Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Desert bighorn vs 300 RUM with 180 ballistic tips

Anyone ever pull this combo off? Brother had a cancellation sheep hunt fall in his lap and wants to run his 300 rum sendero which has a pet load with 180 grain ballistic tips. Questioning that bullets performance from any angle on a desert bighorn? That load has only shot deer.

Ask Cpl_Austin, he has a whole thread on the virtues of the 300 RUM...

He has a boatload of experience with the round, but typically uses 180 scirocco or 200 a frames. More questioning the quality of that projectile?

How would a guy get in touch with Cpl Austin?

I used a 200 grain Accubond in my 30-378, my son uses the same bullet in his 300 RUM and the bullets are boringly consistent in mushroom and weight.

I went back to a 300 WBY and a 180 grain BT and shoot the hell out of elk with it. I have no reason to try another bullet, my son feels the same with the Accubond.

I shot my Bighorn with a 30-06 and a 165 grain Hornady spire point, one shot and dead.

I don’t think you would have any trouble killing a sheep with that rifle/bullet combination, and judging from the number of elk we have killed, you shouldn’t worry unless you can’t shoot...

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt.../13591139/re-tame-the-beast#Post13591139

I know a guy who killed 7 Dall rams, not the TX kind, with a 30-378 and 180 Ballistic Tips. I’d say they’ll work.

That 300 Ultra will work just fine on a Desert if he wants to lug it around in the hills of I am assuming Mexico. Deserts aren't very big really. A big one is 200 lbs. Any deer caliber/cartridge combo will work just fine. I've shot a bunch of elk with a 300 Ultra but never a sheep. Shot several sheep with a 300 Roy and finally figured out it was overkill and I didn't need that big a rifle. You should go with him and have some fun no matter what he decides to take along.

I've taken a few critters with the Nosler 180 grain B/T Don't feel short with that bullet in your gun. I have used it in my 300 Win. and my 30-06.

Good luck!

How did his loads work on deer? Like sheephunter posted, sheep are about the same size as deer, so any deer load will work fine on sheep.

I've shot a bunch of critters with Ballistic Tips, but in my 7 mm Rem mag and .257 Ackley. Hit a bone and they make a substantial hole. I've also had complete pass throughs with behind the shoulder shots.

With my .300 Weatherby I like more substantial bullets for hunting, and have only used Barnes TSX and TTSX bullets. I've never had any penetration problems with them, even when hitting large bones in elk.

I’ve killed a few Aoudads with 165’s in a 300 Win mag. Blew through both shoulders. Ballistic tips are tougher than most people realize. The Aoudads weighed 200 lbs or more.

It's probably serious overkill but I'm sure it'll work fine.

Desert sheep are not very big animals, I used a 6.5 Creedmoor (gasp!!!!!!!) on mine and it hammered it.

If that is the rifle and ammunition he's most comfortable with, by all means encourage him to use it.

I shot my 300 RUM out with 180 Ballistic-tips and Accubonds, with such animals as feral donkeys and horses, buffalo, moose and one grizzly. I I also shot a pile of animals with the 180 Ballistic in other spirited 300s, Your brother has nothing to worry about except the weight of that Sendero.

The 180 Ballistic-tip is a lot tougher than people seem to give it credit for. If he needs some reassurance, he can swap the Accubond for the NBT.

300 Wby & a 180 Accubond? Mine pushes them at 3200. What’s not to like?

The 180 BT will work perfectly on sheep. They have worked great for me out of my RUM on deer and elk. Very tough bullet.

Good Lord I can't believe some shiit I see\asked here....

This ^^^^^ I have killed a pile of elk with the 300 ultra shooting 180g NAB’s @ over 3200 fps... It’s never disappointed me with any angle or distance. I will say the 300 RUM is a lot of rifle for a sheep. But, it’ll definitely do the job with BT’s. 😎

I have taken African game up to 650 pounds, two Zebra, one Kudu, one Gemsbok, a Red Stag, Tahr and many many others with my 300WSM with handloaded 180 Nosler Accubonds. These literally shoot to the same point of impact as the 180 ballistic tips. MTG

Hope he has a good heart lugging that sendero up sheep mountains.



Lefty

Update,

Brother shot a desert bighorn with the mentioned combo, as well as 3 javelina and a cous buck. The sheep was broadside at 145 yards. Bullet struck one rib and was stopped inside the sheep. Recovered bullet weighed somewhere around 70 grains, so like 40% weight retention or there about. Buck was killed at 415yds. Not sure on that bullet or on any of the javelina. Bullet is accurate, not real confident on a quartering bull elk after failing to exit a little sheep.

