300 win mag ammo

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Moose hunter

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I was wondering what the flatest shooting cartridge in a off the shelf hunting load is in this calliber. I know you cant go by ballistics only you have to shoot the cartridge. I found this one Federal 180gr Trophy bonded high energy. The ballistics are 100y +1.1, 300y -5.4, 400y -15.8, 500 -32.3. I was going to buy this cartridge and try it but if anybody knows of better please let me know and i will try them as well.

Thanks.
Oops should of posted in ammo.
 
Generally, the lighter the bullet the faster it goes and hence, it is flatter shooting. However you have to match the bullet to the game!

180 grains would be a 'all round' type of load and shold be a good round!

Try it and see!!
 
I think those have been discontinued, if you want them and find some better buy them all. The "high energy" rounds basically bump the cartridge up a rung, they make you factory shooting 300 win like the hottest handloads you can find or a regular 300 weatherby. I've never used them , but the TBBC is supposed to be a very good bullet, deep penetrator.
 
Gibbs505 said:
Generally, the lighter the bullet the faster it goes and hence, it is flatter shooting.
!
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This is true to a point. A lighter bullet does have more velocity at the muzzle, but the lighter bullets also loose velocity and energy faster than heavier bullets will. So for a certain number of yards the lighter bullet will be faster, but after a certain point the heavier bullet will be travelling at the higher speed, due to the fact that it takes more distance to loose velocity with a heavier projectile. This can actually create a scenario where the heavier bullets in fact have a flatter trajectory at longer ranges.
I am not explaining this terribly well , but if 1 has a ballistics program it becomes quite obvious.
I used to subscibe to the speed is better theory, I was enlightened years ago that heavier bullets work better for long range. For most hunting this is not a real issue I realize.
The real key is finding out what bullet the particular rifle will shoot best. my 300 win mags (I have 3) do not shoot the under 180 gr bullets well, yet thrive on 200 gr. I have a friend whose 300 will shoot only 165s, it is twist rate that determines this, but only by shooting the various weights will you find which works best in your rifle.
KK
 
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The TBBC really dropped off past 150m for my friend's rifle-Sako m75 SS 300WM. We bought the same rifles together, but at the time I chose Winchester Supreme Partition Golds. He tried the TBBC but the just didnt perform for him. He switched to the same ammo as me and was then getting the same results as me with nice groups all the way out past 300m. Now we are both shooting Winchester Supreme Accubonds CT's in 180gr since 2004, and reloads for me this season with devestating results. My rifle is sighted in at 3.5" at 100m, puts me Dead on zero @ 300m. For my buddy with factory ammo, we have his rifle set up to be 2" high @ 100m, puts him about Dead on zero @ 225m.

The TBBC may work for you, but they sure didnt for my buddy.
Federal makes the 180gr Accubonds also.

We prefer the 180gr bullet over the 200gr. If we were stickly huinting elk and large bear, the 200gr is what we would use. Not to much available in the 200gr from factory. Since we hunt everything from the elk to moose, large whitetail and mulie bucks, the 180gr bullet has done its job superbly.

I do have some reloads in 200gr Accubonds and TSX that have groups under 1/2" also.

As mentioned, depends on the rifle and what it likes to shoot the best will determine what bullet and grain size you shoot in it.
 
I've recovered a 225gr.TBBC from a moose that was mushroomed perfectly; nearly 5/8" in diameter from around 100 yards. They shoot relatively good from my Browning A-Bolt in 338 Win mag, about 1 1/2" @ 100 yards. not too much more @ 200 yards.
 
The load you mention does not appear to be listed on the federal site.The flattest shooting load listed by federal is a 165gr solid base,but this is a very soft bullet.The new 180gr mrx load is next,and if you can find it in the stores,it will likely be the most expensive load by far, sold by federal in this chambering.The 180gr federal accubond load would probably be my choice to try.The tbbc is a good bullet but it has a low ballistic co-efficient which results in it having a not so impressive trajectory.
 
knockknock knows what he is talking about. Heavier bullets especially with good SD and BC can retain velocity better than ligher bullets and shoot flatter at longer distances. It seems strange but true.
 
