.303 Factory ELK Hunting Help!

[Boomer]

I will NEVER shoot another animal with Sierra bullets out of my .303 again. Shot a mulie this year three times with 180 grain Sierra handloads - the deer died (I hit him good all three times), but almost zero bullet expansion that I could tell. I wasn't at all happy during the post mortem.

Prior to that little adventure in handloading, The Wife(tm) and I both have been shooting everything (deer, elk, bear, grouse, etc) with Winchester 180 grain PowerPoint's. Everything we've ever shot with those died in short order, and the only bullet we ever recovered (center-punched two ribs and a shoulder on an elk and hung up in the hide on the far side) was a mushroom approx twice the original diameter, and about 160 grains of retained weight.

I give two thumbs WAY up for the Winchester PowerPoint's in the 303 British. I'd expect any elk close enough for you to hit him in the vitals would be dead in short order if shot with that load.

That's interesting. .308" Sierra bullets have worked well for me in the past, but perhaps Sierra has hardened their core material so as to withstand higher velocities. If this is the case it is unfortunate, because there are still many cartridges that produce impact velocities below 2500 fps. If a soft point bullet doesn't upset with an impact velocity of 2000 fps it ain't worth a damn.

I am curious though what your load was and the range at which you shot your deer.

 

[catnthehatt]

I will NEVER shoot another animal with Sierra bullets out of my .303 again. Shot a mulie this year three times with 180 grain Sierra handloads - the deer died (I hit him good all three times), but almost zero bullet expansion that I could tell. I wasn't at all happy during the post mortem.

Prior to that little adventure in handloading, The Wife(tm) and I both have been shooting everything (deer, elk, bear, grouse, etc) with Winchester 180 grain PowerPoint's. Everything we've ever shot with those died in short order, and the only bullet we ever recovered (center-punched two ribs and a shoulder on an elk and hung up in the hide on the far side) was a mushroom approx twice the original diameter, and about 160 grains of retained weight.

QUOTE]
Sounds as though the problem may have been the handload, NOT the bullet choice.
I've never had a complaint of all the .303 users I have handloaded for over the years.

The last Seirra Prohunter I used expanded to twice its size or better at 90 paces and lost only a few graons off its original weight.
that was an 8mmX56MS.
Cat

 

[Murf]

My old No4 Mk1 still shoots 5 into less than an inch using the right hand loads.
The .303 is slower than most of the cartridges that need premium bullets and seems to do well with standard cup and core bullets. For elk I would look at something in the 174 to 180 gr range. I believe 200 yards, maybe 250 or so would be getting near the maximum range because of retained energy and trajectory for elk. I know it will kill deer a lot further away than 200 but as one old timer said elk are tough , "They make blood faster than you can drain it out" was his description.

 

[Eagleye]

Sounds as though the problem may have been the handload, NOT the bullet choice.
I've never had a complaint of all the .303 users I have handloaded for over the years.

The last Seirra Prohunter I used expanded to twice its size or better at 90 paces and lost only a few graons off its original weight.
that was an 8mmX56MS.
Cat

X2!! I start that 180 Sierra 180 at 2600 in my P14, and expansion is always apparent, even on smaller deer. Eagleye.

 

[brotherjack]

Sounds as though the problem may have been the handload, NOT the bullet choice.
I've never had a complaint of all the .303 users I have handloaded for over the years.

The last Seirra Prohunter I used expanded to twice its size or better at 90 paces and lost only a few graons off its original weight.
that was an 8mmX56MS.
Cat

What? What on earth could have been wrong with my hand loads that would cause expansion failure? Let's see. Sierra ProHunter, 180 grain bullets, stuffed in virgin Remington brass, fueled by Reloader 15, and detonated by CCI large rifle primers. Chronographed muzzle velocity of 2450FPS, and plenty accurate enough for hunting purposes. The mule deer was shot three times through the chest/lungs while standing broadside from a distance of approx 30 yards (impact velocity would have been approx 2400FPS). The exit holes were the same size as entrance holes, and the deer ran off and took a whole lot longer to die that I felt good about. During the post mortem, the lungs were still intact, just three 30 caliber holes in them.

If all three bullets failed to perform at that velocity on a mule deer, at that range - I got no faith in em at all. And you'll never convince me that I didn't do the right kind of voodoo on my handloads - a bullet going 2450FPS is a bullet going 2450FPS, I don't care how you made it go that fast.


Every critter I've ever shot broadside at 30 yards with a Win PowerPoint had it's lungs turned into jelly and died before it took 5 steps.

 

[boone052]

I also like the Winchester 180's. Try grouping with whatever bullet you decide to use, at 100yds. That should help you decide. I've shot several moose and deer and elk with my .303 (22" barrel?) and 180s. Love 'em.

 

[250 sav]

w.w. 180 powerpoints have worked well on deer and moose.

 

[Leeper]

I have heard before that current 303 180 Sierras are too hard. This seems especially strange when you consider that the 303 British is the cartridge inwhich they are most likely to be used. The 180 Sierras of 42 years ago worked very well at 303 velocities but I've not used any lately. My first choice for reloading the 303 is the 180 Speer.
For factory loads I would be imclined to go with the Winchester Power Points (180) Regards, Bill.

 

[britarms]

Apparently Sierra claims their 180 grain bullets for .303 are designed to have optimum performance between 2500 and 3000 fps. Kind of rules them out as a hunting bullet for anything except .303 Epps