308 for Hunting Nyala and Gemsbok

Hello to all!

Any thoughts or comments on using a 308 with 168 grain silver ballistic tips bullets for the Nyala and Gemsbok?

Thanks,
Greg

Fine combination if you ask me....a gemsbok is 400 to 500 lbs., and a nyala....is comparable to a caribou. Aim for the lungs and you won't have to look very far.

Hey Greg,
That 308 will be deadly on any plains game animal.

Best Regards
Marius Goosen

Marius & Enysse,
Thanks for the thoughts. I love the 7mm, but it's one of those heavy custom jobs and is darn heavy to carry around. The 308 in a winchester feather-weight and a dream to carry on long stalks or climbing hills. Sounds like the 308 will go into action this May. Also, Marius, I really enjoyed our earlier discussions on hunting in the Cape - you're a fine man and will look to you for future advantures. Best regards

Please watch my video. A .308 in action on Gemsbok.

Gemsbok Shot Placement

The original question was two fold. .308 and "silver" ballistic tip. I have no problem w/ the .308. Great calibre. I would not suggest the ballistic tip for a gemsbuck. I have killed some deer w/ them and they tend to open up rapidly. In my opinion you want more contrlled expansion especially on a Gemsbuck. I would suggest looking at a bullet thet will hold together better and penetrate deeper. Perhaps the Barnes TTSX or Hornaday GMX or their interlock. Lots of others that are good for this type of hunting. On thinner shinned lighter weight animals the ballistic tip really shines. Bruce

I think the silvertips are just fine....yes the GMX an TTSX are better...but those nyala and gembok aren't bullet proof either....don't worry about it Greg.

I took two oryx in Namibia in 2007 with Jamy Traut. First was about 90 yards and the shot a little far back right at the diaphragm/rear lung area using a 9.3x62 with a handloaded 250 Nosler Accubond bullet starting out at 2500 fps. It ran about 25 yards and piled up. Jamy said a lesser caliber would have entailed some chasing. Second animal taken on a slightly angled facing shot at 175 yards. Bullet hit the point of the shoulder and it dropped instantly, finito. I think Elmer was right. Neither bullet was found.

Originally Posted by gillettehunter

The original question was two fold. .308 and "silver" ballistic tip. I have no problem w/ the .308. Great calibre. I would not suggest the ballistic tip for a gemsbuck. I have killed some deer w/ them and they tend to open up rapidly. In my opinion you want more contrlled expansion especially on a Gemsbuck. I would suggest looking at a bullet thet will hold together better and penetrate deeper. Perhaps the Barnes TTSX or Hornaday GMX or their interlock. Lots of others that are good for this type of hunting. On thinner shinned lighter weight animals the ballistic tip really shines. Bruce

Originally Posted by enysse

I think the silvertips are just fine....yes the GMX an TTSX are better...but those nyala and gembok aren't bullet proof either....don't worry about it Greg.

Have you used ballistic tips on the larger PG enysse? I absolutely love the bullet for deer. I use them in 140gr in my 7mm. I've only recovered one bullet that was on a quartering away shot. But the fact that I recovered the bullet from a rougly 100-110 pound Coues deer makes me wonder about using them on larger game. I wouldn't hesitate in the least using them on the smaller PG species, but larger game I'm not as confident. Perhaps with the slower velocity of the .308 it will be fine, but I'm inclined to agree with gillette and would take a Partition or the TTSX/TSX if they shot well in the rifle.

The projectile I used on that Gemsbok was a 165 Woodleigh (bonded). It performed perfectly as you can see in the video. If you get the silvertip into the lungs, great. I can imagine catastrophic results. Any other angle and a premium will be more of a good thing.

I agree that these animals are not bulletproof. Ballistic Silvertip should be fine on a perfect broadside shot. A tougher bullet will give you more options. At several thousand dollars for air fare and hundreds of dollars a day for daily fees, I'd rather spend the extra buck on a TSX (my personal choice) or other tough premium bullet and be able to take a shot that I would choose to pass up with a weaker bullet. Or if I decided to wait for only perfect broadside shots, I'd like to have more ability to put a follow-up shot into the vitals from a suboptimal angle if needed to keep from spending half the day searching for the animal.

