Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Just 1 bullet for the 308 Win and elk sized game....

Hey be nice to this older man, it was 301 yds...

Dober

I heard you blowing that whistle like a scared little girl. Glad I was able to help you out and "point" the way back to your truck. Good thing you had the whistle Flinch

165 gr. Nosler Partitian will do it all.

I would avoid the traditional cup and core bullets from any maker for the once a year trip. My last stop with a cup and core 180 was from a .30-06 (Light Magnum.) Shot the large mule deer going away just before he went over the top @ about 200 yds. Believe it or not, there was no entrance wound-a true Texas heart shot. The pelvis was shattered and the deer was trying to crawl away. A quick neck shot finished the job. dressing/butchering showed not only the pelvis destroyed, but the bullet was also destroyed. Only small fragments were found. On the other hand, I have had decent results with the .308/150s on whitetails. Spend a few extra bucks and go for the Partitions in 165 grain. My .o2. good hunting, jt

Not speaking from experience; however, if I were to go hunting Elk with a 308 Win. I would use one of these:

1. Barnes 165 Triple Shock
2. Nosler 165 Partition

Same here, well actually Im speaking thru someone I loaded for who has killed many elk with:
165 Interbond will kill a lot of elk, along with 44grs RL15.

The team leaders for the Teddy Roosevelt Nat'l Park elk reduction project last year all used 308win/165TSX combo from Federal. The project killed 406 elk in 16wks last fall/winter.

By this time next year there'll be a report out regarding caliber, bullet, range, # of shots to confirm kill, etc from that project. You'll be able to read what worked and what didn't on 600-700 elk kills in 2 yrs.

I spent 3 days last Jan culling with the guy who's in charge of the entire project. Take that for whatever it might be worth.

I've put down a few elk with a 308 and a 165gr partition and none of them went more than a few steps. I felt like I'd like to have had a "bigger rifle" but my rifles had all been stolen when I first moved to Colorado and the 308 was sold to me by a friend for cheap so I could at least hunt until I could afford to get a 300 Winny (which I didn't get before I moved back to Florida and never shot at game much).

I guess the feeling of "rifle inadequacy" was all in my head...

Now my elk rifle is a 375H&H because I have never killed an elk with anything bigger than a 350 Win Mag and I want to do it just so I can say I have.... LOL

Many people say that the 180 is a better bullet for a 308 when after elk and I don't doubt that they're right but my experience with the 165 Partition was nothing short of satisfactory.

I worked for a guide for awhile and saw a lot of elk wounded by city slickers with their 7 Mags and became a big believer in shot placement. When I'd drag out my little ultra light 308 to track down and dispatch their elk they used to offer to loan me their magnums but I knew my rifle and it was "DEAD ON at a hunnert" and I knew the drop out to 300 and that was my choice.

Retreiving elk from deep draws and THICK cover ain't no fun and if it weren't for a horse that I got to use that had absolutely no fear of bloody elk I would have had a LOT less fun.

My latest cartridge for my current lightweight 308 is a Nosler Accubond but it's only dispatched a few whitetails with stellar results and elk are a bit bigger and a lot tougher...

John Barsness's latest article (that I've seen) is here...
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/newsletters/August_2011.html
It's a good article and since I turned 60 this fall I'm starting to reach for my 243 more and more... Might kill a whitetail with one this year.

Some of the guys on my leases use them exclusively and they always seem to get their deer with one shot.

I know it's a tired old saying but shot placement is the most important part of the killing of game. I used to laugh at the guys that used 270's for elk but most of those guys could shoot and didn't have to deal with much recoil and they always seemed to have one or two shot kills and rarely had to track far.

Just one man's opinion....

$bob$

165 gr. Nosler Partition or any other premium 165 gr. bullet loaded to the max.