Yes the heavier bullets will eventually catch and pass the trajectory of the lighter bullets,but since this doesn't happen until about 500 yards or more,it really is of little importance in a hunting situation.I see no reason to ever use a .308" bullet heavier than 180gr.If a 180gr bullet won't get the job done,you need to move up to a larger caliber.
 
stubblejumper said:
Yes the heavier bullets will eventually catch and pass the trajectory of the lighter bullets,but since this doesn't happen until about 500 yards or more,it really is of little importance in a hunting situation.I see no reason to ever use a .308" bullet heavier than 180gr.If a 180gr bullet won't get the job done,you need to move up to a larger caliber.
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You are right that for most hunting 500 yards is a long shot, some of us push the envelope alot further, and then the heavier bullets really do matter. Most 300 win mags I have shot or owned, which is quite a few now, seemed to shoot the 200s the best. Probably the optimum bullet weight for this particular caliber. Yes I realize that not every rifle will shoot them the best, but most have in my experience.
The truly unfortunate thing is that the factory offerings are almost nonexistant.
The Accubonds seem great until you get out a ways, in my 300 at 300 yards they scatter, I have seen several other guys rifle see the same result.. Partitions while not a match quality bullet seem to be more predictable. The Sierra Matchkings are incredibly predictable, but not great for hunting until you get out past 500 yards.
Not always is a bigger caliber going to be better as many larger calibers have heavier bullets but with much lower BCs. I think that the heavier 338 bullets make sense as they have very high BCs, but going beyond that you get back to a close range cartridge, until you get to the 50.
For shooters with limited experience in doping the wind the heavier bullets help as they do not wind drift as badly as the lighter 1s do, assuming their rifles shoot them well, which can also be of advantage in many hunting scenarios.
KK
 
As others have stated the heavier bullets will surpass the lighter bullets over longer ranges. The lighter bullets are to be avoided if possible since the heavier bullets will do everything the lighter bullets can do but not the other way around, it's nice to say that calibers have a wide range of bullets available but in the end most people I know find what the rifle likes shooting best and stick with it, it's not usually our choice what bullet ultimately the rifle shoots best. Unless the lighter bullets have to be used beyond any shadow of a doubt, it doesn't make sense to go to the lighter weights. There are many examples of people who wanted particular bullets to be used but found out the rifle wouldn't shoot them well forcing them to use another brand or weight. The all time classic 30-06 is a very good example of this, although I don't have any statistics but I think the vast majority of these users use the 180 gr bullets above any other bullet weight.
bigbull
 
For shooters with limited experience in doping the wind the heavier bullets help as they do not wind drift as badly as the lighter 1s do, assuming their rifles shoot them well, which can also be of advantage in many hunting scenarios.
KK
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Do you really believe that shooters with limited experience in doping the wind should be shooting at game farther than 500 yards where the reduced wind drift matters?
 
The lighter bullets are to be avoided if possible since the heavier bullets will do everything the lighter bullets can do but not the other way around,
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So what won't a 180gr tsx or even a 168gr tsx do to an animal that a heavier .308" bullet will do,at normal hunting ranges?
 
Penetrate. Heavier bullets in any given design will out penetrate lighter similar bullets.
Take a look at the .416 bullets though, the 400s and above have amazing SDs and penetrate like crazy.
A couple of winters ago a friend and I rounded up every round and bullet weight we could find for penetration tests. Our test media was a huge block of ice. The results varied for calibers and weights. The outstanding performers though were 6.5x55 ball ammo and .416 Rigbys with 400 grainers. The Rigby is not a surprise but the old 6.5 was amazing. It consistenty out penetrated everything up to the Rigby and then better than everything up to the .50 cals. There were a lot of big guns in there too including .458s and .460 Wbys. SD and weight seem to be the big factor(s). The .303, .308 and .30/06 ball ammo did not even come close. 7x57 ball was also a medium performer. These mid bores with expanding bullets all stopped really short and the .300 mags didn't do anything the .308 and 06 wouldn't do by any great margin.
 
