Raptor 1

Hoping to hunt Colorado this fall and am thinking about using my .308 Win. Looking for some ammo, or load suggestions. I do reload! My first thought was 168gn Barnes TSX. Will be hunting Mule deer, and I might purchase a Bull Elk licenses also. Any help would be greatly appreciated..

R1

Highpower

For your Mule Deer, I'd look at the Sierra 165 HPBT Gameking. Performance is excellent. I have a friend that carries these in his 300 Wby for elk and does very well, but I tend to lean towards the TSX for elk for the deeper penetration. Just my $.02

early

b4 my Dad moved outta state ta retire; he used a 308 win ta harvest several elk and deer. i think he used 165 gr hornady interlock spp's. but after he dumped his re-loading equipment he switched to hornady light mag factory loaded 165 gr... i use a 30-06 with 180gr sp's and comparing wound chanels and effectiveness (as in how quick the animal droped) i could see no difference in the two. im strictly an amature; but in over 10 years i never had ta track any of his elk. they fell close ta where they were shot.

early

oldelkhunter

.308 will bounce off an Elks Ribs


165 TSX or 180 partition or similar bullet well constructed bulletwill do the trick. A deer bullet will expand tooooooooooo fast .

bigcountry

I worked up a 168gr TSX load for my 308 for those thoughts. Just hit the mule deer thru both shoulders, and the TSX will rib thru em. I am not overly confident in the tsx on deer. Seen wounds that make me wonder.

James B

BC I know what you mean. Just using the original X bullets, the wounds on deer just never impressed me. Most however went down pretty fast. Of their ability to Penetrate, there is no doubt.

If I were going after Elk with my 308, I would load the 180 Grain Partition with total confidence. Another bullet that does not get much attention in the 308 is the 190 Grain Hornady BTSP. I used to load them for steel silhouettes but they were also extremely effective on all big game Deer, Bear and Moose. This, even though theywere only loaded to 2400-2450 fps.

oldelkhunter

Thats not fast enough for big game ..you need at least 3300 to get that bullet going

Solitary Man

The TSX would be my choice. Has worked very well for me on smallish southern whitetail deer. Had one run about 20 yards, but that was the farthest.

Raptor 1

bigcountry,

If you don't mind, what was your recipe for the 168gn TSX?

R1

bigcountry

I will have to go home and see. I know I used 4064. Will get back to ya. Wasn't awesom accuracy but ok. I finaly got 1.5MOA accuracy.