Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 308 for Elk

I was with a retired Colorado guide friend when he took his 60th elk with his .338 Win Mag and he told me to shoot fir a double ling shot a elk can go further with a heart shot than a double lung shot.
I also used my .338 on my mature 6x6 bull as it fled for parts unknown - one Texas heart shot with Nosler Partition and bull ran bout 100 yards and stopped to die- I helped him go on to his last reward.

On to the .308:
Hunting cow elk in the hills somewhere southeast of Abilene, Texas, we had seen some hunge , fat 6x6 bulls and fat cows but they saw us and dissappeared. Our guide drove the ranch UTV up to the top of a bluff overlooking a valley and we scanned for game Soon an elk cow was spotted about 150 yards out and grazing directly away from us. I followed her in my scope waiting for a broadside shot. At range of 195 yards out, she turned left and then I waited for her to stop to eat. She did and I squeezed the trigger on my 1953 Model 70 FWT .308. The guide was watching with his binoculars and said "Good Shoot. Hair, blood and her insides just blew out the offside". We watched as she slowly walked about 40 yards and lay down. The guide said he saw another cow beyond mine and we drove the UTV back to a two track down into the valley.
In about 5 minutes, we passed the dead elk and saw that the 165 grain Hornady bullet had passed through both lungs . Back a camp and with a cup of coffee, ranch staff showed me the elk before skinning it.

I'm definitely not saying that the 150 from a .308 won't do it, but particularly when it comes to C&C bullets, SD does matter. I certainly wouldn't assume that a .308" 150 gr Speer HC, for example, would hold together and penetrate the same as a .277" 150 gr Speer HC.

Agreed since a .308 150 grain Hotcor would be designed for deer and a .277 150 grain Horcor would be built a bit tougher for bigger game.

I guess with the dozens of elk we've put in the freezer with the Hornady interloc 165's out of the 308 and 3006, I've never been able to figure out just when did the bullet actually fail.

In the 80's I killed 6-7 elk with the 150 Sierra GK and a 270. Will that bullet kill elk? Yes. Is it a good elk bullet? Nope. That's a distinction most don't get.

If I had to choose between a 308 with a c&c bullet, or one of my 243's/243 AI with a 100g NPt, I would choose the 243's in almost every circumstance.

I'll say it again, it's about the construction of the bullet, not the weight of the bullet, and not the cartridge that's shooting the bullet.

I wasn't going to say it - thanks for making that point Jordan. It apparently goes right over the head's of some...

It will be just fine. Elk aren't bullet proof.

True that.

Our 30-06 elk load is a 150 grain TTSX at 3060 FPS and I’d say a 308 with similar would be just fine. The soft points will work but do limit shot angles.

5 of our 6 elk (3 cows and 3 small bulls) were taken with 308s last elk season in Utah. Ammo was 165s and 180 Power Points and Core-lokts, shots were less than 100 yards and no elk went farther than 30 yards after shot. Within its range, the 308 has no problem dropping elk.


This one of the bullets we recovered, don't remember what brand it was.

I killed a nice little 5x5 a few years ago with a 150gr Silvertip fired from my M1A. One shot, perfectly broadside at about 70 yards. Dropped the bull in his tracks. While that is what I used at the time I wouldn't recommend the round for elk. The round didn't exit but turned his lungs into spaghetti. Like many have said before me, shot placement is everything. On my typical elk rifles 300wsm/30-06 I typically use either coppers or bonded rounds of 180 grains. Coincidently, this was the only bull that I have shot that literally dropped in his tracks with one shot. I would have dreaded having to try to track that guy had the shot been anything but perfect.

In the words of the immortal Ronny Van Zant, "you got that right.........shor got dat right."


For any 308 doubters, you need only peruse the "Deceased by Scenar's" thread.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/4977783/1

Given a bullet that doesn't blow up the 308 is all the elk gun you'd need. I and my wife have killed a number of elk with 308s and I know probably 30 other hunters in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nevada and Utah that have done it many many times, going all the way back to the 1960s.
In my experience the very best 150 grains bullets will exit them only about 1 time in 2. The 165 grain bullets of the same types do a bit better and the 180s are about the best.

My friend Randy dropped one in the Jarbidge wilderness of Nevada at 415 yards with a factory loaded Remington Core-Lokt and it was the largest bull he ever got. Used a scout rifle I made him with a 2X scope on it too. The barrel is 18" long so an 18" 308 with a 2X scope was just fine. Not that there is anything wrong with larger calibers and longer barrels with huge scopes in them, but I stand on 50+ years of experience when I tell hunters that they don't actually NEED such long heavy rifles for elk. Carry and use them if you like them, But you NEED to know how to hunt.

But in my years of hunting elk, (going back to the 60s) I would say that the 308 Winchester, used with good bullets' (my overall favorites are the 165 and 180 grain Nosler Partitions) is all the elk gun you'd ever need for 99.5% of all the shots you'd ever need to take at elk.

Sounds like my kiddo. 😀

What a coincidence.😂

I used the 150 grain Power Point from a .308 once for elk, a small bull. My other kills with a .308 were with Sierra BT's 165gr. All died just fine as they do from a .30-06 and .338 Win Mag. Go for it.

I’d say shoot for behind the shoulder and you’ll be fine. I would prefer a 150 tsx/TTSX if I had to shoot 150’s but if I had 150 c&c’s and that was it I’d still go.

308 with 150gr works marginally. Even with a bonded bullet - like fed fusion - the penetration and mushrooming is not the best past 200m. And don't tell me that one will not shoot a bull if they see it at 300m.
Shot placement is - of course - more important than anything. But it is not rare that you have to penetrate the front shoulder on a quartering bull. Even the back leg.... and the 150 will likely not do it.

The ones I recovered were barely expanded past diameter and stuck in the meat with hardly any damage around. As they say: you could eat up to the hole.

Using 180gr is much better, even with the so-called "non-premium" bullets.

If using Ballistic Tips, SSTs so the sorts, then only broadside shots are to be taken to reliably get a good kill.

As far as the 155 Scenars recommended above.... I'd leave those for "snipers" that so not want to waste good eye lid meat.

Only an [bleep] would try to kill anything by threading a bullet through the ass end into the vitals.