The way a lot of you have slammed (pun intended) my Speer Grand Slams, I guess I need an answered prayer in order to make a clean kill on elk.
Fortunately, I don't feel prayers a warrented, since I have a little experience with the bullets and have yet to lose any game with them. Granted, I have not tried a 700-yard, quartering away, oblong shot. If I had, maybe I would have found my favorite loads wanting.
Anyway, I'm taking my new .300 WSM and my old .300 Win. Mag. on an elk migration hunt in Colorado. Both guns will be shooting 180-grain Grand Slams at about 3,000 fps. At last report, (today) there are about 5,000 elk on the ranch I hunt on, so getting a shot should not be a problem. I've already warned my guides that I plan to be very picky this year. I'm going to hold out for a good wall hanger.
I used 180s out of my .300 Win mag to take a grizzly this fall, didn't come apart even loaded to 3050fps, and an 80 yard shot. Broke both shoulders and kept on going.
Posts: 148 | Location: Currently located in Southern New Mexico | Registered: 26 September 2002
My experience has been similar. I shot a moose earlier this fall with the 180 and got complete pass-through. Last year's elk also fell victim to a pass-through. They seem to perform best between 2200 and 2800 fps, which is about how fast they are moving when they hit between two and four hundred yards out.
The main reason I use them is that they are the best shooting "premium" bullets in my 300s. In fact, it is the only bullet my Win Mag will hold within MOA. Something about the low BC it likes.
