Max effective distance on elk with a 308

[cambo0420]

Hey guys so I decided on the 308 sako a7 roughtech pro for my new rifle. I was wondering what is the maximum distance you would take a shot at and elk with a 308 and what is the minimum energy needed to kill and elk. Thanks guys

 

[thinhorn_AK]

How far do you feel comfortable shooting?

 

[bluetick78]

The rule of thumb I've always used for elk is 1500 ft lbs of energy for clean ethical kills. I'm sure that will be debated, but it's always worked well for me. Basically you crony your chosen load, dump the data into any one of a half million load calculators, and look at what range your bullet starts dropping below 1500 ft lbs of energy. That'll give you a max range on elk. I use Hornadys calculator, if that matters.

 

[EastMT]

I shoot 308, 180 partitions and my personal limit is 300. It is traveling at about 2050 fps at that range, I can and have shot farther, but with my 308 I shorten it a bit.

A 300 Win Mag with same bullet is traveling 1800 at 500 yards, so I’m hitting as hard/harder up to 300 yds than a WM is at 500, and I know for a fact they do just fine at 500.

 

[ramont]

I have a personal limit of 300 yards for my .308 but that's more due to the various factors of sighting and being able to hold my rifle's sights on my desired point of aim rather than what I think the bullet is capable of doing.

A reality that most people never seem to recognize that a bow hunter kills an elk with an arrow that typically produces energies of around 60 ft lbs or less, that's quite low compared to the energies that "experts" claim you need to kill an elk with using a bullet so how is it that an arrow can kill effectively with such low energies while a bullet needs so much more energy? The answer is that we don't kill an animal by hitting really hard with a high energy punch, we do it by causing the animal to bleed out. You kill them by causing them to loose enough blood that their blood pressure drops enough to cause their heart to stop being able to pump blood throughout their body. At close range it takes very little energy to push a projectile through the animal's body, more energy simply allows you to penetrate their body farther away. If you can penetrate deeper in to the animal then you will cause it to bleed out faster. So the question is, just how much energy does it take to make the animal bleed out as quickly as possible - unfortunately there are way too many variables to claim any specific number that will always give you the results that you want. Bullet construction and shot placement are going to have a very big effect on how well the shot does it's job. More often than not it's the skill of the shooter that will determine what range is the maximum for a clean kill.

I like using TSX/TTSX bullets for my .308 and I chose them because I feel that they give me an advantage by penetrating deeper than a cup and core bullet of the same weight and diameter. I also believe that I could kill an elk quite easily out to at least 500 yards without much of a problem under the right circumstances, the bullet is capable of penetrating deep enough to kill the animal but I honestly believe that I need an optic of high enough magnification that the scope would be too heavy for my taste and I wouldn't want to carry the rifle in the field.

 

[Wapiti1]

My personal opinion is 400 yards with a good 165gr bullet. My one .308 likes Nosler Partitions a 2800fps. Just shy of the often quoted 1500ft-lbs at 400 yards. I think the 1500 number is a good rule of thumb.

This year though, I want to try the Hammer 166gr Sledge Hammer. Out of a .308, that looks like a perfect elk bullet.

Jeremy

 

[CX5Ranch]

Chris Kyle....1800 yards
My 7 year old son....80 yards.

 

[seldomseensmith]

Chris Kyle....1800 yards
My 7 year old son....80 yards.

Turns out I’m much more 7yr old boy than Chris Kyle.


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[zimagold]

300-450yds depending on altitude and bullet selection.

I mainly hunt with Barnes, but I've seen poor performance of TTSX in the lower velocity range of 308. Animals were recovered, but had minimal internal damage. I would not use a TTSX past 300.

Look at bonded bullets or partitions, 165 Accubond would be my choice.

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

I have this exact rifle/caliber. Good pairing.

Last fall, shooting my Christensen arms 308, 20 inch barrel, I shot a bull at 409 yards with Hornady 178 eldx, he was DRT, it was a perfect broadside shot however. I think from about 350 and beyond any shot I'd consider would need to be ideal like that.

According to Hornady and my chrono, my ballistic app, the a7 with the eldx would be good as far as 600 yards for 1600fps minimum expansion velocity.

 

[LightFoot]

I have this exact rifle/caliber. Good pairing.

Last fall, shooting my Christensen arms 308, 20 inch barrel, I shot a bull at 409 yards with Hornady 178 eldx, he was DRT.

According to Hornady and my chrono, my ballistic app, the a7 with the eldx would be good as far as 600 yards for 1600fps minimum expansion velocity.

