Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 308 Winchester for 1000 lb Moose at 50-300 yard range: What Bullet and Why?

Just buy a box of federal high energy with the nosler partition or the hornady light magnum loads. The 165's or 180's are good for big tough animals like moose and elk. These loads duplicate 30-06 velocities and energy levels and the bullets are controlled expansion meaning they are tough and hold together well but still mushroom nicely.

I'm under the impression that the front end of a partition is supposed to exspand violently and will or won't seperatefrom the core. The front end violence is ideal for tissue damage causing excelent blood loss while the partion and it's core maintain it's path of massive penetration...

Really it's a perfect desighn. And IMO leads to faster kills and eaisier tracking than a TSX..

I live on the wetside of washington. Sideways rain is how we spend alot of our seasons.. I'll take a bullet that leaves a better blood trail anyday. I'm not into losing an animal.

We also only get one deer per year. I don't tent to blow [bleep] through the shoulders as I like the meat. Now if I live somewhere I could shoot 5 deer a year I wouldn't be as concerned with that.

My favorite quote ever is from an Alaskan ass kisser that was desperate to fit in so he started running the TSX...

After several seasons he was quoted as saying that he did like the TSX but didn't like it's performance on lung shots. He said he felt like he could shot a field mouse in the lungs and it would run for 300yds and not leave a blood trail..


Nice to beable to choose. Isn't it.

Exactly.
I want a bullet to mushroom and leave, not blow half up, cause undue bruising and leave a lot of metal fragments behind.

Jeffio-
You've really got no idea what's typical for Accubonds lighter than 200 grains, nor can you "correct" anybody or find them "in error" by extrapolating your heavy-weight, large caliber AB experience to all Accubonds.

Why are you trying so desperately to be an "expert"?

I cannot speak upon moose, but a friend of mine has now shot 3 elk with a 180 AB with a total of 5 shots. The one time he had an exit was on a double lung shot.

This same load I saw him shoot a large feral hog twice with no exits, but a dead hog (bullets gave up on opposite shoulder).

I have also used Partitions and seen them used on deer sized game, mostly the heaviest weight for caliber. I've seen them exit and seen them not exit on broadside shoulder shots and always exit on lung shots.

I recall one big hog that soaked up 3 358 250 Parts, two frontal hits, one breaking a shoulder, and one low in the lungs; very little blood on the ground, even with the lung bullet exiting. He went about 100 yds.

I've never recovered a FailSafe, TSX or X. I recently made an angling shot on a 250-300 pound hog with a 224 62 TSX that traversed the rear lungs and exited the offside shoulder. He went 10 yds and didn't twitch, with quite a bit of blood on the ground....

I guess my opinion is that two holes are never bad, bullets that don't lose a front core don't kill as slow as one is led to believe but I think a 308 loaded with a Partition would work fine, too. If you want to break bone and stack your odds on two holes, they make bullets with that reputation as well. I personally don't cotton to the AB as a concept, but there are dead critters on its behalf.

Did I say two holes are never bad? (grins)

Obviously you have not cut meat from TSX/X kills... The phrase "Eat right up to the hole" was coined for them. They "cut" much more than other bullets and do not run the tremendous bruising one gets fron C&C bullets.

Meat loss with a TSX through the shoulders is far less than with Partitions. There is simply no comparison on that one.

I hunt Kodiak a lot... do you really want to compare weather? Seattle gets slightly less than half the rain of Kodiak... I have seen the differences in blood trails many times, first hand.

I grew up shooting behind the shoulders because I was told it was the right thing to do. And with C&C bullets it is probably correct, but give me the X through the shoulders for tracking ease... I mean, how hard can it be to track a critter from standing to prone in the same set of tracks?

And the benefit of less meat ruined is obvious...
art

It's what they don't do that is perhaps their biggest appeal in my book. And breaking bones doesn't seem to detract from that. The worst edible damage I have had from them, however, is seeing them kill without expansion. Then they have produced tremendous blood infiltration throughout otherwise edible parts.

"cannot speak upon moose, but a friend of mine has now shot 3 elk with a 180 AB with a total of 5 shots. The one time he had an exit was on a double lung shot. "

Hawk1,

just curious, what cartridge and what range? Was a 308 Win used?

Thanks!

Colin

This article by Richard Mann is a good comparison of some the 150 grain premiums as used in the 308 Win. The performance of the Accubond is very close to the Partition. He makes an interesting statement about the Partition saying that it travelled the deepest before reaching "full" expansion.

I forget the date on this article but I believe it was before he came out with the Bullet Test Tube material.

Anyway, interesting article. Everyone has some strong opinions on which bullet is the right one. It sounds to me as though if I went with either a 165-168 grain TSX, 165 partition, or maybe a 165 gr. Accubond I would be in real good shape.

Thanks again, guys.

Colin

Bullet Shootout

Colin,

From a 30-06. All of his elk were shot under 125 yards, as was the big pig

His elk this year he went for a shoulder, broke one and the bullet missed the other and it went in the offside skin. He was a little surprised when it got up. He shot again, of course! The other bullet hit considerable bone as well and was found on the far side.

Yeah, it sounds an awful lot like a Partition; I still like the Partition better

Something funny about your link.

http://www.gunsandhunting.com/bulletshootout.html

Why does "guns and hunting" get bleeped?

While I have never used a 308 on moose, my wife has shot more moose than I can remember, a lot of them using a 308 Win.

In the 308, she has always used 180 gr Partitions behind the shoulder, never lost an animal, and rarely needed a second shot.

Moose are not really that hard to kill.

Ted

I also have never shot a bull moose. But From what I've seen I'd go as far to say a big bull elk is tougher to kill..

I've some pretty good experience with the 180 Accubond in the 30-06. The entrance and wound channel are darn near identical with the Partition.. And the exit wound with the AB's have been slightly to somewhat smaller than those of the Partition. I've actually had several bullet sized entrance and exit wounds with the AB. Lots of blood.

At 308 velocitys I'd not hesitate to shoot an elk with an Accubond.

Jeff what you miss here is Arts location, its a bit more serious up there. And just about anyone that gives this a thought will agree that an accubond won't penetrate as far as a better bullet will. Not that its an issue on a moose or elk so to speak but in bear country I'd be a fool to rely on a mag full of accubonds.

My friend has guided up there a long time now, and the only brown bear they've lost was with accubonds and the outfitter is really wanting to ban them from camp but can't bring himself to do it... Says enough for me anyway.

Now if you know you wont' run into anything else dangerous and can afford to pass risky shots, then the shell game is changed again.

BTW in your buck scenario I'd be dollars to donuts a version of the X wouldn't have been stopped by offside skin....

I won't argue that one way or another. I will, however, point out that "killing" and "drilling" are not the same thing. An elk may take more killing (read better bullet placement), but a big moose will certainly take plenty of drilling - and can stop just about anything one might typically try, certainly a moose can stop - not always will, obviously- any bullet you might shoot from a 308 Winchester.

Oh hell yeah. Agreed. But that's not what Art said. And what he actually SAID is so contrary to my and many many others' experience that my post was necessary for balance if nothing else.