Which round do you guys like for strictly deer hunting in the area where mature bucks are usually well within 200 lbs, and possibly shoot a hog or two?

The Federal Fusion 150gr/165gr is a very good factory offering for the .308. If you're reloading then there's lots of bullets in various weights to choose from.

Given those pretty simple requirements it seems like whatever groups best in your rifle would be the best choice? (Are you loading them or want factory?)

Pretty much any hunting bullet in the 150-165gr range at 2500fps and up. While I have killed a few deer with factory ammo over the years, none were .308s, so can’t help with a particular brand. I wouldn’t overthink it.

Hard to beat the Hornady 150 gr Spire Point if you can hit em in the boiler room.

Nosler 125 grain NBT or AB, and Barnes 135 TTSX. At 3000 fps it turns your .308 into a 300 yard laser beam. If you can't find that, any cheap box of .308 will work if your rifle likes it.

.223 on up should be fine.

I like the 150’s in a .308. If your ranges are out a bit a 165 would give you a bit of an edge.

The Barnes TTSX 130 at 3100 fps has provided consistently excellent terminal performance and has become my first choice. Our mature bucks are 200 - 220, though occasionally they go heavier. It works well on pigs too.

Find which weight your gun likes then go from there. A 165 Hornady BTSP puts deer down very well. But pretty much any bullet and weight out of a 308 will kill even the biggest deer.

I tend to run nosler ballistic tips or Hornady BTSP for deer.

Pretty tough to go wrong there.

i like the 165 nosler ballistic tip for deer. my sons teeker T3x superlite loves em too. with that being said i just zero'd his gun in with the new remmy tipped core-lokt 150 grain..........tha teeker likes them too. the screwyest thing happened to him using 150 grain nosler bt when he busted a 170lb cull buck behind the shoulder broadside at 100ish yards...........looked on the opposite side hit and there were 2 holes about 2" apart. great blood trail as there were 3 holes leaking but i've just never seen that before where the core obviously slipped the cup at the last second before exit. after that i moved to 165 grain bt's as i read they are a stouter jacket material.
Big Ed

165 grain Accubond/Partition/Interlock/Interbond. Pick the one that shoots best in your rifle.

I’ve always like 165 grain bullets for most in the 308. I just reload my own, Hornady or Sierra usually. Besides splitting hairs with bullets, placement trumps most.

Of course, some loads likely shoot better in your gun than others.

150g Interlock

I use Hornady 165 Spire Points with excellent results, cheap and very effective on deer.

After having 150 gr cup and core bullets fail to exit on some large whitetails I moved up the 165s in my .308s. Tried a few factory loads, eventually settled on Federal Fusions.

Any 150 or 165. If I weren't using my 308 for elk, I'd just go with any C&C 150 like the Ballistic Tip or 155 Scenar. Although either those work well on elk too.

130 or 150 TTSX

and these would turn it into a 30-06 easy

https://hammerbullets.com/product/308-cal-151g-absolute-hammer/

I used the 150 rem corelokt with good results.

130gr TTSX is my choice now.

I use 150 grain Hornady SSTs. Killed a pile of deer up to and over 200lbs and a black bear that was over 400 pounds.

I have an old issue of Shooting Times (August 1994) where Rick Jamison did an exhaustive 1,000 round report of .308 bullets and powders and determined that the 165 grain bullet was the absolute best choice from the .308 cartridge. My biggest buck fell to a .308 165 grain Hornady 165 grain Interlock and while he ran 50 yards, I had blood within several yards of where he stood. I started a thread once of what bullets people had stopped in deer and a lot of guys mentioned the 150's from .308's and .30-06's. I personally never want to stop a bullet in an animal and not get complete penetration. Our deer camp never lost a deer hit anywhere with a 180 grain round nose Core-Lokt and believe me, our guys hit deer "anywhere". That was the Benoit tracking guys bullet of choice too early on.

Never had a 150Interlock NOT exit on a deer. Didn't stay in a 140# leopard either after going through the shoulders. And plowed damm near all the way through a Bull Kudu.

