with 168g TTSX, 175g LRX and 180g MRX and all went straight down. Two went through lengthwise at close to 400 yards, with exits.

We use other bullets but 3 in my group use the TTSX exclusively. .257 Roberts, .308 Win .30-06, .300 WSM, .300 WM. All good.

130g or 150g for your .308, I don't think you'll have any complaints.

Tag

That's the rub for me. Although I did harvest a Cow Elk with no bones broken or hit, she wobbled about 35 yards a the shot & fell over. The 140 TTSX traversed the entire body from bow to stern. I am still on the fence on whether it's a good do-all choice.

At least they stated, "With few exceptions, park staff used rifles chambered in 308 Winchester firing 150/165 grain Barnes TSX bullets."

More good press for the 308 !!

I'm a believer but not very firm.

TIp of the hat to a fellow 7mm Weatherby whacker.

Many years ago a half dozen or so elk fell to 180 grain Sierra bullets from my .30-06, and an equal number of deer and antelope fell to 150 grain Sierra bullets from my .308 Win.

Also 4 bighorn rams, a Dall ram, a mountain caribou, a dozen or so mule deer, whitetail deer, pronghorn antelope, and my 2nd largest 6x6 bull elk each fell from a 117 grain Sierra bullet from my .257 Ackley. I have no problems what-so-ever with Sierra bullets.

The only mono bullets that I've tried are 168 and 180 grain Barnes TSX and TTSX bullets in my .300 Weatherby, and 270 and 300 grain TSX bullets in my .375 RUM. All have worked superbly on many of my hunts worldwide.

As has been also mentioned, mono bullets work better with higher velocity, and because monos don't shed a large portion of their weight like cup and cores do, so you can go down a weight from your normal cup and core bullets. I would wouldn't be afraid to use 130 grain TSX/TTSX bullets on deer/antelope or 150 grain TSX/TTSX bullets on elk with my .308 Win.

Agreed.

That's true, the park staff (Team Leaders) did use 308's for the most part, however there were several hundred volunteers during the culling years and the only constant was that the rifles had to use non-lead projectiles and they had to be a bore diameter of .257 or larger.

I've stated before that for the week I was able to be a volunteer elk-culler, my team leader was the person that was in charge of implementing, coordinating, and administering the TRNP elk-reduction effort. We were in on the very last week of culling at the end of the 1st yr. At that point they hadn't crunched any data yet, but, by a wide margin his favorite and the overwhelming favorite of the rest of the team leaders was for their volunteers to be shooting a 300Win mag. That's purely anecdotal just based upon their observations. That same bunch of team leaders hated everything .25 cal and really didn't like the 7-08 either as they'd had a few 7-08 induced wounded critter rodeos.

A person can go on and on about placement vs. head stamp vs. bullet construction, etc, etc, etc. However, at some point the 5-6 team leaders watching 3-4 different people every week kill dozens of elk for 4-mo has to start meaning something or at least raise an eyebrow, especially if you can get them to any manner of a consensus.

A 300 win mag or its twin the 300 wsm are never a bad choice.

I'm with Jordan on this one. The 130 ttsx or tsx turns the 308 into a 270. Look at the 300 yard ballistics its just fantastic IMO. IME after harvesting about 2 dozen game animals with the ttsx or tsx in 3 different calibers all but 2 or 3 did not require any tracking at all. I harvested an approx 180 pound whitetail this fall with the 308 130 tsx impact velocity an estimated 2,900 fps broke both shoulders and no bullet recovered. I've only recovered 1 160 grain ttsx in 338 federal expanded like the pictures after basically drilling a 2" hole through 30" of whitetail.

For my type of hunting they just plain work I don't hunt across canyons but out to 400 shoot em in the chest and see what happens. An added bonus is they have damaged a great deal less flesh on any of the animals I have harvested with them than any c&c bullet I've tried.

Good luck and shoot straight all.

https://hammerbullets.com/shop/ These. mtmuley