Please bear in mind that I've never used a ballistic silvertip and it may be tougher than I think it is.

I have used the silvertips in my 7mm and they are very deadly. I have used them to hunt caribou, and they are serious medicine. They fight the wind very well too.

I have nothing against the newer bullets...they work well....but so do most of the older style too. I think the most important thing is to shoot a higher weight bullet for the caliber you are shooting....not necessary the highest possible....but higher to me is better than a light weight bullet. The weight will provide penetration and shock.

Great dialog gang and I really appreciate it. I think I will grab a box of TSX and check point of impact against the ballistic silver tips and possibly bring along. I'll be hunting Springbok, Impala, warthog and such as well. I've used the ballistic silver tips on Kudu, Wildebeast and hartebeast in my 7mm and they just rocked them. Todate, the 308 / ballistic tips have only seen action on Whitetail and bear and they whompped big time. Keep the feed-back coming and thanks again to all.

Greg, I hunt Rotwild (Red Stag) with a 7mm REM MAG firing 165gr Winchester Ballistic Silver Tips. Nothing but good things to say about them. On large boars they are devastating. Smaller game like our local reh bache (roe deer) are a little soft to get good expansion. They are not my first choice of bullets but in Europe that can be a difficult thing sometimes.

Hi Greg
I would recomend a semi solid bullet or a partition bullet as you will very unlikely get a bullet break up with these if you hit a large bone .The ballistic tip is a rather soft bullet designed for soft tissue on small animals to medium sized animals .If you pay afair amount of money for atrophy you want to get it so rather pay more for a bullet and get the best one posible for the job and prevent the posiblity of wounding your animal .
I have culled hundreds of animals with a 308 and it is a very accurate caliber and more that enough gun for the animals that you want to shoot , what is important is that you get enough penertration with the bullet makeing a big enough wound to cause the animal to bleed out .
I once had a client who shot a gemsbuck with a 300 win mag useing a rapid expanding soft bullet and the bullet hit the animal on the shoulder breaking the front leg and from there it looked like the animls was shot with shotgun useing a small shot caused by the breaking up of the bullet on the leg bone resulting in a waste of the whole day and a half of hunting time to follow up this animal .
Chris Sussens

Thanks for the comments Chris! I just returned from the range and have discovered that m model 70 feather-weight enjoys being fed hornadys super performance round much better then the
Winchester ballistic silver tips. I used the SST 150 grains and held 1.25" three shot groups over and over so I've found what the gun wants but need some more thoughts on the bullet performance from the team. Please keep the feedback coming! 40 days to go and I make the big flight over. Thanks again!

Love the Hornady's super performance ammo and the SST bullets. The interbond bullet is just a better SST bullet. But the SST bullet is very good.

My somewhat limited experience with the Hornady Interbond was a bit of a surprise. I used them at 225 grs at moderate velocity (2625 fps) in my .338 Win mag in RSA in '09. While I only recovered two, they had both lost 50 percent or more of their weight which for a "bonded" bullet is less than stellar performance. Everything hit properly died but for a bonded bullet I would say it is soft.

I think the Interbond and Accubond are quite comparable. I like the way they mushroom, the GMX and Barnes bullets...mushroom differently. In the end I'm happy with their performance.

I have been shooting Remington's old Premier Boattail line and I have been happy with them. Remington went to the Ultra-Cor Lokt Bullet and they work too.

In my view, again based on limited usage, the Accubond is the better of the two, at least it retains more weight. As to whether one is a better killer than the other, who knows? I have taken one kudu each with the two bullets. One .338 Interbond 225 gr at 2625 fps, and the other was a 250gr Accubond in the 9.3x62 at 2500 fps. Both kudu were lung shot at about the same range of about 100 yards, and both ran a short distance and died. The one shot by the .338 ran a bit farther. Its interesting to me that on these two separate hunts only two bullets were recovered from each, and the kudu bulls were one of the animals wherein the bullets were found. If nothing else it proves to me at least, that kudu are big and probably tougher than usually given credit for. Given a choice of the two I would opt for the Nosler over the Hornady.