Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting which bullet recommended

for my 308 win, i have worked up accurater loads for all of these bullets.
which one would be best for my elk hunt in '24?
165 gr speer grand slam, 165gr sierra gameking hpbt, 180 speer mag-tip, 180gr sierra prohunter roundnose

Go back and work one up for the 180 Grain Nosler Partition?

I was gonna say the same except with a 165 gr Accubond.

All will work well, but personally I wouldn't bother with the 180 Sierra RN.

With the 308 I've killed elk with:

150 TTSX
165 Nosler Accubond
165 Speer Hotcore
165 Hdy BTSP
165 Sierra Gameking

All but the TTSX worked perfectly.

The 308 is wonderfully easy on bullets - premiums really aren't necessary.

Hey Uncle Brad...was that Sierra 165 you used the GK Hollow Point Boat Tail or the Spitzer Boat Tail?

Spitzer Boat Tail. The Hollow Point is reputed to be tougher than the standard Gameking. My friend Dober used the 165 HP GK on a fair bit of game including elk. Worked great.

That's what I've read. In fact, it was over three decades ago, I read it from Bob Milek who used the 165 HPBT on elk in his 30-06 he sporterized himself. He is the one who said it was tougher. Good to hear of others feedback on it. I've shot them alot, in the past, in everything from 308 to 300's and they sure are accurate. I've killed deer and hogs with the 165 GK Spitzer BT out of a 30-06. It too acted pretty tough on them. Lots tougher than the 150 Corlokt. Thanks.

Thanks for the feedback. i was leaning towards the 165 sierra or speer. probably go with sierra gk hpbt

I've shot both of the 165 gr. bullets you mention from rifles chambered to .308 Win. I've used the plain Speer Hot Core and well over a dozen deer with great success would add that to the list. I've only shot one elk with the 165 gr. Accubond but I can say it was one shot and done, DRT. To be honest though, it was from a 30-06 with 24" barrel at 2800+ FPS and the bullet was never recovered. I have used that Sierra Pro-hunter round nose but only on deer. Shots with it were on the short side, two deer at well under 100 yards and the result was a bit messy. This was back around 1975 or 76 as I recall so maybe the bullet might be tougher today.
PJ

Any of them except the round nose. The 308s lower velocity is a little easier on bullets. The old Speer grand slams were good bullets, the Game King HPBTs are pretty good too. Two of my friends hunt elk every few years (when they draw cow tags) with 308s with Winchester PowerPoints, drop elk no problem. Ranges are 100 yards or less and if we do recover a bullet, it looks like a good mushroom...never checked the weight on one.

Not .308, but in my 7-08, the best shooting bullet is the 140 gr SGK HPBT. Terminal performance is very good on WT’s. No experience on bigger critters.

Bottom line, don’t exclude the SGK HPBT. It’s a sleeper bullet, IMO.

DF

Nosler Partition, Nosler Accubond, Barnes TTSX, or any other number of premier bullets. All will get the job done. Having killed well over a 100 deer and elk with NOSLER , bullets I am a little opinionated

+1 on Nosler. I come by it honestly. I have a hand written receipt where my Grandfather bought partitions from Nosler in 1955.

It was called The Nosler Partition Bullet Co., 6 boxes of bullets $28.

LHS

That’s cool. Thanks for sharing.

DF

Partitions are always as good as you’ll get, IMO. I’ve been using partitions since they were made on screw machines. But if you want to save a buck, go with cup and core.

I used the Grand Slam in 308 when Grand Slam first came out what a worthless POS bullet. The front part of the bullet sheared off and the rear acted like a solid. SPEER evidently fixed the problem but I’ve never bought another box. I had 160 gr. (I think 160) SPEER mag-tips in a 280 that worked well on a cow.

Other than that, all elk hunting has been with partitions.

Not always, but sometimes the NPT can be the most accurate bullet, never a bad thing. That’s the case with my .240 HS precision SPL.

DF

Was your issue with the 150 TTSX a one off problem or something else?

I have a few boxes of them that I’ve thought about loading for a 308. I’m sure that they would work but I’ve heard that they can be a little harder than ideal at 308 Win velocities.

165 Accubond with 47grains of cfe223 is an elk killing recipe.

Not to speak for Brad but I have found the 308 just doesn't move a mono fast enough to get the desired expansion and shock.

150 ttsx
Or any bonded 165/8 that shoots well.
IMHO, 180 is little heavy for 308. Especially if you get further out