300 win mag factory Load for elk / moose

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Did no one kill elk before monolithics? A good cup & core in the vitals will still work. Good bullets don't make up for poor marksmanship either ;)

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I only started to use them when my kids were born, as they love the meat. The only time my kids eat any red meat besides elk and mule deer is when we go out to eat. One less thing to worry about with lead free bullets. I knows it likely doesn't matter health wise, as I turned out just fine, but it makes the wife happy and the lead frees (etip, ttsx, and trophy coppers) shoot well enough for me. I am trying out the eld-x, the lrx, and the accubonds this offseason though.
 

GKPrice

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Gkprice- pm me your thoughts so we don't derail this thread. I'd like yours or others opinions. I always thought it was a hot barrel, but I am far from an expert.

Back to the thread. I'd try out the different lead free tips. I haven't tried the gmx's but the ttsx from Barnes and the trophy coppers have shot well in my rifles.

don't allow "monolithics" alone to dominate the topic, where lead is illegal it's one thing but where not SWIFT Scirocco, Nosler Partitition or Accubond, Hornady ELD-x (or Interbond if one was wise enough to lay in a supply), Corelokt Premium, a bunch of other premiums, yada yada are all proven killers and accurate projectiles in myriad firearms - Sure, "cup & core" bullets kill too by WHY use them, just to prove a point ?? There's a dead end argument IMO
 

robtattoo

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don't allow "monolithics" alone to dominate the topic, where lead is illegal it's one thing but where not SWIFT Scirocco, Nosler Partitition or Accubond, Hornady ELD-x (or Interbond if one was wise enough to lay in a supply), Corelokt Premium, a bunch of other premiums, yada yada are all proven killers and accurate projectiles in myriad firearms - Sure, "cup & core" bullets kill too by WHY use them, just to prove a point ?? There's a dead end argument IMO

Umm....Sciroccos, ELDx, Interbonds, Accubonds & CoreLokts are all cup & core, they're just bonded.
 

Beastmode

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If you are wanting lead free I would try the Barnes TTSX. The trophy copper by federal and the gmx are also good lead free bullets.

Be aware with solids you will not get the fast energy transfer as other bullets. This means getting a shot in the vitals is crucial. A ton of guys complain about solids and how they just pencil a hole. The beauty is they literally waste no meat. You just have to hit them good to kill them. These bullets penetrate like nothing else out there.

It helps greatly to shoot a lighter for caliber bullet. Higher velocity increases expansion. Good luck with whatever you decide.




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If you are wanting lead free I would try the Barnes TTSX. The trophy copper by federal and the gmx are also good lead free bullets.

Be aware with solids you will not get the fast energy transfer as other bullets. This means getting a shot in the vitals is crucial. A ton of guys complain about solids and how they just pencil a hole. The beauty is they literally waste no meat. You just have to hit them good to kill them. These bullets penetrate like nothing else out there.

It helps greatly to shoot a lighter for caliber bullet. Higher velocity increases expansion. Good luck with whatever you decide.




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Very true on this.
 

Ryan Avery

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If you are wanting lead free I would try the Barnes TTSX. The trophy copper by federal and the gmx are also good lead free bullets.

Be aware with solids you will not get the fast energy transfer as other bullets. This means getting a shot in the vitals is crucial. A ton of guys complain about solids and how they just pencil a hole. The beauty is they literally waste no meat. You just have to hit them good to kill them. These bullets penetrate like nothing else out there.

It helps greatly to shoot a lighter for caliber bullet. Higher velocity increases expansion. Good luck with whatever you decide.




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I couldn't agree more! IME if you don't hit bone with an all copper bullet. You have a much longer blood trail on average than with a C&C or similar bullet.
 
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Gkprice- pm me your thoughts so we don't derail this thread. I'd like yours or others opinions. I always thought it was a hot barrel, but I am far from an expert.

Back to the thread. I'd try out the different lead free tips. I haven't tried the gmx's but the ttsx from Barnes and the trophy coppers have shot well in my rifles.

I'd leave it alone and go hunt. How often do you take more than 2 shots at game?

Factory barrels are not usually stress relieved. You can tinker with the gun all day long, but if it's not stress relieved there's a good chance it will still walk like that.
 
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Sure, "cup & core" bullets kill too by WHY use them, just to prove a point ?? There's a dead end argument IMO

Are you serious? C&C bullets have had a long go to be perfected. I've had more disappointments with the magical mono's and one a
Accubond than any of the cup and cores I've shot.
 

Matt Cashell

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This means getting a shot in the vitals is crucial.

Also crucial for non-monolithic bullets.

I have had great luck with Barnes bullets. Some elk have walked off a ways. Some were DRT, including my son's elk this year. Haven't lost one with Barnes.

I also recommend light for caliber when using monolithics.
 

Beastmode

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Also crucial for non-monolithic bullets.

