Took my son Saturday and got him a Remington 700 SPS in .308 for his upcoming cow elk hunt and to use fordeer most of the time. Thanks to everyone for your opinions on calibers. Now whats your opinion on factory ammo?

Remington Core-Loks come in .308.

308, good choice, in our elk camp, we consider it to be a "30-06 equivalent" and suitable for elk (and definitely for deer). Congratualtions on not going for the much recommended "underbore" stuff. BTW, we had a 14 year old girl in camp a couple years ago (about 100 pounds) who took her elk with a 30-06 with no problem.

Remington "Core-Loks" are notcommonlly recommended as a first choice for elk, most hunters up their standard to premium bullets: Nosler Partition, Barnes, Swift, etc.) "Core-Loks"are plenty good for deer all day long, elk are just different critters with different degrees of size and toughness [bones and thickness](even cow elk).

Remington "Core-Loks" are okay for practice (cheap) especially if they shoot to the.same point of impact as your good stuff. Again, they are plenty enough for deer.

[Someone here no doubt will say, "I been using "Core-Loks" for twenty years"; however, most folks go with better.]

Federal NP or Federal Triple Shok X

First of all, no matter what brand you get, go with a 180 gr bullet. I highly recommend a premium round like the Federal Premium Vital-Shok with Nosler 180gr bullets. Stay away from the Core Lok's, they just don't open (mushroom) fast enough. Pass through with little damage.
Then frop down to 150 or so for deer/antelope/bear, etc. Go to the range and get real familiar with it at 200+ yards too! (For elk especially). I got a 7mm-08 for my 12 tear old son and even though he took down a cow with one shot, I still kind of regret not getting him the .308.

Why? The 7mm-08 is fine. If he was able to kill a cow elk with one shot, he can hunt elk with a .25-06 if he wanted to!

Here we go again.........

why stop with the .25-06?

I say get him a sharp stick!!!! Sorry, sarcasm is a favorite of mine! (for those that haven't read my "stick story", do a search!)

Give me a link to see this "stick story" I was thinking that someone would bring up the ".243 on elk" thread.

If you look at HNI's trophy gallery, look in elk, there is this woman that shot one with a 25-06, so I guess it works fine, but I'd never hunt elk with the .223. (I still can't forget that thread. By the way, were there ever any other stories similar? Besides hunting grizzlies with a .223 and an elk with a .223 and shooting elk with a .243.)

I would like to share an unethical thing that my great-grandfather did when he was out in the woods, but I don't want to give the antis any ammo, so if several member could ask me to PM it to them I will, and if you guys think it's OK, than I'll post it in a thread, if not, I won't tell anyone.)

See.....
http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/fb.aspx?m=1407698&key=sharp%2cstick

I don’t know about the 180 grainers. I think I would stay with the 150's. Flatter trajectory and a little less recoil. The .308 doesn’t usually like anything above 165's. Or at least that’s what my experiences with them has been. The 165 grTSX would do a great job on a cow elk! Federal offers them in a "Premium" load. They still hold 1000 ft/lbs at 500 yds. Not saying you would shoot that far. The ballistics chart show if you sight dead on at 100 yds, you will only have about 4" of drop at 200. Plus the TSX is a great bullet for weight retention! 98-99% in most loads!

Another great choice would be PMC'c loaded with a 168 gr XLC. PMC is nearly hand loaded quality. Before I started hand loading, it was all that I would shoot. They group very well and use premium bullets, like Barnes.

Let us know how your kids hunt works out. Love to see youngster getting out and enjoying the sport!