Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting .300 Winchester Bullets

I agree with you except for the double lung part high velocity rifle bullet take a huge toll on lung tissue. I have seen way more damage to lung tissue from a 200 grain 45 ACP bullet that impacted at 50 yards plus or minus.

Here is my advice/opinion so take for what it is worth:

I will use the analogy of cooking as akin to harvesting Elk.
There is no doubt a Winchester 300 sporting a 180 grain hunting bullet is plenty of Stove, burner and frying pan to "cook' an elk.

To paraphrase Justin Wilson when he was asked what kind of wine should I cook with? He simply stated "Cook with the wine you like".

So it is most important to shoot what you and your rifle likes! If you are gonna shoot your 300 win Mag a lot to find out what you like.... I would suggest you buy a PAST shoulder pad to cushion the recoil and help prevent flinching!

I never mentioned an azz shot. But then again if you don't have the round and bullet that can make it from the flank, out a front shoulder, IMHO you have to be really picky about shots, or pass shots.

Passing is often the best choice if you aren't prepared.

But even in my mind, if you try a correct shot and bugger it a bit, for whatever reason, animal moves you misplace the shot, and as far as I can tell we've all BTDT, then if the next shot you get, is up the azz or none at all... I can tell you what I'm going to do, and I can tell you the outcome. And the outcome won't stop at the pelvic girdle at all...

I've run SLOW 6mm TSX over 200 yards away into the chest of a couple of 140ish pound deer and have them exit the hams. Gives me the confidence that in case of a bad situtaion, I've enough "horsepower"

I have seen the result of a 45 acp on deer, but I have seen what a 32 special does to deer. It does much more damage than this 100gr Barnes TSX did, hence my disappointment.
You can call me a liar all you want, but I swear on the bible that deer was double lunged.

I have never had to shoot an animal in the ass. Never.
If you place your bullet properly and use one that kills quickly, pumping shots into the south end of a north bound animal isn't required.
Funny you mention 6mm's. My dad owned a game ranch when I was in high school. We had a 100 head heard of Fallow deer get liver flukes that required them to be culled. I shot almost the entire lot with a 243 and a 25-06 using cheap cup and cores in 243 and a mix of 100gr bt and cheap cup and cores in the 25-06. Never had a one run off any distance and most dropped on the spot. Quartering shots included as at the end the last bunch got quit smart and there was no time to fart around lining up a shot. I also shot quite a few Russian boar's with the same cheap bullets out of the 243. I wasnt aware of bullet types back then and just shot what my dad and I loaded.

One vote for a 210 VLD.

The poster I was responding to apparently doesn't handload and has been shooting the Federal blue box 180's "a year or two" with groups "usually well under an inch". With Federal Partitions he was getting "around 2" groups". Not a lot of difference but perhaps enough to change the outcome at extended ranges. I've always agreed that standard bullets will suffice the majority of the time and have stated on multiple occasions that premium bullets become less important as bullet weight increases or velocity decreases and that the most important factor is placement. The Federal blue box (Power-Shok) 180g ammo, which I consider fairly heavy, is listed at 2700fps - not exactly a speed demon. It is heavy enough and slow enough I wouldn't worry much about the bullets coming apart at normal ranges. If the poster does his job the 180g blue box ammo will likely work quite well.

For myself, I'll continue to use the premiums. This year I'll be taking the Ruger American .30-06 Dad gave me last year. What it will get loaded with is still to be determined. I had thought about using the 165g Federal Premium Sierra GameKings because he gave me 4 boxes with the rifle. After shooting one into water jugs last weekend, they are no longer in consideration. Dad also gave me a single box of Federal Premium 165g Trophy Bonded Tip loads and while they are a definite possibility, I don't intend to purchase any more so practice opportunities with them will be very limited - the primary reason I was considering the GameKings. Because the Ruger American is short throated I can't use my normal .30-06 loads. Instead I have three development loads sitting on the shelf, ready to take to the range. They consist of 150g Ballistic Tip, 168g TTSX and 180g Ballistic Tip. If the Ballistic Tip bullets work they will get replaced with AccuBonds far enough in advance of the hunt to get some range time in with them and verify they shoot the same as the Ballistic Tips (which has been my experience so far).

Also, deer are primarily targets of opportunity, to be taken when doing so doesn't interfere with my elk hunting or helping others in my party get their elk. As a result I use the same loads for both species and have found that my elk loads work very well on deer. I see no reason whatsoever to have two separate loads. Nor do I see any downside to using the premiums on deer. A few years back I drove a 140g North Fork SS from the right ham of a buck through to the sternum, where it was recovered. A standard cup-and core bullet might have made it that far but I wouldn't count in it. No deer or elk has stopped a Barnes MRX/TTSX for anyone in my party, regardless of range, and no premium bullet we've used has flown to flinders as I've seen cup-and-core bullets do.

The last time I hunted and killed game with a standard cup-and-core bullet in a bolt gun was also my first. For the next 20 years my choice was Speer Grand Slams, which performed very well in every case. These days I use mostly North Fork, Barnes MRX/TTSX, Nosler AccuBond, and, in one rifle, Swift Scirocco II. The only cup-and-core bullets I've hunted with since the early 80's are in my handguns and lever-guns, where cup-and-core construction works just fine. Even some of the levers get premiums (Partition RN in the .30-30 and North Fork in the .45-70).

Changed my tune? I don't think so.