Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Good bullets for the .308 and .300 Win Mag for hunting

What are your go to hunting bullets for your .308 and .300 win mag rifles? Also do you only use one universal bullet for the .308 and 300 win mag for hunting all of you medium and big game?

Right now in my 300 Winchester I'm shooting the 178gr Hornady ELD-X. Haven't taken a animal with them yet but they sure shoot good. Imagine it would work well in a 308.

Accubonds... I love ‘ em for bigger game and they work fine on deer... Never owned a 308 except to take off the barrel to make something else.. But one of my good friends has 308’s for his kids.. His youngest daughter 12 years old just killed a 340 bull elk with a .308 and 125 gr Accubonds.. Walking away, she hit it behind the shoulder and but bullet EXITED THE OFF SHOULDER.. I would have to get the range again, but it was several hundred yards for sure as it was in prairie country.. Made us both believers in the Accubonds,I already liked it, and we were impressed with the little .308..

165 accubonds for the 308. 180 nosler e-tips in the win mag.

I was looking for 180 Accubonds for my 300. Up here it is hit or miss. Availability for bullets is terrible.. Especially Nosler and Barnes products .If it wasn't for 340boy sending brass and bullets from Idaho I wouldn't have the 338 Accubonds I'm using now.

Barnes: 130s in my 308, 165s in my 300 - it's what my rifles like! Does great on deer, more than needed for penetration but dead is dead. For deer, what ever your rifle likes is fine - no need for a premium bullet

165 Partition for the 308, 180/200 Partition for the 300. Or just go with either a 165 or 180 in both. My 308 is packing 180 gr Horn this year - its going as elk back-up this . About 350 and under, the 308 will be fine. year.

150 Ballistic tips in both for deer and pigs.

I probably wouldn't use the same bullet in both cartridges, but if I did, then I'd start with the 180-grain Nosler Partition. If the 308 didn't shoot the 180P well, then I'd probably use cup-and-core 150's for deer and 150 TTSX's for elk. I'd use premium 180's in the 300 WM.


Okie John

165gr Partitions in the 308 and 200gr Partitions in the 300wm. Of course for me, elk is always a possibility!

I'm really liking the Hornady ELD-X bullets. I'm shooting 178's in my 308 with excellent accuracy and had great accuracy with 200's in my 300 WSM before selling it. This isn't a tough bullet like the Partition or any bonded bullet, but based on what I'm seeing from others they hold up as well as any other standard cup and core bullet. I wouldn't want to use a light for caliber bullet with that construction with high impact speeds. But 178 is as light as they come.

150 gr Accubonds and 165 Sierra Game King in the 308. For the 300, 180 gr Sierra Game King.

I've only taken a couple of deer with the 308. The 300 on the other hand, has taken a number of whitetail, a handful of Mule Deer and several (4 or 5) elk.

Interesting to follow. I picked up a lightweight .308 in the off season and may take it out for deer for the first time this year. Did the initial sight-in with Federal Match shooting 168 gr MK bullets which are great paper bullets but not for hunting. Trying to decide what to buy for actual hunting ammo and what weight bullet. I have a .30-06 and usually only use 180 gr slugs. Also have used .280 Remington with 150’s and 7mm-08 with 140s

I use a 150gr accubond in my 308. I dont own a 300 mag anymore, but for ten years it was my primary rifle and I used 180 partitions.

For a non premium bullet the 30 caliber 168 and 180gr Ballistic Tip can't be beat IMO and IME. As far as premiums take your pick. Barnes TTSX/LRX. NOSLER Etip, partition and accubond, swift aframe, etc are all good.

The thing that helped persuade me towards the 178gr ELD-X was they come with the Interlock ring.

In the 308 I had a Browning BLR that was my "Cowboy" brush gun. I loaded 150 & 180 grain 30-30 bullets from Hornaday and Sierra. Worked great on small whitetail I called it my 30-30 super. We also used some assorted 125 grain bullets for longer ranges and these were explosive. This was before the beefed up Nosler BT.

In the 300 all I have ever used are 180's mostly Barnes. If it's not broke why fix it? Open fine on small deer and made to order for Elk size game.

Almost any bullet between 125 and 200 grains will perform well in the 308 as they were designed for the 08 and 06 and the mild velocities are kinder on the bullet and get the best from it. For larger game or an expensive hunt I like the added mojo of a premium and double this for the 300. A psychological advantage is a good thing and the premiums do perform.

If just starting load development I would pair a Nosler Accubond and BT using the 125-165 in the 308 and 165-200 in the 300 depending on application and which ones came in the same weight. Usually the two will shoot to the same POI sometimes with no load juggling at all.

165 accubonds

I don't own a 308 (except an M1-A) but several 06's that's close enough to a 308. In it I hunt with 180gr Spire Points and in the 300s, 180 TTSXs, but I have used Partitions in both eith excellent, albeit less accurate results.

I've used the .308 with 150 corlokts and 165 Speer BTs (whitetails and axis deer). I used the 180 NBT(one doe antelope) and 180 XBT ( this was late '90s) in the 300 winmag) on a wad of Plains Game on 2 hunts along with other rifles. Also used the old Federal Blue Box 150 Sierra Pro Hunter factory load on Hill Country deer. They acted just like partitions! My hunting buddy up here has used his Browning BLR .308 since high school (crowding 50yrs now) with 150gr Corlokts on mule deer/elk and one cow Bison! Rolls them over like jackrabbits! ha.