O.K. Most of you gentlemen seem to be real pros. I have an Remington M-24s in 300 win, I was considering a 308 because i thought the 300 win might be overkill I am new to Hunting deer and elk. Is the 300 win overkill and what are the benifits of each in the hunting realm

Thanks for all the Help.

IMO the 300 mag is over kill for deer size animals but a great round for elk. The 308 is on the lighter side for elk, although it is plenty effective, and about perfect for deer.

The question you need to answer is what do you hunt the most. If you hunt elk as much or more than you hunt deer,or on a combination hunt where you have tags for both, then the 300 would be my pick. If you hunt deer more than elk then I' d probably opt for the 308. A great compromise would be a 30-06 .280 Rem., 338-06.

Having said that if you already have the 300 and are not having a problem with recoil and it shoots good for you then keep it. After all you can' t kill it too dead.

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Use a .308 for deer, and your .300 for elk. You can never have too many firearms.

Either gun will do fine. There have been many elk taken with lesser guns than the 308. If you have a 300 mag already there would be no reason to change. That is except to HAVE MORE GUNS.

The .300 Win mag is an awesome round, and you won' t be disappointed with it' s performance. Use maybe a smaller bullet on deer, real small, with controlled expansion. Practice alot, and you will be just fine with it.

The .300 Win Mag might not be an overkill for deer, but the ammo is not very cheap for the .300. The 308 is an awesome round and is cheaper than the .300.

Good luck,

Arman M G

I have both of those calibers mentioned Both are in bpolt action guns. I use the 308 for deer hunting. The 300 mag is what I call my " moose gun" in case I ever draw a permit here in Maine. Many people say that the 300 is too much for deer, but the 308 with 150 grain bullet shot through both shoulders of a deer at 140 yards. Is that too much? My 223 shot through both shoulders at 80 yards, (55 grain PSP)
Just as well be the 300 Mag shooting through it. Nice flat trajectory from the 300 Mag. A little flatter than the 308.

But......I think that you can' t have too many guns!

I just clocked my loads from my .308, and the result was 2830 fps average with only a 15 fps variation for the 5 shots. No signs of over pressure of the loads. It groups less than 1 inch at 200 yds. I have also shot in excess of 150 rounds each time I go to the range. I don' t have a sore shoulder, and cleaning is easy. When you get up to the fast magnums and push that copper jacket through the bore that fast it fouls faster and you have to clean more often, and it cleans harder according to the magnum owners I have talked with at our range. This may not be true for all.

As for deer, it too goes all the way through below 150 yds, but it retains energy downrange. All the deer I have shot at with this rifle are dead. I have killed mule deer at 350 yds with this particular round. I am using 165 g SBT GameKings.

I am VERY pleased with the performance of this round, and the rifle it is in. A Ruger MarkIIVT.

MarkIIVT,
Any chance that you would share your recipe for those 308 rounds?