I know this much: A good 180 gr. bullet out of a .300 Win. Mag., properly directed, isn't exactly going to bounce off of an eland, no matter how big that animal might be, and no matter how imaginatively anyone would care to paint the landscape concerning this topic. Nor do I think that 200 gr bullets are necessary in order to get all the penetration you'll need for plainsgame out of the .300 Winchester.
The first eland I took with a .300 Win. Mag. was a huge and ancient Patterson's in Tanzania. I shot him just behind the left shoulder at about 275 yards with a 180 gr. Winchester Fail-Safe bullet at an MV of 3050 fps. At the shot, this bull stumbled and went about fifty yards, then dropped for the count. The bullet was lodged just under the hide behind the right shoulder.
The last cape eland I took with a .300 Winchester was in Namibia. This was another huge and ancient bull that we bumped into at about 100 yds. very early one chilly morning. But before he could collect himself and run off, I shot him (once again) just behind the left shoulder with a 180 gr. Nosler Protected Point Partition with an MV of just under 3100 fps. At the shot, he ran about forty yards and fell over. From the place he stood where he took the bullet to the place he went down, there was a copious and vivid spray of blood. The bullet went clear through, but before it did it made a complete shambles of the lungs.
The eland I've taken with the .375 H&H didn't go down any quicker or any more convincingly than those I've taken with the .300 Winchester, and I simply can't spell it out any more honestly than that. If you require an airplane spin, topped off by a bodyslam-like, high-drama kill, you won't get it with the .300, but if you want solid, workmanlike performance, you'll get all you need on eland (or any other plainsgame animal) from the .300, plus a plenty flat enough trajectory when required. Just use a good, premium 180 gr. or, if you insist, 200 gr. bullets.
I started hunting with the .338 Win. Mag. for elk, mule deer, bear and stuff some twenty years ago, and to be honest, I've never seen a dime's worth of difference between it and the .300 Win. Mag., either, in terms of killing power. If you think the .338 is going to tie 'em in a knot and slam 'em down while the .300 is going to somehow bounce off or otherwise fail, you're kidding yourself.
For the fun of it, I'll be taking a .338 loaded with 250 gr. Nosler Partitions to Tanzania next season, but I doubt it'll serve any better than the .300 has for me over the years.
ADay
