ammo for the upcoming elk hunt

[Mobuck]

I spent some quality time digging through ammo cans looking for the ammo I knew I had someplace. My primary rifle will be a Rem 700 in 7mm Rem mag and I discovered I have 2 1/2 boxes of it's preferred 160 grain Nosler Partition and a bunch of the PMC 160 grain that shoots close enough to POI to use for practice. I intend to deer hunt with this rifle in the MO rifle season to fully re-acquaint myself with the rifle's recoil and trajectory-I haven't shot it for over a decade.
My back-up and/or heavy timber/close range rifle will be one of the following:
Rem 700 20" carbine in .308(not a catalog item, it's a Youth rifle with an adult stock). I have some PMC 168 grain Barnes HP but not sure the 20" will give the velocity needed for optimum expansion. Also have some 150 Nosler Partition that has shown excellent accuracy and I'm not concerned about the lighter 150 at carbine velocities. Today, I noticed Nosler 168 Bonded "Defense" ammo at a good price and ordered 3 boxes. Guess I'll see which one of the 3 shows best accuracy and velocity.
Wby Vanguard/HOWA 7mm08 20" carbine. At present, I only have one load on hand that I consider suitable for cow elk- Speer Factory loaded 145 GrandSlam. I've used this on a couple of deer and feel it's OK for the expected 350-450# elk.
I'm open to any comments or actual use stories on the Nosler 168 Bonded .308 or Speer 145 GrandSlam 7mm08 on elk sized game.

 

[tsubaki]

As for the 308 velocity, I doubt you will lose more than 200fps with your carbine compared to the barrel the manufacturers tested the factory ammo with.

Remington lists their 150gr PSPCL in .308 at 2820fps, my 18 1/2" carbine semiauto spits them out at 2630fps.

 

[Mobuck]

"Remington lists their 150gr PSPCL in .308 at 2820fps, my 18 1/2" carbine semiauto spits them out at 2630fps."

I get a big fireball and lots of muzzle blast and about 2700fps from Rem 150 Corelokt which makes me wonder if that is loaded with a slower burning powder. My handloaded ammo uses IMR 4895 which has much less of both flash and blast and 2685 fps.

 

[sixshot]

Mobuck, I've taken elk with the 308 in single shot pistols & my loads were going slower than what you are getting with your 20" barrels. If you use good bullets you will be just fine if the distance isn't too far. I would stay away from the Barnes X type bullets because they depend on upper end velocity to make them work. I have used them but when I did I always dropped down one or even two bullet weights to keep the velocity up. Good luck on your hunt.

Dick

 

[Mobuck]

" I would stay away from the Barnes X type bullets because they depend on upper end velocity to make them work"

This confirms some of what I remembered about the older X-bullets. This batch is at least 15 years old and was intended for use in a 26" barrel I had put on a Savage for my Daughter.
I expect to only use the carbine for shots of 200 yards +/-( 250 tops).

 

[Divernhunter]

Forget the old X-Bullets.
Use the newer TTSX bullet. It starts opening sooner than the TSX bullet.

 

[jn 41]

use the 7mm with partitions. They work and you wont have to lose any sleep over your bullet choice.