Funny how peoples experiences are completely different.

I use 180 grain round nose. Either factory or hand load. Always an exit hole

Been using Hornady factory "Whitetail" load with the 150IL for a while. They shoot little bitty groups and kill the crap out of deer. That RAR will group about any factory 150 in the same place and about any factory 150 will kill deer. I'm pretty happy with it.

I don't use factory ammo at all, just my handloads. Foe the .308 I've settled on the 165 gr. Speer Hot Core over a max load of W760. Velocity from the 18.5" Ruger M77 RSI is 2550 FPS and 2610 FPS from a 22" barrel on a Winchester m70. Longest shot so far on a deer was with the RSI, 250 yards laser measured. The deer was facing me almost head on and went down hard. The bullet traveled the length of the deer and stopped in the right rear ham against the leg bone, breaking the bone. Retained weight of the bullet was 65% of the original weight. Most deer where shot at about an average of 150 yards, give or take. I don't think I'd have a problem on an elk if I was within reasonable range and didn't use Texas heart shots.
PJ

When I've used a .308 with factory ammo it was just 150 grain Rem. Core-Lokt's or Winchester power points.

Both worked equally well.

I heard those started bouncing off deer after 1990.

Start a thread on what won't work. The choices would be a lot slimmer..

Personal favorite is a 150 Accubond on top of Varget.
2900 fps from a Tikka T3 Lite and a Kimber 84M

Any walmart ammo 150gr to 180gr through the ribs will kill the biggest whitetail one encounters. My grandkids prove that every year. Corelokts, power points, fed blue box, etc.

Yep
And yep

Another vote for 165 accubond.
I’m fond of a CCI 250 and a max load of CFE223.
Find the COAL your rifle likes and kill kill kill.

I used the Federal Premium factory load with the 150gr NBT for years. Killed a lot of deer with that load and haven't found anything that works any better since.

This. Those TTSX's are hard to beat.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

THIS

I wish I still had that month’s Shooting Times magazine.

150 grain Hornady Interlock (not boat-tail)

My wife has shot 6 bucks with the 155 scenar out of her 308 from 30-250yds and all have have exited, and ran less than 100yds. It's a great 308 bullet imo.

I normally use 150 Federal blue box. But currently I'm loading up 125 NBT's at 2,900. I've gotten good performance on deer from that bullet at that speed in the 30-06 so I'm remiss to load it faster. I'll also be loading some 150 NBT's up soon

I used Remington Core-Lokt 150gr on 6 deer with good results...then moved on to different calibers.

The 308 is famously easy on bullets - really, about anything will work quite well.

When I first moved to Wyoming I was shooting a 30-06 that I had purposely loaded to around 2850 fps. Hunting where I did in Texas I didn't see any reason for any more speed and when the oilfield called I took that rifle and 120 or so loads topped with the 150 grain Speer Hotcor. I took everything from coyotes to elk with that round, in an impressive string of one shot kills. I mostly used that load except I switched to 180 grain Speer Hotcors and Nosler Partitions for elk. This went on into the mid 90's. I usually load my 308 to pretty close to 2850 fps with 150's today more or less retiring the old 30-06 to backup status simply because in my old age I like lighter rifles and my main deer rifles are 7-08 and 308 now. The gist of all this is I would if I had to use the 150 grain Speer Hotcor from now on out it would serve me perfectly. But then so would just about any other good 150 grain bullet.

165gr Ballistic Tips from 100 count boxes.
My perfect deer load from anything ever tried.
Quick kills, blood trails if (rarely) needed, reasonably meat loss.

165 BTHP Sierras did all the above except damage was impressive.


Avoid 30-30 specific bullets.
I would not use real tough bullets.
Obviously avoid fmj but I know a kid who used them for several years on multiple deer with
decent results.

Other than that any cup and core from 150-180 will work fine.
Out to 200, base doesn't matter, tip doesn't matter.
Some bullets will tailor results, but anything is fine.


One of the beauties of using a decent size round.

The 22 or 24 guys talk incessantly about how great their rounds are.
Then specify a bullet. Or 2.