Glad to see more people successfully using the eld-x. I had great sucess last season with the 178gr in a 30-06. I am going to stick with the 178gr but in a 20" bbl 308 for the coming season.

Thank OP for the tread.

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[sneaky]

300-450yds depending on altitude and bullet selection.

I mainly hunt with Barnes, but I've seen poor performance of TTSX in the lower velocity range of 308. Animals were recovered, but had minimal internal damage. I would not use a TTSX past 300.

Look at bonded bullets or partitions, 165 Accubond would be my choice.

What weight TTSX? A 140 range Barnes would be effective, thinking the LRX series with a better BC since they have almost 100% weight retention across the range. Just a thought.

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[zimagold]

What weight TTSX? A 140 range Barnes would be effective, thinking the LRX series with a better BC since they have almost 100% weight retention across the range. Just a thought.

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150gr TTSX.

Not a knock on 308Win or Barnes. Just helped hull animals out where that specific bullet seemed to need more than the stated min velocity to expand well.

I use 130gr LRX in my backup 270Win.

 

[TauPhi111]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I almost posted the same question because I'm thinking about building a lightweight short action mountain rifle for elk and I'm debating whether to go 308 or something with a little more punch like 300 RCM. For hunting I use either a Barnes TTSX/LRX, Hammer, or Cutting Edge bullet. I'd like to be able to take a 500 yard shot max with confidence knowing my bullet will do it's job if I do mine of putting it in the right spot. Is a 308 up to that task? I'd like to hear more from people that shoot elk with 308's rather than people debate energy requirements.

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I almost posted the same question because I'm thinking about building a lightweight short action mountain rifle for elk and I'm debating whether to go 308 or something with a little more punch like 300 RCM. For hunting I use either a Barnes TTSX/LRX, Hammer, or Cutting Edge bullet. I'd like to be able to take a 500 yard shot max with confidence knowing my bullet will do it's job if I do mine of putting it in the right spot. Is a 308 up to that task? I'd like to hear more from people that shoot elk with 308's rather than people debate energy requirements.

Personal experience here only, a good quality 150-180 grain bullet with at least 2600ish fps muzzle velocity will get you to 500 for an ethical kill with a 308 where you should be in the 1700 - 1800 fps range. However, at yardages 350 or so to your 500 yard max you'll want to make sure you're poi is right in the goodies. As quality of ammo improves with high end factory cartridges or hand loads getting a 308 to 500 and beyond becomes easier. It's worth it to buy or borrow a chrono if you don't have one. Consider, a Federal TBT 165 is purported to have 2700 fps at the muzzle, that drops to 1812 fps according to my little phone app at 500 yards which is federals stated minimum expansion velocity, you'd be on the ragged edge.

Modern bullet designs for expansion need velocity more than anything when you're talking about "slower" calibers. Numerically speaking my A7 with a 24 inch barrel and 178 grain eldx at 2597 fps gets that projectile all the way to almost 600 yards and 1600 fps. My current self-imposed limit is 500 yards on game. I wanted a rifle that could do that and then some but that was relatively inexpensive to feed for hunting and lots of range time among other things

I had a 20 inch tube CA Ridgeline that I occasionally regret selling, it was so light and handy. I'll end up with another one I'm sure. Compact 308's are really nice and do a great job to 500, you just need to be mindful of the cartridge specs and once you've got that all dialed you either sell the rifle lol or live happily ever after with a handy and deadly stick in the safe.

 

[ID_Matt]

500 is a safe max I would think. We used 168 Bergers and 178 Hornady ELD-X last year out of a 308 and it performed well at distances closed to that on Elk.

 

[timekiller13]

Too many variables to accurately answer the question. Most important variable being your personal shooting skills. If you have the right equipment and the time to practice, then 1000yds may be your max effective distance. No matter if I have a 243 Win or 338 Lapua in my hand, my max effective distance is 400yds, because that's as far out as I can practice to. I will not shoot farther than I have practiced. Too many variables come into play the longer the shot gets.

No real need to worry about minimum energy. I have a buddy who kills whitetails with a .300 Blackout using 247 grain subsonic ammo, out to 150 yds. The round carries a whopping 450 ft lbs of energy at the muzzle, and is down to less than 300 ft lbs at 150 yds. Yet he consistently drops deer with sniper like precision. Why? Well, partly because he was a military sniper. But, he also practices, practices, practices and practices some more. Correct bullet placement is the key. The person behind the trigger is more important that the round.