Friend of mine has a .308 that he wants to use for an Elk hunt we have coming up in November.

What's a good bullet to start with here guys? 180 grain Hornady SP or BT was what I was thinking.

Assumption I made (i've never reloaded for this caliber before):

Since a .308 is at the lower velocity to which these bullets are designed, does my buddy need to invest in premium bullets, and develop a practice load separate from a premium load for hunting, or would a "tough" regular 180 grainer do fine?

Any opinions/experiences would be appriciated.

Matt

Forgot to mention:

Shots would be limited to no more than 150-200 yards.

I'm leaning on trying IMR4064 for a starting powder.

You might want to check our loadswap section. Here's some to start out with.

http://www.loadswap.com/display.php?action=view_weight&cartridge_id=61&table=Rifle_Data

I'd be inclined to look into the 180 grain Nosler Partition or Swift A Frame and maybe IMR 4320 or IMR 4350. Faucettb (Bob) is the guy I would ask on this one about elk. He's the guy who posted above. .308 could do the job but I'd be looking for as much insurance as I could get if you find you need to anchor an elk RIGHT THERE and NOW.

I shoot 165gr. Partitions in my .30-06 as a general purpose critter load and no complaints so far.

I'd agree that with the sane muzzle velocities a .308 has, you are probably OK with most ordinary bullets. Personally I'd avoid anything with a plastic tip, unless it was bonded.

It's never the wrong decision to use a better bullet.

For a .308, a 165gr partition and IMR 4064 would be hard to beat by much!

Lots of elk killed with the 308 at reasonable distances. The 165's in a bonded core or partition seem to offer the best velocity/trajectory out to 250-300 yards. I haven't tried the barns solid copper bullets, but folks are telling me they are excellent.

I'd sure want a little more oomph than the 308 past that though.

I dug one out of the bottom of a canyon about ten years ago. 308 165 grain Nosler partition at about 185 yards. Nice lung shot and lungs were jelly. Elk ran down hill till he hit the creek at the bottom about 600 yards. It appeared it didn't know it was dead until it tried to go uphill. I've seen them do the same thing with a 300 Weatherby mag shot.

Two other guys and I spent two and a half days getting that elk out of there. A lot of it cutting out the deadfalls and using a powersaw winch pulling that critter up that hillside and over bluffs. When we were done we figured that elk was worth about 500 bucks a pound if you charged cheap for sweat.

I gave up heart lung shots and just break the front shoulders anymore. Take away the means of locomotion and they don't go far. I use a big heavy bullet at good velocity and usually end up with less bloodshot meat than guys using a 270 or 06 with lighter bullets.

We,ve been using 150 core-lokt's in 308 and 30-06 but in a more open much flatter part of Idaho than Bob is hunting in. I would pick both the bullet weight and where I shot the animal depending on the terrain it was in. Bob's advice is good in that a elk is not something you what in a hole. Knew of a couple of young guys that had been three days packing a elk and weren't done yet. I have turned down more than one because of where they were, and knew what a job it would be if shot where it was.