need an opinion on best .300 wby bullets for elk

[weatherbynoob]

actually have an uncle that hunts with a 30/30 but never hunted with him to see if it was used in taking game.I have recently got back from shooting hand loads for my 300wby and am fully confident in the rifle thank u guys for the input and confidence boost and eye openr on the 30/30 went to my local gun shop looked at some lever actions and it was love at first site.

[eaglesnester]

Any 180 to 200 grain HUNTING bullet will do you just fine. It does not have to be a so called premium high dollar bullet. A elchepo 180gr Speer SPZ will get the job done just fine, as will any other HUNTING bullet. Many of us today get so involved in hunting bullet hype that we figure we have to go out and buy a premium Barnes or a premium partition that costs a dollar a bullet and thats if you reload. Well you dont have to boys and girls. The last two bears I killed were with a 200 gr soft nose elchepo Speer. Kilt em just as dead just as quick if I had used a high dollar bullet.  My advise would be to get to the range and learn how to shoot accurate and forget about what type of bullet you are using.

[Buds101]

Maybe a little late on this, Our family has hunted elk since the early 1960s, using wby mark 300 wby mag loading 180 Nosler partitions and 4350 powder. These group good on paper, kill every elk dead as a doornail, My Father used this load and gun, I have used it, now my son is on his 2nd year, same gun, same load. I guess the great thing is there is a ton of bullets out there for 30 cal, I would bet there is so many choices that are equally as good in the old wby.  Dad had two wbys, the family is still filling up the freezer all of these years with these two guns. I would say it may have been the best buy of dads lifetime. What can I say, dad always valued his prized wby guns. we now as a family prize them as family hand downs. 

[DesertDrifter]

Live in AZ and I've killed 3 elk just fine with a 180 Ballistic Tip backed by RL22, two cows and 1 bull. The bullet performed perfectly in all cases.

[danno50]

Welcome to the Nation DesertDrifter.

[buffybr]

My first elk rifle was a .30-06 and it easily killed elk with 150 and 180 grain Hornady and Sierra cup and core bullets.

When I rechambered that rifle to .30 Gibbs, the bullet velocities increased to approximately .300 Win mag velocities, so I switched to 180 grain Nosler Partition bullets which gave better penetration than standard cup and core bullets

I have taken my .300 Weatherby on four international hunts and have killed two bull elk with it using either 168 grain Barnes TSX or TTSX bullets just because they are accurate in my rifle.  My current elk load is with 180 grain TTSX bullets.

[HuskyMusky]

I'd want the 180gr TTSX or Accubond probably, or maybe even the 200gr Partition

[HighDesertHunter]

150 g if it's calm 180 g if it's windy.

[buffybr]

150 g if it's calm 180 g if it's windy.

Like I posted earlier, when I started hunting I only had one rifle, a .30-06, and I worked up a 150 g load for deer and a 180 g load for elk.

Since pronghorn antelope season was ahead of deer and elk seasons, I would sight my rifle in with the 150 g bullets and go antelope hunting.  Then I would re-sight with 180 g for elk, then re-sight again for deer. 

Then I would be hunting deer with 150s and run into an elk, and shoot him with the 150.  Or I would be hunting elk with the 180s and shoot a deer.  Both worked, but it was a royal PITA changing bullet zeros every other week.

As I later got more rifles, I began to just zero each rifle to one bullet, and match the rifle to the animal that I would be hunting.  Then one year I took my .257 Ackley with 117 g Sierra GameKing bullets on a Montana unlimited tag Bighorn sheep area and the last day out this heavy, ivory tipped, dark antlered 6x6 bull elk came walking about 75 yards from me and ...

When I first got my .300 Wby I loaded it with 168 g Barnes TSX bullets and it worked great on Texas exotics, Montana bull elk, and a variety of South African antelope from a 30 pound Klipspringer to a 500+ pound Sable.

Then I switched to 168 g Barnes TTSX bullets in my .300 Wby, and they worked great on Montana bull elk, a variety of New Zealand animals from a fallow deer to a red deer stag, and in Mozambique from 40 pound duiker antelope to a leopard and another 500+ pound Sable antelope.

I have now switched to Barnes 180 g TTSX bullets in my .300 Wby, and I have absolutely no doubt that they will work great on any North American animal from pronghorn antelope to moose.

[HighDesertHunter]

A 168 is a good choice. The difference in the BC between a 150g Hornady GMX and a 180 ELD-X isn't enough to worry about with an Elk when it comes to elevation but it will handle wind a lot better so my theory has always been that it's better to only have to deal with one factor rather than two. It's just my way of handling different situations and may not be for everybody.

[Dino82520]

So far I've killed 4 elk, one antelope and one coyote with 150 gr TTSX.  The elk ranged from about 45 to175 yds. No recovered bullets, all passed through and only one shot each.  The coyote was a lazered 347 yds.  If I can work up an accurate load with TTSX bullets for a hunting rifle, that's what I use.  I do use Sierra 225 gr BT's in my 35 Whelen.  At that velocity I don't need premium bullets.

[Blackbear3]

I wonder if weatherbynoob is still with us? His last post was June of 2010, a lot of nation members have disappeared since then.

[Buckleman]

Go with the Barnes. 168 or 180. They are easier to find good load than the E-Tips. Go with the Barnes and don't look back.

[Buckslammer]

Plenty of good Bullets, but I narrowed my preferences to 165/168gn TSX/TTSX, 180gn Nosler Partition or Accubond. These combos tend to be used a lot, they’re versatile and generally hunters report consistently good performances. I haven’t used it on elk as yet, as I’ve only used the 338 Win Mag on elk with 225gn Barnes X, which worked impressively well.

[pathfinder#82]

My 300 WBY does an excellent job on Elk with the Barnes 168 Grain TTSX. Joel