Are we more concerned about what the bullet looked like or if it produced a dead critter? I think it would be reasonable to expect a bullet come-apart with a NBT at close range from a RUM. I wouldn’t think any of the common cup and core bullets, of which the NBT is one, would stay together with high weight retention at that velocity. Shooting sheep, coues deer, ang javelina with a .300 RUM is akin to killing cockroaches with a sledgehammer. Glad he got his game. Dead is dead. Happy Trails

Can we see the critters? I really wanna see the Coues deer.

Surprised he didn't get two holes in the sheep. Congrats to him on a great trip!

I dont know how to post the pics, but can text them or email them to someone that does.

A 10+ lb Sendero in any caliber let alone a 300 RUM isn't my idea of a sheep rifle. To each their own

It'll work just fine...

Agreed....in real life. On the internet.........

My Senderos are heavy. I think I would like a lighter rifle if I was hunting on foot. A 6.5 Creedmoor with a 120 Barnes would take a two hundred pound goat with ease.

Message sent with cell number.

As for the choice of weapon, it is his most consistently accurate rifle. He has a 5# rifles Inc, but is getting re-barreled. He hunts everything with the 300 RUM, and if it tickles him a 338 RUM or Lapua. In africa he carries a Lott. We don't subscribe to the theory of being over gunned. If either of us travel to hunt, we dont want to ever be hampered by a poor angle or by being too far for a cartridge to do its job. So we both use a little larger than average cartridges. The terrain wasn't that difficult, and in reality, a couple of pounds on the rifle isnt nearly as big of deal as the 10 or 20 pounds on most guys waist. My every day rifle weighs about 10# too and i carry that up elk mountains. Likely never be able to hunt sheep financially.

I hear you, Salmo. While I usually don’t tote my .300 Weatherby on a deer only hunt and defer to .257 Roberts or .308 Winchester, I killed my biggest mule deer at very close range with the 300 Roy. I’m with you on “there is no such thing as too much gun”.

I am a sheep hunter and most will lighten and shorten everything they own except for your 10 x , German bins.
The spotting scope and everything else is also weighed and reduced if possible.
Sheep rifles are light , short and compact. Especially if the hunter has got some age on him.
North American sheep are not tough to kill either.
My little old opinion

I have used just about every hunting style bullet there is in the 300 RUMs and in my 30-378's. The 180 BT will do just fine up to and including elk. I have never recovered one.

Here are the pictures:

The only two ways I'd expect a 180 Ballistic Tip to stay inside a 200-pound animal are:

If it's one of the older 180 BT's, with thinner jackets.

If it's one of the "new" 180 BT's with heavy jackets, on a full-length shot, and maybe not even the. (New is in quotes because the heavy-jacket version has been standard for a quite a few years now.)

I've shot Dall sheep with a 300 RUM on a mixed bag hunt. I was using 180 Partitions and they worked just like a Partition should on both the sheep and a bull moose.

I used 180 Accubond on a Stone sheep out of a 300 Weatherby at 350 yards quartering away. Entered behind last rib and came out in front offside shoulder. Perfect performance IMO.

I see so reason why the 180 BT won't do the trick just the same.

Awesome animals!

salmonhead-

Congrats to your brother - that's pretty cool.

Sounds miserable toting that rifle in sheep country. I shot mine with a .270 and 130gr Hornady Interbond. Perfect combo, imo.

Aside from hauling that piano on my back, my concern with that bullet choice would be ruining a cape on a once in a lifetime critter. Hit shoulder with that cannon and you could have a softball sized hole in the hide.

That combo will make any sheep deader than dead, but it wouldn’t be my choice for a lot of reasons.

Even a lug nut at 300 RUM velocities should do the job.

Just out of curiosity, where did this hunt take place? I've never heard of javelinas, sheep, and Coues deer overlapping in habitat but I may have missed something.

Thanks,


Okie John

Somewhere in Mexico. He flew into Tuscan and met all the people necessary and drove over the border from there. Not sure how long the truck ride was.

Am pretty sure where the ram was taken, as have hunted mule deer in the same area--and also flew into Tucson and was driven down. (No doubt "Tuscan" is an auto-correct error, that modern contradiction.)

Have seen Coues deer, javelina and desert bighorns in a pretty small area during a February muzzleloader hunt for javelina in Arizona.

After reading this, I'm guessing he may have a large supply of the older model. The gun is a 1999, the first year they came out. I would guess he loaded up on projectiles shortly thereafter. What year did nosler switch to a thicker jacket?

More power to him lugging that rig all day. It will surely get the job done, but no better than a 140 gr or 150 gr BT from a 7lbs 7-08mm or 308 Win at 400 yds. Desert BHS are diminutive animals and not near the mass of their northern counterparts (RM, Dall, etc.). However to each his own in choosing a weapon for harvest.

As stated earlier in the thread, his rifles inc 5# gun was in the shop getting a new barrel and that gun is his most accurate one.

And pretty sure he doesn't own anything smaller than a 300rum