Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 300WM- Best Bullet for Elk in Timber

I've been using that bullet and IMR 4831 since '04 in multiple 300's from Winchester and Remington. I've shot about a dozen elk, 1 moose, and a pile of deer with them. Last fall I put a finisher in my elk @ ~75yds. Got a rib going in and the off-side scapula. Peeled off 2 mushroom petals, still had over 1/2" of solid shank. MV is 2950, impact velocity would've been ~2775.

The 200 gr Nosler partition will put the hurt on an elk near and far in a 300 mag. To me that is about the perfect combo for elk under all conditions. I agree with BSA I have shot elk with the 180 partition in a 300 mag and often without complete penetration. The 200 NP exited every time.

According to a not so official Alaska Outdoors Forums survey the .300 Win. Mag. is the most popular choice of the ones that responded to the survey. With good reason, it adds a bit more range to the proven 30-06 which we all know has been putting stuff down for over 100 years. We live in the age of the "super bullets" and they make our chosen gut pile maker better then ever and can often do it with a lighter weight bullet.

I can't remember all the guys I know using the .300 Win. Mag. or the WSM version. The top two choices of the guys I know is the 200 grain Nosler Partition or the 180 grain Barnes X of some flavor. They use what ever bullet they choose for every thing and I mean every thing. Big brown bears, black bears, moose, caribou, sheep, goats, etc. A few use the 180 grain Accubond, but most don't feel a need to look for a new bullet when they have proven performers. They also know their load will handle the long shot on a vegie cruncher or the close in shot on big bears.

None of these guys I know have tales of 500 and beyond yard shots on critters. They don't take long pokes at big bears and usually kill sheep and caribou under four hundred yards, moose are almost always shot under two hundred yards.

Thanks Pard, that's a great testimonial for a good 300 magnum!

I feel similar about the 180g vs 200g accubond. I think the 200g accubond is far superior to the 180 on elk even though myself and friends have killed several with the 180s. I shot a 200 through an elk lengthwise from a 300 rum. It was running away and I took a THS. It broke the hip ball joint, went through a grass filled paunch then the liver, a lung, and stopped under the skin at the base of the neck. It was a yearling cow but it still travelled through about 5 feet of elk.

I loaded the 200 nab for a while because where I hunt it could be a 50 yd shot to 600 or beyond. It has seemed to do both well. My friends wife just killed a very large bull at about 600 yards with one. He's a long range guy and had been using 215 bergers and heavy eldxs before giving the 200 nab a try. He gave up a lot of BC but said he was very impressed with how well it killed.

I always keep a stash of 200 partitions and 200 accubonds on hand. Both bullets work incredibly well and if ranges are going to be short to mid I just load the partitions. Although I've killed most things the last 5 years with a 215 hybrid because I've been hunting some very open windy county.

Bb

Would also add the 180 E-Tip to the list. Have killed 6-point elk withe .300 Winchester and similar-sized blue wildebeest with the .300 WSM, in timber and thornbush at around 100 yards, both angling toward me. It broke the near shoulder joint and kept on penetrating more than far enough.

I've never tried E-Tips in anything. Are they "gummy"? Do they raise pressures like the older X or similar? Last, do they foul bad?

Partition or Bear Claw

Jim,

Don't know what you mean by "gummy." E-Tips are made of gilding metal, the mild brass (copper with 5-10% zinc) that most bullet manufacturers use for jackets on lead-core bullets. Gilding metal is harder than pure copper, so tends to foul bores less. Essentially, they're Ballistic Tips without a lead core. They do raise pressures slightly over, say, Partitions--but in my experience not much--and the lack of grooves on the bullet shank (like those in TSXs and GMXs) results in a slightly higher ballistic coefficient. As with any bullet, once in a while you'll find a rifle that doesn't like them, but I've usually had very good luck in getting them to shoot. My NULA .257 Weatherby averages three 100-grain E-Tips in around .6" at 200 yards in average conditions, and on the rare calm days here in Montana will shoot even better.

Thank you sir. By gummy I meant like pure copper. Hawks were the gummiest in my small experience. the older Barnes X, of course was a "hair puller" you remember, ha. Gilding metal, so like the GMX too. Do they open as fast as the TTSX in same weights or to the same diameter? The only "iffy" results I ever had with monos was the older TSX but in 6mm and 25 caliber. They worked, just not a wide wound channel/exit hole. this was only on deer size animals.

Yeah, I remember the original Barnes X-Bullet very well! And also saw some narrow wound channels with the 6mm and .25 TSX's, and even one instance with a .25 100 TSX where the bullet appeared not to open much at all--which was with the .257 Weatherby, of all things. The TTSX solved that problem.

I have never been able to see any difference in on-game performance of the TTSX, E-Tip or GMX. They all expand well, though I should also comment that most expanding bullets start to open up as soon as they hit skin, and fully expand by the time they penetrate their own length. The exception is the Bergers, and other thin-jacketed bullets with closed hollow-points, which don't even start to expand until they get inside.

Out of my 26 Nosler, 120 gr. E-Tip and 120 TTSX perform about the same, both sub MOA. They may be mono's but they do tear up meat at 3,450 fps.

With the 300 mags, hunting buds swear by the 168 TTSX and I've seen what that bullet can do.

I know what a 180 NPT will do to an Elk out of a 300 mag. Haven't used heavier, but am confident they'd perform as stated.

A number of good choices, BEST depends on gun and hunter preferences, IMO.

Done right, critters will never know the difference.

DF

Any one use the 200 Swift A Frames in their 300WM? I'm leaning that way for this season. Have gotten excellent accuracy with it once I worked up a load.

Interesting.

What's your best load?

DF

My load in my rifle is 78.4 grains of H1000 in Hornady brass. I chrono'd it at 2916 fps which carries some good energy. In my rifle the CBTO is a big factor too. I'm shooting a Ruger Hawkeye. Start lower and work up and all that stuff.

I finally got to try two loads with the 200 Nosler PT, used H4831sc & R23. Range was full so will have to chrono later on. My Mesa has a tight chamber, and the new, Jagmann brass, is pretty thick. I knew I had to ease into it. 72gr H4831sc put 3 into a nice .95" triangle dead center of my aiming point! ( while this is 2gr above Noslers Book Max, it is still under 63K, which QL says is about 74gr) I'm happy as I have 4 other bullet weights that all hit +2" same zero! The 71gr of R23 went about 2" left and 1" up from hold, but get this...into .43" for three! I could make it work, but I don't really need a 200gr "varmint" load, ha. The plus side is this Mesa handles recoil so very gooood! Not bad at all, just straight back, nothing in your face or cheek! So now, bingo, I have a great "Timber load" if I want to cruise in the woods awhile, no changing zero!