Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting looking for good .308 bullet for elk

pretty accurate description of most threads on this forum.

especially those well outside hunting season.... when we really have nothing better to do than argue.

rugerdiggs,

I can't think of a good-quality .308 caliber bullet that won't work. Nothing living is long for the world sans its heart and/or lungs. What destroys it/them is immaterial. That it/they are destroyed is. Put a bullet where it needs to be and get ready for a whole lot of messy work.

I am assuming you haven't hunted the Rockies, and you're hoping to hunt elk in the Rockies. There are some essential factors you ought to consider. Being in great shape where you live might not be good shape at 10,000'.

Where air is thin an breathing labored, you will know every ounce you're carrying.

Shooting at walking big game that's 200 yards away at 10,000' is infinitely more difficult than hitting a target 500 yards from a bench rest.

Time of year will probably be the variable that determines shot distance. You might want to try for a rut hunt.

My advice: take your lightest rifle that you feel confident using.

No big game animal is going to know whether it gave up its ghost to a .308 Win or a .300 RUM. But you'll know because of the weight you'll be carrying.

I will use my 40 year old Model 700 in .270 Win this year on a Rocky Mountain elk hunt in a hard-to-draw area. I have a 7MM Rem Mag, which, when the cartridge was introduced, was the definitive long range elk cartridge, but my rifle that fires it is a lot heavier.

Keep in mind that long before elk and other big game animals became much more difficult to kill, our North American hunting forefathers were knocking the heck outta deer, elk, moose, and everything else with surplus rifles chambered for 7x57, '06, .303 British, and 8x57, along with .30-30 Win, a cartridge that just will no longer kill any big game animals ;-)

Best of luck to you.

Yes if you can find them. Took me 3 months to find 2 boxes of 100.

Get yourself some 168 grain Barnes TTSX and you'll be set.

150 ABs will do it.

A single .30-06/150g AB combo worked on this one, at 262 yards. Although the shot felt good I thought I had missed because when I recovered from the recoil I saw an elk walking away. Thought about shooting it a second time, then thought better of it and went looking. Found my elk on the ground where it had been standing.

Glad I didn't take a second shot to put down what I thought was a possibly/probably wounded elk...

I hope to be hunting south of Carbondale CO, looks elevation goes from 7500ish to 10,000+ in a hurry in places. May have found some 200gr accubonds, if I do I will see what kind of accuracy I can ring out of them with my 30-06 and 300wm. My 30-06 is the twin to "Coyote Hunter" mine is wearing a burris, his may be also. Its a fairly light rig and has harvested many whitetail. I have a 300wm in the same gun and in a sendero, will see how they like them also. The sendero I have are not mountain gun material but if we are on horseback maybe. Thanks for all the input.

rugerdiggs -

It sounds like we have matching sets of twins with the .300WM and .30-06.

Left to right:
.338WM, Burris Fullfield II 3-9x w/ Ballistic Plex reticle
.300WM, Burris Fullfield II 3-9x w/ Ballistic Plex reticle
.30-06, Burris Fullfield II 4.5-14x w/ Ballistic Plex reticle



The blued .300WM is a factory configuration. Apparently no one wanted it and I got it NIB on closeout at Sportsmans Warehouse in 2003 - I couldn't pass up on the $375 price. The stainless .30-06 was made in 2001 and I got it in 2010. It was gently used and came in a laminate stock, which I replaced (but kept). That one cost me $480. (My wife liked the stainless/laminate look and twisted my arm. ) The .338WM started out as a naked action manufactured in 1994 that I purchased in 2009 or 2010. It received a barrel Cariboujack wasn't using and a new boat-paddle stock purchased from gunpartscorp.com. Between the three rifles they've taken 5 elk in 5 hunting trips.

In 2010 I took the .300WM and .30-06 to the range for a final scope check. After a couple shots each at 100 yards I went to the long range where I proceeded to kill 5 clay pigeons at 600 yards with 2 shots from one and 3 shots with the other. (After which I quit while I was ahead.) The elk in my post above was from a few days later.

If only they were more accurate...

Bullets used for the elk were:

.338WM, 225g Nosler AccuBond (2 elk)
.300WM, 180g North Fork SS and 180g Barnes MRX (2 elk)
.30-06, 150g Nosler AccuBond (1 elk)

Prior to the shot I was a little leery of using the 150g AccuBond. Needlessly so - it was a bang-thud.

Good luck on your hunt.

Ok, I will ask.

Why the 150AB? Why the 150 over the 165 or 180? Higher muzzle velocity over weight and sectional density?

I get the 180 lower muzzle velocity but is the 150 that much better than the 165? Serious question.

Nice looking guns, I almost had a 338wm in the skeleton stock but I let it get away. But I have them in 22mag, 223, 22-250, 260, 7mag, 308, 30-06, and 300wm. Nearly all of them are wearing burris scopes as well.

