Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 308, 150 etip might work....

Didn't get drawn for any of my preferred tags this year but wanted to go elk hunting anyway. Put in for a CO cow that took zero points because my hunting buddy's son had no points. We all got second draw tags and left town after work on Oct 25 for CO. We got to town Thurs AM, set camp and proceeded to scout. Didn't find elk in a couple of likely places but I'd hunted there a couple times in the past and had a game plan for the first couple days.

Bluebird weather showed up Sat PM and stayed till today. Temps were 15-25 in the AM, 50+ in the PM. Elk weren't moving much - first and last light and not moving far. Turned up a spike bull on Day 1 but nothing else despite covering 30+ miles in 4 days. I wasn't finding elk up high but my buddy's son kept finding sign not far from camp. Spent Tues and Weds at lower elevation and started finding sign. Tonight a weather front is coming in and it seemed like animals were moving in early PM. I swung up higher in the watershed in the AM, found nothing again (slow learner) and rolled down lower. Started seeing animal movement about lunch - several deer and fresh elk tracks. This area is mainly black timber with aspen patches - good still hunting terrain which is my favorite way to elk hunt.

I got cell signal about 1:00 and told my buddies animals were moving ahead of the front. I decided to swing down next to the creek and still hunt toward a small secluded meadow next to the creek that I found on Tues. Thought I'd spend the PM still hunting toward the meadow and hang out till dark. These elk seem to like to appear at last legal hours so expected another long walk out in the dark.

Worked my way a couple hundred yards and saw 3 elk trotting to my left. I was a bit perplexed because I had the wind and was sure they hadn't seen me. I took 3-4 quick steps to see if they stopped and give me a shot. I looked to my right and 4 more were watching the other 3 run down the hill. At 50 yards dead broadside, I was fairly confident of the outcome.

A bit of weirdness, she ran uphill with the others for ~ 50 yards. I lost site of them. I went to the shot, found blood, and stated following a good blood trail. At 50 yards the bleeder hung a sharp left. I knew what that meant <G>. She went another 30 yards and was down when I got to her. She picked up her head when I approached and sent one through her neck. All over in less than 30 secs.

This is my first elk with a mono bullet - and won't be my last. Specs: Kimber MT, 308 win, 150 etip, 46.5 gr Varget, doing 2880. Impact velocity was likely north of 2800 at 50 yards. I found the bullet against the far side hide after going through the near shoulder. I like 2 holes but this worked as its supposed to. I have a Pa deer hunt coming up and will use this bullet/load to see how it handles deers. I'm guessing it will work

Nice. Recovered a 7mm 150 etip that looked identical to yours

Great job, that should eat well!

At least that bullet didn't over penetrate!

Awesomeness

That worked. The 308 is plenty. Congrats btw!
S.

Nice job! Plenty of goods vittles too

Congrats Bill!

eggsalent! well done. glad the bullet did its job when given the opportunity. great mushroom.

I have no experience with E-tips (and not much with Barnes). how was loading? easy to find loads it liked?

BG - yep for both bullets. Jump them a bit and use Varget in the 308

Good deal Bill. I've taken a few elk with mono's - my opinion is you'll get a faster drop with a more frangilbe bullet, but I do get not wanting lead in meat. And regardless, dead is dead no matter a few extra yards.

Nice job!

I've seen it many times this time of year. Right after sunset a herd will appear coming out of the timber into the open. It's usually too late to get to them. Be there at 1st light the next morning because they'll usually still be there.

I don't know how many times I've found a bullet under the hide on the far side. It's been a lot. I once saw a slo-mo video of an elk being shot that showed how much the hide will stretch without penetration. It was impressive.

Thanks for sharing. That should be some delicious meat. While I have not used E-Tips, I have used Barnes TTSX and Hornady GMX with great success. I had a 139 gr. GMX shot from my 7mm-08 penetrate 3/4 the length of a decent size whitetail deer from a frontal shot, which showed me that it would work fine on an elk. I hope to get that opportunity one day.

Congrats Bill! Man I love good elk hunts!

Looks like the combo worked great, as if there was any doubt!

Congrats. Thanks for the story. Mono's work.

Thanks Scott - that gun is experienced, I didn't have a doubt!