308, 30-06? 150-180, no drama, no BS.
Just gettin' it done.

New rifle last minute hunt and no time to handload so 150 gr Federal blue box it was.

Yep !

Can't knock the easy button.

Yes indeed!

Federal fusion for me.....for .308 usually 150 gr, occasionally 180 gr.

My 3006s usually zero with 165 gr.

My choice is the 165gr. Sierra Game King, it's accurate in my rifle and deadly on whitetails.

And on elk.

Yep. I tend to lean toward 150/155 stuff for the velocity/trajectory at 300-400yds, but nearly any hunting-style 150-165 is a great killer on 100-300lb game that so many of us hunt (deer and hogs).

This 10 fold. Throw in Federal blue box for good measure.

Blue box 30-06 has shot like match ammo in several rifles that I've owned.


Okie John

when i shoot my 30-06 or 308 i use Sierra 165gr. BTHP gameking, and this is why,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

150 GameKings for a bolt and a 99. Accurate in both, kills pigs well.

My BIL always used his friends handloads, a Mod 742/308 with Sierra 150 BT. I loaded a wad of Hornady 150 SPs for friends 30-06 and 308. Deer and hogs, SE Texas, mostly under 150yds. My hunting buddy here inUtah uses his HS bought Browning '81 levergun/308 with 150 Corlokt from antelope to Bison with big mule deer and elk in between! ha

Barnes 130 TTSX. Load your own or buy their factory ammo.

I want my 308 to shoot 165s, but it's not having any of that. So 150s it is, just very accurate with 150s, Accubond, Partition, or Interlock.

I’ve shot deer with a bunch of bullets out of my 308…. Never noticed anything working any better than regular old 150 Hornady spire points. I did try some 130TTSX’s in the last few years…. They were pretty impressive but the deer were just as dead from the cheap hornady bullets.

My favorite whitetail bullet in the 308 was always the 150 Speer Hotcore. Used that combo to take my largest many years ago, an old 4x4 that dressed out over 200 lbs. Bullet was a complete pass thru. I call the Hotcore, "the poor man's partition."

Funny, "easy button" is how I described the 308 to a co-worker when he asked what he should get for deer hunting.

I have a decent array of big game rifles from 243-375 and really like my boring 308 and 30-06.

They just kill stuff, no fluf, no BS and no drama with good old fashioned "soft points".

I lost count of how many does (and a few bucks) that the 150 Interlock has killed. I load them to over 2900 in my RAR and they shoot around 1/2-moa out to 300-when I can shoot that well, which is less often anymore. They are deadly on deer and I have never felt the need to go heavier. The 165 is great, too.

I will NEVER shoot another SST. At 2500 fps, I had them blow up on small white-tailed does. Some say that the newer ones are better, but why try, when there are great Interlocks and ELD bullets to shoot?

Was that a good while back?

A number of years ago I used the 165 SST in full steam loads for a buddy's 308. My old Oehler 33 showed them doing about 2740 fps IIRC. He didn't have any blow up problems. This was over ten years ago, maybe closer to fifteen.

Where’d he come from Brad?

Do you hunt MT whitetails much?

150 interlock

Always used 165 gr Game Kings. But ordered some Norma 139 Evo Strikes because they were available. They are kind of an alloy Partition. Very accurate in all my 308s and great on whitetail deer

Scott, many decades ago I went to university in St. Louis MO. I shot that buck out in the far flung Western edge of St. Louis County, a place with great whitetail genetics. I saw more than one genuine B&C book buck there, including one that was genuinely over 200." Of course, I tried to get permission on that property, but the answer was a resounding "no."

But yes, occasionally I shoot a MT whitetail. Last one was four years ago:

Great buck. I’ve been sorta debating on doing WT in MT and man, you all have some nice bucks. Maybe not Alberta tanks but nice nonetheless. Plus, you can’t beat the country and I’d bet packing a WT is a whole lot more fun than an elk. Neat buck and a neat story as well about the college buck.

Have used Core-Lokt’s, Ballistic Tips & Accubonds in my 308’s. They all performed admirably.

