I've never used this caliber before and am wondering what bullet people like for deer. I'll be handloading and will probaby use a 150 grain bullet. Suggestions?

I take it you're talking reloading and not factory? And to what ranges?

For reloading I'd take the 150 Horn sp along with R15 or Varget. For factory ammo, I'd go with Federal Blue Box.

Dober

A lot of 150 or 165gr bullets work great for deer in the 308. I have used Hornady interlocks 150, Speer 150 BT, Hornady 150SSTs, 165 NP, 150gr NAB, and all were really good except maybe the SST's were a little soft. Probably a dozen more that would work well.

If I were going to load some up today I would start with 150NAB or 150 Hornady Il.

150 grain Hornady Interlocks work quite nicely. I use the flat base version and seat them out to magazine length. A bunch of different powders will perform great.

I don't handload but have shot a .308 for years. I like 165 grain cartridges.

You can't go wrong with the Nosler Partition. Unless it doesn't shoot well in your gun, then I would try Accubonds or Ballistic tips.

Took my first deer and many more thereafter with the Hornady 150 Gr. SP #3031. Still use it, too, although I mainly stick with the 165 Gr. Sierra HPBT.

Two excellent recommendations.

Thanks for the feedback. All my deer hunting to date has been with a .243 using soft nosed bullets. With the .308 my shots will typically be between 150-250 yards. I always try for behind the shoulder shots, but I want to make sure I'm using a bullet that will expand quickly but will make it through the shoulders if I'm a bit off. Will polymer tipped or hp bullets have any trouble with this?

Cant go wrong with a 150 ballistic tip and Varget or R-15. Nosler ballistic tips consistently seem to shoot well for me from 3 different 30 caliber rifles.

It's hard to go wrong with anything mentioned above, but I'll just throw in one more underrated bullet, the Speer 150 Mag Tip.

I'd go with 150 or 165gr Hornady SP Interlocks and whatever suitable powder you have on hand.

i have had good luck getting the 150 speer BTSP's to shoot over 42 grains of RL15. it does not take much to kill a deer.

180 gr. core lokt ,speer ,hornaday. All of them work well.

130gr TTSX at 3100fps

My two 308s seem to like the 150s for the best combination of accuracy and velocity. One gun likes Hornady SST and the other prefers Hornady SP bullets.

I'm toying with the idea of a 130 gr TSX for longer ranges and the 170 grain Sierra FP shoots well and should hammer deer in the timber.

All of the above are great. I choose the 180 gr. Hornady round nose bullet handloaded with H4895 in my .308. My observations over the years have satisfied me that RN or FP bullets seem to knock the snot out of stuff. I have gotten a higher percentage of bang-flops with them than I have with spitzers. All very unscientific, but I am convinced it is so.

RN's work fine to 250 yards and a bit more.

I was thinking that RN or FP bullets would be really effective at those ranges too. I'm glad to hear that experience from you hobbybobby.

I would too. I've had excellent performance on Mule deer with my .308 Win. using the 150 grains Hornady Interlok JSP. I use IMR 4064 powder. I get excellent accuracy with that load from my Rem. 700, also.

L.W.
Good luck.

Sell the rifle. Everyone knows that you can kill a deer with a .308. Boolits bounce off.

Is there a bad deer bullet for the .308? I suspect that any big game bullet between 150 and 180 gr will work fine for you (and even lighter monometals like the 130 TSX). Personally I've managed to kill a few with the 180 Partition.

For my .308 Win I settled on 165-168g bullets for everything.

I have used the 150g Hornady Interlock flat base with fantastic results with a hot load of Win 748. Accuracy and speed is really fantastic with this powder in a 308. My rifle puts bullets touching at 100 yards with 48g at 2975 fps, but that load may be too hot for your rifle, so work up, differences in barrels, lot number of powder, etc can be very different.

For years prior to me switching over to the 150g Hornady Sp, I shot the Seirra 135g Single Shot Pistol bullets with 51.5g of 748 at 3200 fps with less than 1/2" accuracy. I dumped 12 large bucks with this load, bang flops on the spot everyone. The bullet rarely penetrated the deer, but they were all graveyard dead where they stood, this kinda bucks conventional thinking.

After getting board with the 135's, I worked up a load with the 150g HOrnady Interlock flat Sp, and it always puts a large hole on the off side, same results, dead right there.

My brother uses the 130g Tripple shock with a Max load of 748 at 3100-3200 fps, deer are very dead. The 130g Triple shock does not leave the blood leaking out of the deer, but the insides are pure mush. My brother and his son have shot 30+ deer with the 130g Tripple shocks, they have never found a bullet. They shot one at 320 yards last year that was an unusual shot. At the shot the deer bucked and kicked his rear legs up high, then fell to the ground nose first-DEAD! We usually see deer kick like that when they have been gut shot.

These shoot very well in my Lil' Sky but haven't had an unsuspecting victim get in front of one yet.

The 150 Hornady flat base spire point bullet has been a great bullet for me out of several different rifles.

I have it used on lots of deer,out of the 308,30-06,and 300 Win Mag.


It's a bullet that has worked for me out of handloads and factory loads.

I have a little Classic Compact in .308 and I use whats cheap to buy. Got a bunch of 180 Nosler Partition 2nds a few years back for a very good price. I think every deer I've shot with those bullets has been either dead right there or one or two steps.

How much 4895 do you use? I have some on hand and was going to work up a load.

I'd try the 130 & 150 grain TSX & use whichever shoots best. Mine likes the 150 better.

