Funny you should mention the 300 Win Mag, I am considering do some work with it next. The reason is more to get the higher velocity performance of the already tested bullets. The .308 Win seems to get along fine with almost any bullet at traditional hunting ranges. But when the range is extended all bets are off as you will see with the data. So far I have tested eight bullets in the 165/168 grain class, five hunting bullets and three match bullets all at 2600, 2200, and 1800 fps impact velocities. There were no surprises at 2600 fps the hunting bullets all did really well, but as velocity fell off, the hunting bullets began to perform erratically, and the match bullets actually outperformed the hunting bullets. I'm sure the match bullets would have trouble at 3,000 fps impact. Here are some pics of the ballistic gel as one of the match bullets goes through at the three velocities.
Sierra 168 MatchKing 2600 fps.png
Sierra 168 MatchKing 2200 fps.png
Sierra 168 MatchKing 1800 fps.png
The bullets I have tested so far are the 168 Hornady ELDM, 165 Hornady SST, 165 Nosler AB, 165 Nosler BT, 165 Nosler Partition, 168 Sierra MK, 168 Sierra TMK and 165 Sierra TGK.
Penetration averages 27" for all bullets at all velocities from a low of 14" for the Sierra 168 TGK to a high of 36.5" for the Nosler 165 AB.
Weight Retention averages 63% for all bullets at all velocities from a low of 38% for the Sierra 165 TGK at 2200 fps to a high of 94% for the same bullet at 1800 fps. This was the poorest performing bullet tested. It did really well at 2600 fps but had a structural failure at 2200 fps turning sideways and spilling the core for a very shallow 14" wound and then at 1800 fps creating a very narrow "pencil through" wound channel.
Depending upon the value you place on shock, penetration, weight retention, exit wound, conservation of venison, performance at close range, performance at long range, your weighting of these factors would guide you to very different bullet selections.
For use at long range I would rule out the Sierra 165 TGK and the 165 Nosler Accubond. The best performing bullets at long range were the Sierra 168 TMK, Hornady 168 ELDM, and Sierra 168 SMK. I'm particularly surprised by the performance of the SMK. A bad experience many years ago along with the constant warnings by Sierra that this bullet is not intended for hunting, left me with a strong bias against the SMK. However, it did very well at all impact velocities.
For ranges out to 450 yards the Nosler 165 Partition is really hard to beat, it combines very rapid expansion with deep penetration at all ranges but clearly performed better at close range. Due to it's flat base and less aerodynamic design it looses speed faster than the other bullets falling at 1800 fps at only 450 yards.
The Nosler 165 BT did really well at close range holding together and penetrating 28.75" but shed it's jacket at impact velocities of 2200 and 1800 fps penetrating 24 and 27.5' respectively so would still provide quick killing performance on deer sized game in my opinion.
My personal choice would be either the Sierra 168 TMK or Hornady 168 ELDM for long range use and then use careful shot selection (rear lung) at close range or use a dual loading with one of the other stouter bullets for close range work like the 165 Nosler Partition.
I'll provide photos of all in the following days.
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