Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 165 Grain Bullet for Elk

I killed my cow last year with a 150 NBT from a 308. 150ish yards and it was a mature cow. The bullet smashed though the onside shoulder and the jacket was under the hide behind the opposite shoulder. Couldn't find the core, but the jacket penetrated the meat between the ribs.

The cow stumbled 30 yards or so and dropped....

The 165's you mention in the '06 should be just fine..

Game Recommendations:

Hogs, Antelope, Deer

What is the difference between the Ballistic Tip� and the AccuBond�?

Externally, they look the same except for the tip colors, Ballistic Tip� bullets are color-coded by caliber while all AccuBond� bullets have white tips. Internally the Ballistic Tip� is not bonded and is designed for controlled expansion on medium game with approximately 50-60% weight retention. Conversely, the lead alloy core of the AccuBond� is bonded to the jacket. This bonding increases weight retention (65-70%) and slows expansion resulting in deeper penetration and enhanced bone-breaking potential in larger animals.

That's called coming apart and is to be avoided. You got lucky. NBT's are designed for deer sized game. AB's & PT's are designed for elk sized stuff but I've had 180 gr. AB's come apart the same way. The PT is much stronger than either.

It's far from bullet failure when an animal dies within 30 yards. Considering the bullet smashed through the onside shoulder and was caught under the hide on the opposite side (after exiting the meat), I wouldn't hesitate to use it again at 308 velocities. The insides were Jello....

Call it coming apart or bullet failure if you want, but the results were devastating. When going on an elk hunt again, I'll probably use stouter bullet. Not because I was unhappy with the performance with the 150NBT, but I just like to experiment. I'm betting she'd have traveled farther after the shot had I been using a TSX...

Two days later I stood beside the guy in the picture below and watched him shoot a bull at about 300 yards....with a 25-06 and 117 grain Hornady soft points.

Do think a 165 grain Nosler Partition or Accubond out of a 30-06 is fine for elk? I'd like a single load for my 30-06 that can be used on anything from deer to elk and I think a 165 grain bullet would be a good weight for a wide range of game. And do you think a 165 grain Nosler Partition or Accubond would penetrate through an elk's shoulder?

Do your part and the elk will die.

My experience with a .30-06 on elk is limited to three cows. Two dropped straight down after being hit with a 165g North Fork SS. The first, at about 125 yards, disappeared in the tall sage and we had to circle around a deep gulley to get to her. She struggled back to her feet as I approached but didn�t move and I finished her from about 10 feet. The other, shot at about 25 yards, got back up immediately, although with difficulty, and I dropped her with a second shot. She slid to the bottom of a steep slope. The third was with a 150g AccuBond, range 262 yards. That one dropped straight down and stayed there.

More elk have gone straight down to my 7mm RM and a 160g Grand Slam than any other combo, but I�ve also used it more times than all my other rifles combined. None were lost and none went far � the exception being two cows that made it about 40 yards. Most of those Grand Slams exited and it wasn�t until my last elk with that combo (after 20+ years of using it) that I recovered one. That bullet had destroyed both shoulder joints of a 5x5 bull and stopped under the hide on the off side. My 7mm RM loads back then were not particularly fast and the sectional density of the 160g/7mm bullets is slightly lower than a 165g/.308� bullet. In other words, in terms of velocity, diameter and weight the loads were similar to what you are contemplating and they worked very well.

This year I�ll be using a .30-06 again, most likely with factory WW 180g Power Point ammo. My backup rifle will most likely be a .30-06 with 150g AccuBond handloads. My confidence level in both is high, provided I do my part but I will apply my long held belief in shooting them until they are down and stay that way. (Given good shooting I don�t recall ever needing more than 2 shots to put one on the ground. There was a cow I shot with a .338/225g AB that took three, but placement of the first was horrible, above the spine. The second would have done the job, a third just speeded things up a bit.)

Provided you shoot them well, either a 165g AB or Partition should work just fine. Some elk go down faster than others, even if mortally wounded, so always be ready for a follow-up shot.

CH, I'll be looking for a report on how well those 180gr. WW powerpoints do for you. I've been burning up a lot of them for the past year now. I'll also be using those on my buck this year. Good ol 30-06 running them at 2730 fps should work out nicely. Good luck with your hunting..

Do think a 165 grain Nosler Partition or Accubond out of a 30-06 is fine for elk?