308 Winchester

[41Magnum]

For those of you that have experience in hunting elk with a specialty pistol….

I'm looking at an elk hunt either next year or in 2026. I will be taking my Nosler M48 handgun in 308 win. Any recommendations as to what bullet to use? My maximum shooting distance will be 300 yards. Copper or bonded? 130, 150, 165, or 180 gr? I have ran several factory loads through it and it's shooting just about everything I feed it well as collecting brass for reloading.
Your thoughts….

Keith

 

[Ernie]

150-165 grain Accubond or other bonded bullets.

 

[WV Hitman]

Never used my .308 HS on big stuff, but killed a lot of deer with it. Like Ernie, I think the way to go is 165 gr. ABs or maybe even 165 Gr (if made) Nos. PTs. I did drop a 800# kudu in Africa with a 125 gr. PT in my 6.5/.284 XP at 300+ yards. These small PTs & ABs greatly increase penetration & offer better trajectories at longer range than bigger caliber guns. Heck, I even took 2 deer in WV at 400 yds. with a 110 gr. Lehigh Chaos in my .308. Neither moved on double shoulder shots.

 

[ChrisRhodes]

The article on the blog with 3 elk in 10 min….one of those was with a 308 nosler running 130 barnes. A 460 SW revolver was used at 220 yards… Elk are not tough to kill…..I have taken a few with a 7-30 waters…and a few more with wheelguns…several with a 6.5-284 with a 127 barnes….have not had to track any yet..

3 elk in 10 Min!Just a couple days ago late season cow elk was wrapped up for three of us in about 10 min. We exited the vehicle just before sun up and in the …
http://handgunhuntingafield.blog/2024/03/21/3-elk-in-10-min-2/

 

[biednick]

I prefer copper, and generally use something from Cutting Edge. Their MTH line has performed well for me in handguns, though I don't have a 308. I pick something in the low-mid range for bullet weight with copper, probably 150 or 165 for a 308. I have found Cutting Edge bullets tend to exceed the velocity I expect to see with fast powders, and speed plateaus pretty low with short barrels and slow powders.

 

[dogbuster0006]

If lead is legal 140-150gr nosler partition will work just fine. 140gr 7mm-08 partition has filled the freezer several times for us.

 

[HandgunHTR]

Ernie has a ton of experience here, but in my experience you get very good performance out of standard cup and core bullets when shot at handgun velocities.

In my 308 Encore, I shoot 150 and 165 grain SSTs and it performs very well. Still have yet to catch one and the wound channels are very good.