I have had great luck with Barnes bullets. Some elk have walked off a ways. Some were DRT, including my son's elk this year. Haven't lost one with Barnes.

I also recommend light for caliber when using monolithics.
While most of us agree clean shot is always what we should strive for, sometimes you might hit a little off your mark. I'm sure most of us have had a shot that didn't hit exactly where we wanted it to. Certain bullets will transfer energy(expand) differently at different impact velocities.

I have not been incredibly impressed with the monolithics and creating a really big exit hole. While the internal damage has seemed to get the job done, they have left me with a little more to be desired in the blood trail department.

It may be hard to see but the exit hole is a tiny but bigger that the caliber (277) on this buck. It is right behind the shoulder. As you can see the internal damage was great. But I believe it is because it hit a rib on entry. This was a heartshot and there was next to no blood.
736d9c2b909d8543f0e466b8e6fd7d36.jpg


This is an exit hole from a less than perfect shot from a berger. The rapid release of energy helped make a quick kill.
2793b77a756319d5c429491bba8d4284.jpg


I think we would have had a hard time finding this deer if it would have been with solid copper bullets.





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hodgeman

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I have to agree with Beastmode- the monolithic do leave something to be desired in wound trauma. I've seen two now recovered from a moose that could be wiped off and fired again there was so little deformation. Both were Barnes TSX and both were relatively long shots with slower impact speeds and took quite a while to expire.

I don't like blood- trailing wounded animals. I have had very good results from the Accubond with seems to leave a uniformly large exit wound without falling apart on the trip through. The only animal I've shot that did not get an exit was a moose quartering away- just a lot of critter to shoot through. On caribou I've never recovered a bullet and never had one walk more than a few steps before collapsing. An exit you can stick your fist in ensures a short trailing exercise.

TTSX is supposed to be better in that regard, but I'm still not convinced that a monolithic performs better than a bonded cup and core except in specific circumstances.
 
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I absolutely love monolithic bullets. I've been using them for many years and doubt I'll ever change. The few that I've recovered looked exactly as advertised and weighed out at 95% or higher.


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I have to agree with the guys mentioning the lack of exit wound size and lack of blood trail using monolithic's. While I think the Barnes perform great as far as penetration the pencil hole in and out of an animal and no blood trail has me concerned. I have been using 150 grain TSX out of my 7mm08 and both my bucks this year left no blood trail. Luckily I was able to watch the first one drop in about 100 yard and the second one didnt go more than a few feet. Had I not watched the first buck go down I dont know that I would have been able to recover that deer. I am going to try some ttxs 120's in it and see how they perform.

I am going to start breaking in a new 300 WM soon and have picked up a box of 200 grain eld-x to see how they shoot, I will reload for this rifle too just wanted to try them out, probably some accubonds as well.

Beastmode, what is your plan as far as bullets go once California goes to a totally lead free state?
 

Beastmode

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Beastmode, what is your plan as far as bullets go once California goes to a totally lead free state?

A 450 grain Easton Axis with a Waccem up front . I do have a 270 wsm that I only use lead free in. I have a friend who is a game warden and as of right now they are not going to be cutting open bullets, it will just be a visual inspection. Based on visual inspection the GMX is very similar to the eldx. Just saying......


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JFK

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People would have a lot better opinion of copper if they dropped bullet sizes and pushed them faster. 110gr in a 270 kill stuff. 150's in a 30-06, 120gr in a 7-08.
 
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People would have a lot better opinion of copper if they dropped bullet sizes and pushed them faster. 110gr in a 270 kill stuff. 150's in a 30-06, 120gr in a 7-08.

I tried that. I'm still not impressed by copper, but I use it in some guns.
 
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A 450 grain Easton Axis with a Waccem up front . I do have a 270 wsm that I only use lead free in. I have a friend who is a game warden and as of right now they are not going to be cutting open bullets, it will just be a visual inspection. Based on visual inspection the GMX is very similar to the eldx. Just saying......


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Tough to beat those wac'ems they shoot right with my field points. That's a very true point about the GMX and ELDX.
 
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All copper bullets are long for weight.
I just bought 120gr .284 for my 7-08 and traded the remainder of my .308 180gr and will try 168s or 150s.
 

ben h

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I accompanied a friend on his elk hunt this last October and a 180 gr from a 300 win mag did great on his elk (at about 100 yds). In November I accompanied his dad on a OIL buffalo hunt and using the same 180 gr cartridge that bull soaked up 8 shots before it tipped over; all the shots were quartering, so they hit some guts and a bunch of vitals. I ranged him at 292 yds. I swear my buddy's dad was a sniper in Nam, but he won't ever talk about it. In my limited experience with rifle kills, I'd go heavier for the moose, 180 is fine for elk, but if your shots are not very far and you don't really need the trajectory, why not go heavier?
 
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