I've wondered about the 130 grain TSX and TTSX. Most "experts" seem to say that 150s are as light as should be used in .30 cal for deer. I know the solid Barness bullets are supposed to penetrate deep, but is 130 still too light..to low a sectional density and all that? Anyone actually seen how they work on game?

Steelhead has smoked deer and hogs with them out of a handloaded 300 Savage. The 308 would be just a bit more of the same. I'm sure he'll be along with some pics.

edit: I see he did make a suggestion earlier.

I use a fairly mild load, 40.0 gr. of H4895. My Lyman manual goes up to just over 42 gr. with a 180 gr. bullet. Since I am unlikely to shoot over about 225 yards where I hunt, it works well for me.

AJ-
Only one way to find out.
I'm betting there isn't a deer walking that'll stop a 130TTSX.
There might be better hammers for this nail but I prefer to find things out the hard way. *grins*
Will hopefully have a report for you in several months.

Sounds perfect to me. I've shot about 10 deer with a .308 and a 150gr bullet. All coreloks. I've shot 1 with a 180gr corelok. They all died pretty quick. Furthest deer ran about 60 yds.

My dad and I have killed a load of deer with the .308 Winchester with 165 gr. Hornady flat base Interlocks. I've also used the 165 gr. Sierra HPBT with perfect results. RE-15, Varget, W748, and IMR-4064 have worked well for me in the past. It's pretty hard to mess up the .308 for deer size critters.

The 165 Sierra HPBT is one of my all time favs in the 30's.

Dober

Gonna probally get clobbered but for years I shot a 760 30/06 carbine. I loaded 130gr Speer hp with 50gr of IMR3031. I killed probally 125 deer with it and would still be if my oldest son hadn't wanted it. He's still knocking them with that load. Got a Colt Light Rifle that I may try to work up a load with the 130's.

We've taken quite a few lopes/deer with the 90 Sierra HP so I don't see why the 130 wouldn't work just fine in a 30.

Dober

Harldy a bad bullet to be found. In my .308s I liked the 165gr gamekings and speer grandslams

My only experience is with the 180 Partition. They don't seem to slow down much on deer. I would go with something in the 150-165 range if all I were doing was hunting deer. But it sounds like you've already come to that conclusion as well. Flip a coin, hard to be wrong with all the choices out there. Pick two different bullets and a lb of Varget, see which bullet shoots better and enjoy.

I like the 165-168 grain bullets, gentle load of 43.5 grains of Varget in Fed Match once fired brass. I shoot 168 grain Sierras in my bull barreled Savage into one hole at 100 yards, then reload with either 165 grain Fusion, Hornadys or TTSXs depending on the intended target for my old Rem 722 or Little Sky.

The 308 is such a versitile round, and shoots everything pretty well, its hard to go wrong for deer with anything weighing 180 grains or less.

My sons all shoot 308s with 150 grain partitions, and its a virtual wack-fest on deer and elk.

BTW, I shot "cheapie" blue box federal ammo for years and none of the deer turned down the invitation to dinner ;-)

I have shot a bunch of deer (and black bears) with the hornady 165 BTSP in 308. All animals died quickly and the bullet usually exits. Had great luck with 150 grain accubond. There are lots of great deer bullets. Lots of good advice on this thread.

Like many have mentioned, you'd have to really be trying to choose a bad deer bullet for the .308. I've had excellent results with the 165 GameKing spitzer shot from a .30-06 (I doubt you'd notice the difference in the 100 fps you'll lose in your .308) and a buddy uses the 165 Ballistic Tip religiously out of his .308 on hogs.

If pushed, I'd say shoot whatever 150 or 165 that your gun likes and that gives you confidence. Good luck!

I have been using this caliber for the last twenty plus years. I have settled on 165 grains as my optimum weight. They fly just about as flat and hit harder than the 150's. I have used the Nos BT's, Sierra gamekings, Nos Partitions, Speer hot core's, and Nos AB's. I have taken hogs to 275#'s and a lot of deer up to 225#'s with plain Nos BT's @ 2650 fps. They have always worked well. I too keep my ranges on the short side say less than 200 yards and mostly broadside to quartering away shots. Mostly because I hunt thick cover and food plots deep in the swamps and woodlots. I have always had through and through penetration with the 165's.

Current load for Southern/Eastern deer is 45.5 grains of Varget and the 165gr. Sierra Gameking. For a mixed bag or bigger deer swap out to the Accubond and just go hunt. They will not fail you if you do your part. FYI the above load groups inside 3/4" all day long from my modified M98 and 22" tube.

anyone tried the 168 grain Ballistic Tip? seems like a match made in heaven for the 308 win

I haven't tried the 168's. I have taken close to a couple dozen deer and hogs with the 165 BT's. Velocity @ 2700 fps. They stay together well and penetrate through and through. I have not recovered one of them on broadside shots.

155gr scenar.....I have photographic evidence....grin!

Handloading, I run the 150 Hornaday Innerlock.
Remmy green box corelokt 150's, would be my factory pick.

I used 165 gr Nosler Accubonds with excellent results on two whitetails last year...neither one of them took another step

how bout 168 grain sierra match kings ?

Partition 165's work well in our camp for 2 guys. A great do it all for the .308.

Bought some 165 gr Hornady SST's they shoot smokin, have yet to shoot any critters yet, but sooner or later. My late Uncle loved the 308 Win. and always had one, I just got one in the M700 VTR last year and it shoots awsome, just a bit heavy to tote up mountains! I loaded some for a buddy, just 165 SP Horn a few years back to hunt Muley and Elk in Craig, CO. one year. No one shot an Elk, but week all got bucks, he with his 308 Win. One shot at 200 yards an it was all over but the wrapping of meat.