If I was looking for a lightweight mountain rifle, a guy could do much worse than a Kimber MT 308 shooting a 150 mono at 2900. The ballistics are surprisingly flat and carries 2000 ft/sec out to 450. If you buy 1800 ft/sec as Nosler and Barnes indicate, that load/bullet will carry you out to 550. I'm in the 2000 ft/sec club for adequate expansion on those monos. With a NF SHV 3-10×42 sitting in Talleys, my rifle weighs 6.5 lbs. Recoil is surprisingly low for that load combo.

I was never a fan of the 308, at least until I started talking to Brad and actually started using one. A plain Jane 270 using 129-130 monos shoots flatter but not a 0.277/150 driven at non-Re26 vels. A 7-08/140 be almost exactly the same as the 308/150 at least at distances inside 500. I dig the Kimber MT for these applications.

I bought one of the 7-08 Kimber MT's cause of you guys. I haven't set it up yet, but I wanted it for my light gun for days I know I am trampsing into new areas when I don't know where the day will take me, or I am just being lazy and don't wanna carry my 8lb Mashburn.

Nice kill! Thanks for sharing!

Todd

Scott - if you get "bored" with that POS Kimber 7-08, let me know, I know a guy.....

HA! Will do. It's my first one, but danged if it doesn't feel pretty nice. Hoping to get it scoped and set up for deer hunting here shortly.

If it sucks, you'll be first on my list!

They'll spoil you!
My Montana 7mm-08 has become my favorite rifle and the reason I've sold alot of other rifles off.

It oes heck alot of boxes. If I recall your son "adooted" it.

He has my old rem 700 LVSF\TI in 7-08. My daughter and I both have montana's in 7mm-08 and now I need to look for one for my wife.

If it doesn't suck put me first on the list lol.

You got it Kurt. Keep your lines open

Nice, good work, those bullets tear holy hell out of barrier testing in 16 inch barreled 7.62 house guns at only 2750 fps too.

Congrats on a nice elk. Looks like the 308 150 etip combo worked real well for you. Looking forward to trying a mono bullet on an up coming deer hunt with a 7mm 08. I have not hunted with one yet. Pretty sure the results will be good after all I have read about them.

Report back when you shoot a deer. I'm curious and will be trying them this fall on deer as well.

Congrats!
The last two years I've killed cows with my 308 and 150g TTSX's. Both were 60yds or less, both quartering or broadside and both were pass throughs. One ran 50+ yds, this year's cow went maybe 20 yds. Although I had a bull tag both years also I haven't been able to convince anything bigger than spikes to show themselves. I will probably hunt with the 308 next year too. I also have a big stash of 150g E-Tips when the big stash of 150g TTSX's are used up. I've been using H4895 with good results, but getting low. Have 9 lbs of Varget but haven't cracked it open. What kind of speed are you getting with the Varget?

Hey ac,

Using 46.5, I get 2880 in my 22" Kimber MT. H4895 gave slightly more vel but didn't shoot as well. I have a stash of 150 gr TTSX and bought 500, 150 gr etips from SPS this summer. I did manage to shoot about 150 playing with every feasible powder. I wanted to arrive ~ 2900 with good accuracy. I tried: IMR 4166, H4895, Varget, Benchmark, Re 15, IMR 4064, AR Comp, and prob a couple I can't think of. Throughout Varget gave me the most consistent accuracy and velocity from 25 to 75 degrees with no change in POI. My Kimber likes the 150 gr TTSX with IMR 4166. I managed to find 3 lbs of 4166 a month or so ago and really have 2 loads using 150 gr monos for my rifle. Etips supposedly have a higher BC but looking at both bullet profiles, I have my doubts. I'll buy those crappy etips from you......

Good deal!

My wife Eileen used the same handload for a while in her custom, lightweight Serengeti .308, based on the Kimber action. Never used it on elk, but did kill an 800-pound zebra quite handily in Namibia.

But she was already suffering from recoil headaches, which got worse and the 150-grain load proved to be too much. Switched to the 130-grain TTSX at about the same 2850 fps, and it works too. She killed a 500-pound cow elk a couple years ago with one shot at 250 yards, which had to go through the near shoulder. The cow went 20-25 yards.