Penetrate. Heavier bullets in any given design will out penetrate lighter similar bullets.
Take a look at the .416 bullets though, the 400s and above have amazing SDs and penetrate like crazy.
A couple of winters ago a friend and I rounded up every round and bullet weight we could find for penetration tests. Our test media was a huge block of ice. The results varied for calibers and weights. The outstanding performers though were 6.5x55 ball ammo and .416 Rigbys with 400 grainers. The Rigby is not a surprise but the old 6.5 was amazing. It consistenty out penetrated everything up to the Rigby and then better than everything up to the .50 cals. There were a lot of big guns in there too including .458s and .460 Wbys
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I am hoping that you aren't trying to answer my question with the above paragraph.

My question was

So what won't a 180gr tsx or even a 168gr tsx do to an animal that a heavier .308" bullet will do,at normal hunting ranges?
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This thread is based on the 300win mag,and I specifically stated a ".heavier 308" bullet" to be used on a game animal.The discussion about .416s,458s,460s and 6.5 ball ammo might be interesting,but since they are not .308" bullets as stated in my question,they don't answer my question,and aren't even relevent to a thread about 300 magnums.

So can you give me an example of a hunting situation where a .308" tsx weighing 168gr or 180gr would not perform adequately at normal hunting ranges,yet a heavier .308" hunting bullet would do an adequate job?
 
That's difficult to 'proove' one way or the other. But physics is physics. Assuming equal expansion, the heavier bullet will penetrate farther. BUT, Barnes claims their 'razor sharp' petals do more slicing than crushing (like a standard mushroom) so, it's hard to say. I know that in non animal media, such as phonebooks, barnes's perform similarly to conventional materials bullets of the same weight (unless the petals all broke off, then it would sil right through, of course)
 
That's difficult to 'proove' one way or the other. But physics is physics. Assuming equal expansion, the heavier bullet will penetrate farther. BUT, Barnes claims their 'razor sharp' petals do more slicing than crushing (like a standard mushroom) so, it's hard to say. I know that in non animal media, such as phonebooks, barnes's perform similarly to conventional materials bullets of the same weight (unless the petals all broke off, then it would sil right through, of course)
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Physics is physics,but it is not the unfired bullet weight that determines penetration.The tsx almost always retains 90% or so of its weight while bullets such as the partition only retain 60% to 70% of their weight.Therefore in actuality a tsx that weighs less will actually have more weight for much of the time that it is penetrating the animal than for example a partition.Therefore a lighter tsx will penetrate as well as a much heavier partition or similar bullet.I have seen the results of kills made with lighter weight tsx bullets,and in no instance did they not have more than adequate penetration to provide a clean kill.Therefore a heavier bullet would have been no advantage.
 
Example is easy. Large animals at hunting ranges. If fact in some areas, .30 cal and 180 grain and above is the minimal caliber for some animals. Example, here in the Yukon for bison. 168s are not even legal. More weight in the same caliber with the same bullet construction equals more penetration. When animals get very large, bullet weight is required to small bullets to the right spot. The answer to what a heavier bullet of the same caliber will do at reasonable range is that the heavier bullet with similar construction will penetrate better.
 
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You have given an example of where the 180gr bullet is required by law,but you still have not answered the question as asked.

I am only going to ask one more time.Let's make it easier by breaking down the question into two parts.


1)So can you give me an example of a hunting situation where a .308" tsx weighing 168gr or 180gr would not perform adequately at normal hunting ranges,



2)Now can you be sure that a heavier .308" hunting bullet would do an adequate job?
 
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