I am currently using 155 Scenar’s & don’t see that changing. They have been bang-flops every time.

Heck yes! Nice buck brad!

Look at them eye guards!

I totally believe that Brad. Personally never met a flat base that didn't group. Funny as i'm watching my kid live old school as he hammers Big bucks and bid bulls with a 130gr Interlock... Lol Last two seasons, 462yds 408yds 420yds 373yds.. haha

beretzs and Shag, he's a fairly young deer and I probably shouldn't have shot him, but some how my rifle came up, went off, and the deer dropped lol!

This stuff really isn't that hard is it Shag!

Were I wanting to have a great whitetail experience, I'd head up to the NW part of the state and track a buck big woods style.

That sounds like a good hunt to me. That’s some nice country up there.

That is a neat buck.

I'm quite partial to 130gr Barnes TTSX over 3031 but its available as a factory load too.

My first "deer rifle" was an M1 Garand though, and I'd load a pretty much 308 velocity load of a 150gr hot cor. Honestly never saw anything that needed improving from that load.

One time I went moose hunting and wouldn't you know, couldn't find my fancy ammo. Used some Garand handloads of a 165gr SST at a very sedate speed to take it easy on the old rifle. Guess what? Knocked the fight out of a young bull fast.

Wasn't too explosive on deer either.

The last thing I was shooting the 130gr TTSX over 3031 load out of was an M1 with a brand new Criterion barrel and it stacks them. They work well on deer too. I was using the starting charge of 41.6gr but this is in 7.62x51mm NATO brass so likely counted for a few grains heavier. Weatherby Vanguard S2 shot them well also.

Speer was on a path to making great bullets from about 1985-1998ish. I was shooting the 308 Grand Slam & loved it. Then, they decided to change the upper & lower lead pour formula and ruined it. Wasn’t too long beyond that they just kind of disappeared.

Made a Texas Heart Shot on a Coyote & it literally turned him inside out up to his neck.

I'm using .308" 130gr Barnes TTSX with TAC powder. And say what you want, I'm a fan of military brass for use in my 308 Win. And yes, reduced loads and a load worked out. Everything I've shot, for a long time now, has been with one Barnes bullet or another... originals, tsx, ttsx...

I did pick up some Speer Hot-Cor bullets to use in another gun that's not a 308 Win. Accurate, but no experience on game with them yet.

I understand that's the case with the Grand Slam, but I'm fairly certain the Hot-Cor construction has not changed.

I bought the blue box 150’s to start with… they work in my 270, my ‘06, why not my 308?

I’m a sucker for the old boring calibers…. But then again all my friends are old and boring too.

Works for me too.

If you don't need to take advantage of high BC bullets way out there (hunting distances here aren't that long) its got the same shooting characteristics as a 6.5 Swede, 6.5 Creedmoor, etc with a similar weight bullet.

Sounds like it would have killed a Whitetail just fine.

Like many have said it would take quite a bit of effort and testing to find a box of .308 Win that would not work just fine on Whitetail.

Cup and core bullets were killing deer before people didn't know they we not "enough bullet." Plenty of old timers shooting everything in Alaska with blue box federal 150, 165 and 180 soft points when I lived there.

Lately, I jumped on the Varget and 155 Scenar bandwagon after Scenarshooter and Mackay Sagebrush turned me in that direction.

Still have quite the stash of loaded Barnes and Hornady and Speer and Remington tipped 308 rounds that I'll use up someday.

Zombie apocalypse and all that.

I had a rifle that looked like that in 6.5x55 when I lived in Fairbanks, and foolishly traded it away.

That's a classic beauty,

Ed, What rifle is that?

Not totally off topic, but I got some of the Norma 7-08 150 grain stuff pretty cheap. It was a new to me rifle, didn’t have time to load ammo, so I zeroed it and went hunting. Was mainly hunting for a bigger buck but popped a doe the last day of rifle season. Bullet was paced on the ribs, bullet went through and through, she went into a heap.

Kinda makes me wonder why we go nuts so much about 10-20 grains of bullets somedays. And that Norma stuff is pretty cheap right now. Just thinking aloud.

