Which Bullet.

[DON]

I would push you towards the 35 Whelen, love 30 cal guns as I own 30-06 as well. But I do have a 35 Whelen and there is NO COMPARISON on killing power between the two.

I honestly have never trailed any Deer I have taken with the Whelen. I mean they are just DRT, LIGHTS OUT NO ONE'S HOME. :mrgreen: It's easy to reload and IMO
I think the 06 kicks more on the bench, just a sharper recoil when comparing both of my guns being Rem 700 rifles with 22" barrels.

Nothing wrong with a 308 as it is a proven killer on game. Good luck with your adventure.

Don

 

[Oldtrader3]

I have never tracked any deer shot with my .270 Win, for that matter.

 

[Harv6]

Thanks for the replies. Might just get another box of 165 Partitions. I've already got a good load with them for my 300 savage. Its downloaded to about a topped out 30/30 at 2300fps It was the first load I shot with my Savage 99. It came in just over an inch. So I figured I'd save time/resources and stop right there & take it out to the woods. All those deer shot w/ a 30/30 died for a reason! And it dropped a button buck where it stood from 180 yards for me too!

 

[PJGunner]

I shoot rifles in .308 Win. with barrels ranging from 18" to 23" and my preferred bullet weight is 165 gr. So if I had to pick a bullet from the ones you mentioned, I would go Partition first, AccuBond second and Ballistic tip last. I probably would be happiest with the Partition if hunting bear or if expecting to run into one while on a deer hunt.
With an 18" barrel, I'm not sure you'll reach the velocities you mentioned. I sure can't from my 18 and 18.5" rifles. Just a suggestion but you might want to take a look at the Speer 165 gr, Hot-Core. Just a plain old cup and core bullet that has harvested a pick up truck load of big Nevada and Arizona Mule Deer, all one shot kills. All but one shot were complete pass throughs and meat damage wasn't all that bad. One of the rifles is a Ruger M77 RSI tang safety rifle that I call a one trick pony. It will only shoot one load with acceptable accuracy and it's the wrong powder for the cartridge so velocity is only 2550 FPS. Good enough to take big Mule Deer to at least 250 yards which is the longest shot I've had to make with that rifle. Bullet was the 165 gr. Hot Core and passed almost the full length of the deer and retained about 65 percent of it's weight. Deer dressed out at 180 pounds.
FWIW, the reason for the slow speed is the powder really is too slow for the .308. It's just the only load that will work in that rifle. That's why it's a "one trick pony".
Paul B.