Monos work!

My first excursion with monos and not the last. I've followed Eileen's exploits with the 308 and monos which helped form my impressions on the combo. Thank you and her!

The majority of my elk have come less than 100 yards and in the timber. I really don't need a cannon for that work. A precise shot with a penetrating bullet in a short, light rifle is perfect - for me. Plus I'm getting woosified - I don't tolerate recoil or heavy rifles like I did when I was younger.

Yep!

But part of that is realizing recoil doesn't necessarily correlate to "killing power." Which is what a lot of hunters apparently believe....

I also have 11lbs of IMR4166, been loading it with NBT’s. Get good accuracy with it when loading the bullet long and beyond mag length🙁.

I’m saving the ETips back for when the TTSX’s run out!

Anyone know the minimum velocity requirement for the E-tips compared to the TTSX's?
I know the Barnes have been hashed around quite a bit, but I don't remember seeing anything about the E-tips.

Nosler shows minimal expansion at 1800 fps:

https://www.nosler.com/products/bullets/product-line/expansion-tipr.html

Regards, Guy

It's a crying shame, Nosler can't put product back on the store shelves; hard to locate any or much on-line as well.

Surprised the bullet didn't exit

I actually contacted them about this very thing a few days ago. Apparently they have such a huge number of backorders they don't know when there will actually be product on the shelves. All of their production is in .30 cal and 6.5mm right now.

I sale bullets in my business and I think this Nosler availability issue has cost them some market share. Not saying they can't sell everything they can make but I think some shooters have been forced to find other products and some will not be coming back.

Be Safe,

So true. I have some friends who have kicked them to the curb. All are shooting Hornady and aren't going back.
I'm close to doing the same.

I've called them too, got the same response. I understand of being backlogged, but somewhere you should be able to find some of their products.

I can see how customers might try other options when they can’t get the Noslers (or whatever) they want, and might decide the new stuff works well enough to stick with. Not sure I get why people get mad at companies that are backed up on orders though. I certainly wouldn’t want them to cut corners to increase production, nor would I expect them to add expensive manufacturing capacity to address a temporary situation. As with the other component shortages, prevention is the best cure. Don’t let yourself get caught short again.

I believe I have some of those 150s in my stash. Now that I have my M70 EW sorted out, I’ll have to give them a try.

Nicely done on the cow BW.

The .308 is such an easy button when it comes to getting an accurate load, as well as performance in the field. I know lots of guys who scoff at it but it has worked well for me and is quite easy to shoot precisely. Sounds like your load performed great.

Congrats!

Thanks MS!

Yeah the 308/150 is tough to beat unless you step up to a much larger case, more recoil, and heavier gun. I'll pass on all three

The 308 is an e-zee one for me.

You found the sweet spot-----Don't fix what isn't broke------Load up some more & go hunting.

Bwinters, somewhat off topic, but how does a 150 grain Partition perform for you? I'm thinking of running them with Varget in a 300 RSAUM... (I figure the NP will never go away... whereas E-tips might morph into the next great idea...)

I really don't know - my 308 hates them - 2-3" groups. So - I've never used them on anything. It's not fond of 165s either but groups shrink to 1.5-2 inches.

I've never seen the why of the 150 NP - it's a squatty little, low BC/SD bullet. I get a mono in 150 gr's, but if I wanted more than a CC 150 and didn't want a mono I'd go with a 165 in a Partition or whatever.

I’d agree with that. I’m sure they have a purpose in a 300 Savage or something but not much.

Interesting... I checked the ammo stash and I have a box of factory 165 NP for the 300 RSAUM... and 140 grain e-tip for the 280...

I tried them for a deer load in both 30-06 and 308. No Beuno on either.

Dogger, I’ve shot 150 partitions out of 300savage and 308…only shot deer with them but they were more than accurate enough for hunting loads and killed every deer I ever shot quite dead. I can’t ever recall not being able to get a rifle to shoot a partition accurately, except for my old 14” twist 22-250 that would not shoot the 60gr partitions.

100% with you, 308 just eats any powder, I have nearly identical loads in accuracy and close in velocity with r15, varget, and even cfe223, all with 165 interlock, I still believe it is one of the best bullets ever made and is half the price of the rest