I’ve been killing deer and hogs with the 168 AMax for 15 years.

First buck I killed while tracking - 308 Win 150gr Power Point

The feeling of a tracked buck can’t hardly be typed in words. Well done.

Yeah Scotty. I almost couldn’t believe I walked up on him when I did. I wasn’t trophy hunting that’s for sure - just making a memory.

Congratulations. Nice buck.

The old 150 gr Remington Factory Corelokts worked well too.

That's great. I don't think there's a hunt on the planet that could beat tracking a whitetail buck in snow.

You aren't kidding there. I am glad to still have big enough public spaces to be able to do it.

200 yards and under, 150 & 165g Hornady flat base Interlocks are simply amazing.

Not Ed but can help. It is a Mauser M12 Extreme Impact in .308. There was a run on them a couple years ago when Standard Manufacturing was selling them for $499. I bought one and it absolutely has one of the best factory triggers right out of the box. Mine breaks right at 2 lbs. Accuracy is also excellent. The only negatives I have to say about it are twofold: 1) the barrel is thermofit to the receiver. There is no re-barreling if that's your desire and 2) The LOP on the stock is LONG. I believe it's something like 14.5".

I've had very good luck with 180 round nose Core-lokt ammo for shots within about 225 yards or so. Rapid expansion and deep penetration. - Sherwood

Amazing we killed anything at all back before all the latest greatest wiz bang bullets were avaliable. Just as lures are designed to catch fisherman, some of the bullets companies have taken that concept and done the same. You can spend more if you like but there's nothing wrong with a standard lead bullet. All my 308 has seen is the 150g interlock and 45.5g of varget. That gets me 2,787fps and stuff seems to just die rather easily.

KY221, no arguing with those results.

The 308 is my favorite BG cartridge.

The learning curve (for me) was mental. ‘No way I could walk up on a whitetail without scaring it’. Turns out it’s not that hard really. The hardest part is learning how to find a buck track. I tracked lots & lots of does but this was my first buck.

Second hardest part is waiting for snow…while the season is open. That’s why I picked up saddle hunting.

All with a .308 of some sort - great cartridge for the woods & beyond.

+1

Same here POC. I followed alot of doe tracks to bigger tracks over the years and I am still not hugely successful, but enough to keep the fire lit.

I do wanna find one of them big square toe'd Northern bucks though. That is my goal. I wanted to head up this fall, but this BS called work is always cramping my hunting.

Can't remember if I already answered. Questions like this are .. pretty frequent. I'd go with my handload .. Fed 210M primer, 44.5 grains of RL15, 165 grain Accubond, seated to 2.82". If you are not a handloader, try out Nosler's factory 165 grain accubond load.

After years of dabbling with other things, it's fast becoming mine.

Same here

The 308 Win. is simply fantastic. For most deer hunting needs, it is nearly perfect.

Never underestimate a guy shooting a good 308 Win!!!

I hope y'all are happy. I just spent my Christmas bonus on a new .308. I ordered a CVA Cascade XT in said chambering. Might be my new go to....

Same here, walked into my local pawn shop and they had a Howa Alpine in .308 on the sale rack, couldnt pass it up.

Nice! Love Howa rifles. Wish I had an alpine!

Me too. (308)

Hey bud, the buck you got this year is a little better than last year.

Congratulations on all accounts.

I hope you and your sweetie have a wonderful Christmas.

I don’t think you fellas will be disappointed! Post your setup pics when the time comes.

Been loading the 165 grain Hornady Interlock for the last 25+ years over IMR4064. Groups great in my WIN M88.

A .308 is never a mistake 🙂

If they made them in lefty, I'd be on one like a fat kid on a cupcake!

Good snag on the Alpine, my daughter sure loves her .308.

Awesome deer! .308 Win is my favorite, read Mule Deer's article on the .308 and you will want to buy another one.

Taylor, such a cool mule deer!

I'm looking to buy my third.

Same to you Randy.

I should be so fortunate.

Well, too often I major on the minor things.