Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Premium factory .308 for hunting

Been shooting Winchester 150gr8 PowerPoint for deer. When ammo is ever available again what is a good factory load for .308 bolt rifle. Bought those for $18-20 a box. Figure even if I pay more for a better round it's only shot to check zero, or a deer when I'm lucky. Any suggestions?

Are their any bad loads out there?

Nailed it. Not for .308 Win and deer. Well, maybe a varmint type 125 gr, but that'd probably kill deer fine, so.....

What I'm using does the trick. I just wonder about stuff & want to see what others are using.

Depending on how you use what you have, there are no bad loads. Think an old 30-06 with that sabot 22 cal bullet won't kill a deer right now? Think again. Think about what your using and how you need to use it to make it work! I'd bet a dollar to a sugar cookie you take one of those old sabot 22 cal 30-06 loads and hit the biggest elk alive right at the base of the skull and it ain't going anywhere. Not so much what you have as it is how you use what you have! You could shoot that big elk in the leg with a 505 Gibbs and not knock it down. It would then fail just as badly as the 30-06 with the same shot!

I'm using Nosler 308, 150 gn Accubond. Shoots MOA out of my Ruger Hawkey All Weather. Has killed deer from 30 yds to 215 yds. Has killed rocks out to 415 yds, about as far as I need to shoot.

I've killed a lot of deer with Federal Premium 150gr NBT and never had any complaints with performance. After several years I switched to the 150gr power points like your using now because they were just as accurate and about half the price. I actually liked the power points better.

I’d use those power points if it were me.

Fed Fusions. 150 grain. I bought a bunch of it when I could. My 99 likes it. So, that’s what I’m shooting for a while.

You're already using one of the best. Winchester PowerPoints, Remington CoreLokts, and Federal Power-Shoks were all designed from the ground up for hunters exactly like you. Test all three, use the one that's most accurate in your rifle, and don't look back.


Okie John

I’d listen to Okie John here. All the “Walmart” .308 ammo works fine, just figure out what groups okay in your rifle. Fusions and Interlocks are also really good, for maybe a couple bucks more. The W-W Deer Season XP is also cheap, and is decent if you don’t value exit wounds as much. It expands quite a bit.

Generations of deer hunters have used Winchester Power Point or Silver Tip, Remington Core-lokt ammo to successfully harvest their prey. Don't understand the fascination with premium (priced) ammo that's been the rage for the last several years.

This....

I've been using all of the above as well as a few other lesser priced cup and core bullets in multiple calibers on whitetail for decades. I don't reload and would not consider spending $10 or $15 a box more for premium.

i don't have a .308 but if i did i would use the federal 150 scirocco loads. if all factory ammo was available.

I’m with East on the Fed Premium 150 BT’s. My tikka superlite will shoot true 1/2” groups with these consistently, and the performance on deer is outstanding.

Pre Covid I was getting them for around $26-$28/box. Man those were the good ol days!

Exit wound from a 168gr ABLR after going through about 2-ft of deer.

Fiocchi has a .308 Win 150 Scirocco II load rated for 2,875 fps. Could be an alternative for you if the ammo supply ever returns to normal.

For years I never had a .308, but I loaded them for my brother and a couple of friends with 150 grain SGK's and NBT's. Always satisfactory results. When I got a .308 I used the same in it, always satisfactory. The last 2 deer I shot with my .308 were identical high shoulder hits and DRT results under identical conditions and range. The only difference was one was with a 150 NBT and the other with a factory "Blue Box" Federal Power Shok load. The NBT was through and through with minimal but adequate damage. The Federal load hit like a bomb and completely destroyed the onside shoulder. Yeah, small sample size....just reporting my experience.

Factory Nosler, 150 grain Ballistic Tips.

So that was 3 deer standing side to side?

Hornady Whitetail factory 308 win ammo provides 2820 fps with the 150 grain Hornady Interlock. I will use that for my deer hunting anytime, and use my Nosler 165/180 gain partition reloads for the elk hunts.
CJ

My .308 never shot the PP or 180 Federal SP very well. It did very well in accuracy and on game with 165 gr Grand Slams and is very accurate with Speer Hot Cor and CoreLokts. I think shot placement is probably more important than bullet selection on most deer applications. Happy Trails

This stuff was amazingly accurate from a Weatherby Vanguard rifle:


I didn't hunt with it, was helping another hunter set up their rifle. I've happily used Sierra SPBT Gamekings before though.

Regards, Guy

In your case I would try a few of the Wally World available basic factory loads and whichever one My rifle liked best is what I would go with...but until ammo loosens up beggars cant be choosers so id go with whatever I could find and you will be fine as the .308 Win is an outstanding deer cartridge in just about any flavor.....Hb

To answer the OP.
I never buy factory ammo, but I did buy many thousands of 150 Gr WW Power Points from Black Hills many years ago and I have shot most of them up. I used them mostly in my military 308s and 30-06s because they shot better than the FMJs and had the trajectory that would calibrate to the sights. I shot them in 308s, 30-06s and 7.5 Swiss rifles.

I did kill several deer, a few antelope and 3 elk with them and I saw 2 more elk killed with them within a few minutes of the time I killed my 3.

I have to give them high marks. On the elk I did recover 2 of them and they retains as much weight as 150 gain Nosler Partitions and did just as well. Now 5 elk is not a lengthy test, but 5 of the 5 were killed and none of the shots showed me any bullet failures, with most of them exiting the elk.

So overall I was far more impressed with them than I thought I would be and for a "deer bullet" to do that well on 5 elk, I can't say many other loads are going to do a lot better in a 308. in over 50 years of hunting elk and guiding for elk I can tell you without a doubt that a LOT of other bullets didn't do as well as the old Win PPs

If you want deeper penetration you may go to the 180 grain and of course all the tough "premium bullets" loaded in factory loads seem to do very well, but to me the objective is full penetration and good sized wounds. If a bullet expands well and exits, all the damage that caliber bullet can do is done.
So I would not ever talk anyone out of using Partitions or good bonded bullets, or even expanding solids like the Barnes offerings, but in my experience with the 308 Winchesters for killing elk in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. I don't think you can go a whole lot better then the old Winchester Power Points, and that is especially true of the 180s, but those I used on my Wyoming elk were 150s and I still got exits in all shots but 2. The 2 recovered bullet were on the hide on the off sides, and the bullets weighted 129 and 131 grains. I believe that's as good as any lead cored 30 cal of 150 grains you can buy.

For deer with my Ruger 77 308 Win, I use the Hornady White Tail 150 grain Inter Lock. Advertised at 2820 fps. For elk, I 165 and 180 grain Nosler Partition/Accubond reloads.

CJ

I never buy factory, load Sierra GameKings for the 308’s I have.

Well compared to the chinese and Russian 147 fmj that probably have corrosive primers that I have been seeing locally for $20 a box lately any other are probably premiums
Mb

I never buy factory stuff. I like Barnes/E-tips/GMX mono bullets in my rifles.