.308 Elk Hunters...What's Your Favorite Factory Load?

[Westtrailed]

Winchester ballistic silvertip 308 168gr. I’ve killed three bulls with this round, all with one shot kills.

 

[Five-Pointer]

My .308 savage loves the 165 Nosler accubonds but also found the Barnes VOR-TX 168 grain TTSX to be one it favors too. I took my first bull with the Barnes 168 grain in fall of ‘21– @ 169 yds. Two steps and down he went. The Nosler 165’s I’ve taken many cows with. I highly recommend them!

I used Winchester and Remington ammo before these—but there’s no comparison to what I use now!

 

[ianpadron]

I'd look no further than the factory Hornady Superformance 168 ELD-Ms.

2800 FPS...haulin'!

After seeing what they did to a bear at 300 yards I'd have zero reservations shooting anything in NA with them. I'll be rocking my .308 during elk season looking for trouble, and fully expect a bang flop type situation.

There's a video on YT of a fella stoning a bull at 875 yards with the same bullet out of a .308

 

[ianpadron]

I'm working on a load now for my tikka 308. Trying to get it to shoot the 168 TMK (handloads) but so so with them. Going to try the factory 168 eldm and see what it does.
It shoots the federal match 168 very well.

Randy

If you can get the Superformance version of the ELDMs to group, extra 200 FPS over the regular Hornady Match ammo. Bit of a gamechanger for the lowly .308!

 

[mtnwrunner]

If you can get the Superformance version of the ELDMs to group, extra 200 FPS over the regular Hornady Match ammo. Bit of a gamechanger for the lowly .308!

Yeah, the lowly 308. Even more lowly in a tikka......

Randy

 

[dreamingbig]

You can't go wrong with accubonds

Agree. 2 shots and 2 dead elk but both were under 150 yards.


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[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I'm working on a load now for my tikka 308. Trying to get it to shoot the 168 TMK (handloads) but so so with them. Going to try the factory 168 eldm and see what it does.
It shoots the federal match 168 very well.

Randy

I tried the Browning 168 TMK ammo and they wouldn't group for me. Good luck with the handloads. The ELDM shot really well out of my Ruger.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

I'd look no further than the factory Hornady Superformance 168 ELD-Ms.

2800 FPS...haulin'!

After seeing what they did to a bear at 300 yards I'd have zero reservations shooting anything in NA with them. I'll be rocking my .308 during elk season looking for trouble, and fully expect a bang flop type situation.

There's a video on YT of a fella stoning a bull at 875 yards with the same bullet out of a .308

I can get over 2800fps with 165 ABs over varget....but 150gr AB going 2850fps is more accurate in my rifle than the 165s. I think it's because of the 18" barrel.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Yeah, the lowly 308. Even more lowly in a tikka......

Randy

I went on my first brown bear hunt fifty-some years ago, with a guy that was using a .308 Winchester. There was a foot of snow on the ground and we were tracking all day in super thick brush. When the shot finally came, it was fast and close, and pretty intense. I was hooked on brown bear hunting from that day forward. The old .308 he was packing and the .30-06 Springfield I was carrying, worked like a charm. I think we fired five rounds between the two of us.

 

[ianpadron]

Yeah, the lowly 308. Even more lowly in a tikka......

Randy

Just make sure you keep it off the shoulder or it might bounce off

 

[hunting1]

For what it is worth my son has killed 2-bulls and a cow with a 308 and 125 NAB. Have seen oryx drop with 308 and 150's, don't over think it!

 

[mtnwrunner]

Just make sure you keep it off the shoulder or it might bounce off

Yeah, especially those tmk's.
Just received some stuff from brown Santa today so should be able to get out this weekend for some more experiments.

Randy

 

[jreyna]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. From what I am gathering....

1. Don't overthink it
2. There are a lot of good factory ammo options out there

Quick question though, seems like I saw a few match ammo recommendations unless I misread. Does tipped match ammo expand/perform well on game? This could be another "don't overthink it" situation on my part.

 

[David Gough]

Nosler Trophy Grade 165 gr. Accubonds have done well for me on pretty much all North American big game in my .308.

Although, I shoot a .300 Win Mag for elk most of the time.

I shoot the same. Too many animals to count at this point with that bullet.

 

[Elkhntr08]

180 TSX in my 300 Weatherby will shoot 3/4” all day long. Not put one in an elk yet, hopefully this fall.
A 100 TSX in a 257 Weatherby was like a bomb in a Wyoming antelope at 428 yards a couple years ago.

 

[Aerosith]

Barnes 168 TTSX, 20 inch barrel, MV 2675.
It shoots sub-moa at 100yds.
In most hunting scenarios i'm effective out to 500yds on elk.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. From what I am gathering....

1. Don't overthink it
2. There are a lot of good factory ammo options out there

Quick question though, seems like I saw a few match ammo recommendations unless I misread. Does tipped match ammo expand/perform well on game? This could be another "don't overthink it" situation on my part.

Give it a rest. Stop over thinking it. Any heavy-for-caliber, cup-and-core bullet, will work wonders.

 

[ianpadron]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. From what I am gathering....

1. Don't overthink it
2. There are a lot of good factory ammo options out there

Quick question though, seems like I saw a few match ammo recommendations unless I misread. Does tipped match ammo expand/perform well on game? This could be another "don't overthink it" situation on my part.

Use that search function for that rabbit hole...but in short, match ammo performs more than well on game. Bergers, ELDMs, and Sierra TMKs in particular

 

[jreyna]

Thanks for the feedback folks. I learned a lot and got what I needed to figure out what I'll hunt with going forward. Also glad to hear about match ammo being a viable option. Good luck out there this season all.

 

[SD_hunter]

You can't go wrong with some Nosler Partitions or Accubonds.