6.8 Western Bullet Selection

[MO00]

Does anybody have any experience loading/using 136gr Federal Terminal Ascent in 6.8 Western? I really like these bullets and wish they had a heavier 270 offering for 6.8 Western. I run 145 gr ELD-X for whitetail around here but have some elk and mule deer hunts coming up and am open to any suggestions for what to load for those. Nosler makes a 165gr accubond I am also interested in.

 

[kevingm1987]

The 165ablr hammered my bull moose this year. I wouldn't hesitate to use it on any game that I shoot at. I also loaded up some 140gn partitions and they shot well, haven't used on game though. Pushing 3000fps with a 22" barrel.

 

[CJ_BG]

A friend of mine shot the TA in his 270 wsm, pretty good results across the board but I will say the 140 bergers and 145 eld-x we shot, and even the 130 ballistic tips, killed stuff faster.

145 eld-x is gonna be fine on elk, you also have options like the 165 ABLR, 170 berger, and even the 170 ballistic tip. I would trust any of those on elk.

 

[wgcracker13]

The 170 EOL is a really good choice. I took my elk this year with the 170. The amount of damage done was very impressive. I did take my first shot while he was running at 125 yards. I hit the lower shoulders. It took out his front legs. He still was wanting to live, and lifted his head up and I put one in the neck and one more. He got up and rolled over being incapacitated. The brain can still be working for 4-6 minutes on average after oxygen supplies have been depleted. A running adrenaline filled elk's brain will say screw everything I want to live as long as possible. I was on him within 5 minutes of the first shot and was still "breathing" and having the end of life twitches (very similar to what I have seen when watching horses being put down). I put two more in him to kill the brain function quickly.

This is the first picture of walking upon the elk seeing the blood on the ground.

This is the upper chest cavity, a couple ribs back, the head uphill and not even a quarter of the way down, blood was pouring out with kibbles and bits of heart, lungs, and other tissue.

Here is the front shoulder from the first shot.

Here is the exit on the offside shoulder. Yes, a berger broke both shoulders and exited.


I wouldn't hesitate to use these again. Another good choice if you are up close with whitetails would be the 170 or 150 Nosler Ballistic Tip.

 

[MO00]

Wow, thank you all for the input! Those Bergers were one of the first ones I considered when I first got the gun because they seemed to be one of the only heavier bullets I could find. I will add those back to the list to test.

 

[wgcracker13]

Wow, thank you all for the input! Those Bergers were one of the first ones I considered when I first got the gun because they seemed to be one of the only heavier bullets I could find. I will add those back to the list to test.

I forgot to mention, you can find the video of the kill shot on Reloading Weatherby's channel. He wasn't pleased with the performance but was worried about showing the amount of damage on YouTube; make that make sense. Hopefully that helps out!

 

[CJ_BG]

I forgot to mention, you can find the video of the kill shot on Reloading Weatherby's channel. He wasn't pleased with the performance but was worried about showing the amount of damage on YouTube; make that make sense. Hopefully that helps out!

it killed it too dead, something only marginal guns and bullets can do. The damage is horrific and there's too much meat loss but the animal barely died

Heard it a dozen times growing up shooting a 243. Entire front half of the deer is ruined but it still isn't enough gun and you need an 06 with 180s

 

[Mike D Texas]

I forgot to mention, you can find the video of the kill shot on Reloading Weatherby's channel. He wasn't pleased with the performance but was worried about showing the amount of damage on YouTube; make that make sense. Hopefully that helps out!

That guy is almost as big a fudd as Ron Spomer and JVB.

 

[wgcracker13]

That guy is almost as big a fudd as Ron Spomer and JVB.

We are working on him to say the least. Me and my brother in law have been shooting with him for a couple of years. We both use fragmenting bullets and are hoping to get him to at least try a nosler ballistic tip. We will see if that happens.

 

[Mountainrancher]

That guy is almost as big a fudd as Ron Spomer and JVB.

He’s really not even a fudd. Just a huge dork