I think the 165gr bullets are what kinda put the 308 on the big game map. A little more lead than the 150's and a little more velocity than the 180's. Really good match of bullet and cartridge. powdr

That was always my thinking too. A smartly loaded 165 partition has accounted for a lot of meat on my family's table.

I have seen a few recommendations in different threads for the 150AB as a great all around 308 bullet to include elk hunting even from respected men like Mule Deer. Got me thinking what I was missing. I could see the 150AB as perfectly adequate for cow elk but does the recommendation stand for a big bull?

I hear the follow up to come.. "That its all about shot placement!"
Well I am a well-practiced ethical hunter not a sniper. So what makes the 150AB better suited for the 308 over the 165 or 180 if conventional wisdom guides one to start at 165+?

A perfectly reasonable question and the answer is "None of the above".

Instead it was a matter of chamber dimensions and the need for easy visual identification of the ammo. The stainless MKII boat-paddle .30-06 was my 3rd .30-06. An older M77 and a Rem M700 were already in the safe. They both had long throats and I had developed long COL 165g North Fork and 168g Barnes TTSX ammo that could be used in either. Along comes the stainless MKII. It had a shorter throat and wouldn't accept the loads I was using in the other .30-06 rifles.

I developed a shorter COL 150g Ballistic Tip load and switched to AccuBonds shortly before for an upcoming antelope hunt where two nephews would be using the rifle. Those loads worked well and the rifle and load went along on an elk hunt a month later with the boat-paddle .300WM as my deer back-up/deer rifle. The .30-06 was lighter and it ended up being my primary rifle instead of my back-up. The elk shown in my post above was the result.

Both the BT and AB loads were visually very different than my NF and Barnes loads, which was important to me. They worked in all three .30-06s but were the only loads I could use in the stainless boat-paddle. Following elk season I had the throat reamed on the stainless and can now safely use the same loads in all three rifles.





As noted above, it was the differences in chamber dimensions and the need for easy visual identification that lead to the development of my 150g BT practice and AB hunting loads. This year I find myself in a similar situation with my 4th .30-06, a Ruger American Dad gave me last summer. It is also short throated and won't accept my 165g North Fork or 168g Barnes loads.

As a result I am developing custom loads for it. It can use the short COL 150g BT and AB loads I have on the shelf but I'm working up new loads specifically for it that will also work in the other rifles - just as I once did for the Remington M700. In addition I have some 180g Ballistic SilverTip (because standard BTs were not available) loads waiting to be tested. If they work I would switch to 180g AccuBonds and verify ballistics before going hunting. Last night I purchased 100 blemished 180g Partitions from SPS. Once they come I will work up a load for the American using them.

Dad gave me 4 boxes of Federal 165g Sierra GameKing s with the rifle as well as 1 box of Federal 165g Trophy Bonded. The GameKings failed to impress in water jug tests or in the accuracy department and won't be going hunting. One box of Trophy Bonded doesn't allow much practice and -- since I don't plan to buy any more -- they aren't likely candidates, either. At this point I'm really hoping the 180's work well. If they do, the AccuBonds or Partitions will be my choice for elk this year.

Coyote- Thanks for that. I get the needs you had to fill. Seems to provide success. It was not my intention to call you out. Just that two posts in a row advocating the 150AB got me thinking if I could make a better mousetrap.

No offense taken. I tend to be a wordy SOB. A big part of my professional life has been written and verbal communication where I have to analyze options and advocate solutions that cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Guess its in my nature.

IMHO then that's what you should bring.I'd load a 165 NPT to about 2900 fps,and practice a lot out to 400-500 yards. In all likelihood you will kill at half that distance or less but you never know.There are other good 165's that will do as well.

I have seen this combo work on elk a number of times with no drama,and have even handed it to one novice elk hunter who had never killed an animal with a rifle;he polished off a nice bull with a single shot at 300 yards.

Your Ruger will be light to carry and you have confidence in it, which is far more important than other considerations.

Thanks BobinNH

I will do lots of practice, I believe I just found 3 boxes of 180 accubonds. If the deal goes through maybe the 30-06 will shoot them well. I ran a quick drop chart on Gseven and if I can get 2650 at the muzzle and sighted in at 250yds it should give me 3.3" high at 100, 2.6" high at 200, 4.4" low at 300 ( first hash down is 304yds) 2nd hash is 390yds, and 4th is right at 475yds. I have low profile target turrets on one of my burris scopes that is not in use, will put it on there and that way I will also have the capability of dialing my scope also. This is "IF" all goes as planned

Get closer. Use whatever shoots accurately in your rifle. We all have our preferences and go-to bullets but the truth of the matter is you've got to hit the vitals. Any bullet/load that get you on target in the vitals will work.

Good luck, sounds like you have some solid options. 2650 with a 180AB in any 30-06 should be an easy day. Between that and your 300 Win Mag, you'll be in great standing. Once elk get in your blood you'll be back and continuing to refine your rigs.

Nice. Ive killed three with a .308- longest was 225. Favorite bullet right now is the 150 ttsx at 2850. Wouldn't take a shot past 400 though.