308-220gr in the thick stuff?

It's not that heavier bullets "buck brush", but, given similar construction, heavier bullets will outpenetrate lighter ones. In my neck of the woods if you wait for a picture perfect broadside shot, you may lose the opportunity altogether. This means taking any reasonable angle, except a texas heart shot.

That said, the 220 gr. RN doesn't have a very good reputation for penetration in spite of the high sectional density, and I'd pick a premium 180 gr. every time.....

Actually, provided it is not driven too fast, it performs very well. Ask anyone who has used it in the 30-40 Krag, especially, or the 308 Win as the original poster is considering,

One of the current great Brown Bear men, Phil Shoemaker, w ww.grizzlyskinsofalaska.com, will tell you it works well in the 30-06, too.

Ted
 
I believe in it to a point, I do think a 12ga 300gr Lead Slug can bust some brush with the animal close behind. It just feels right to me.


O'Connor tested a variety of calibers from the .220 Swift to the .375 H&H Magnum, including the standard one ounce 12 gauge shotgun slug. This latter projectile proved to the best brush-bucker of them all, as it is stabilized by its weight forward design rather than by spin. Even the 300 grain Silvertip bullet fired from the .375 Magnum showed considerable deflection in O'Connor's testing. The .35 Remington's 200 grain RN bullet often found the target, but frequently hit sideways.

...
 
Actually, provided it is not driven too fast, it performs very well. Ask anyone who has used it in the 30-40 Krag, especially, or the 308 Win as the original poster is considering,

A great deal depends on the specific bullet. I have a book on my shelf written by famed African PH John Kingsley-Heath. He wrote that one of his favourite loads for leopard was a .30-06 with a 220 gr. bullet, because the bullet would not exit, and spoil the pelt.

"Certainly when used on leopards with a 220-grain bullet, in nearly all cases the bullet comes to rest under the skin of the leopard on the opposite side to that from which it had entered"

Unfortunately he never specifies exactly which load he was using.

One of the members on here complained of mediocre penetration from a .30/220. I think it was H4831, but I could be mistaken.

Of course, a 220 gr. Nosler partition is a horse of another colour, and I'm kind of curious how a 220 gr. Woodleigh would hold up.
 
No doubt you are right. During the years i was guiding up here, I heard disappointing reports from guys using the 220 Hornady, Sierra, and Silvertip, as to how well they penetrate. Everyone seemed to think the 220 Remington factory Core-Lokt worked well.

The 220 Partition certainly is a great game bullet! I would not fear any animal in NA with that bullet loaded in a rifle I was able to handle well.

BTW, it was a Hornady 300 gr that I was using on the unfortunate brush moose mentioned above.
Ted
 
i was looking at penetration,heavy long bullet, moving modest velocity. i know the 220 gr is great for the 300win mag and 30/06. the reason for the 308 with the 220gr might be less meat damage, bullet opening up less because of design for higher velocity and deeper penetration.solids penetrate well on buffs with very little deformation and gets the job done.i'm obviously not an expert but was just wondering.

I hear what you are saying about the meat damage thing. My solution to that now is to do head shots only. No more of this heart/lung vital shots. With head shots they drop dead in their tracks and no meat is ruined.
 
If you want to ensure good penetration, a premium 180 or a standard 200 would be my choice.

As for brush busting, forget it. I have seen a number of good tests published that all had the same result. I tried to run a test one year using our old Christmas tree. Many bullets blew up on hitting a branch. And I have had some hunting disasters where bullets hit branches before the animal.
 
A great deal depends on the specific bullet. I have a book on my shelf written by famed African PH John Kingsley-Heath. He wrote that one of his favourite loads for leopard was a .30-06 with a 220 gr. bullet, because the bullet would not exit, and spoil the pelt.

"Certainly when used on leopards with a 220-grain bullet, in nearly all cases the bullet comes to rest under the skin of the leopard on the opposite side to that from which it had entered"

Unfortunately he never specifies exactly which load he was using.

One of the members on here complained of mediocre penetration from a .30/220. I think it was H4831, but I could be mistaken.

Of course, a 220 gr. Nosler partition is a horse of another colour, and I'm kind of curious how a 220 gr. Woodleigh would hold up.

Yes, I once wrote on one of these posts about being disappointed with the penetration of standard 220 grain bullet in a 30-06.
I told of an instance of seeing a big buck mule deer standing looking at me at about fifty yards. I aimed right at the white spot on his chest and he just collapsed at the shot, an old CIL Dominion cartridge with a 220 grain soft point bullet. The blood was squirting out the entrance hole like water from a garden hose hose. My first thought was what a gory job it was going to be in dressing the buck.
Much to my surprise, the bullet never penetrated the diaphragm, into the innards!
 
The debate about what bullets go through brush better is an old one and I have not been much convinced by some of the "experiments" I have read about.

Surly the video above is suspect in its methodology and results.

I think a good 180 grain bullet would be your best choice based on what you have described as your needs.
 
Shooting through brush and think you're going to maintain some sort of consistent poi is
a world of fail.
I watched this stupid chit last year.
Makes me encourage myself to hunt alone.
 
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