Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Universal all-around pet load for the .308 and 150 gn bullet

Is anyone using TAC with a 150?

thanks,


Okie John

48.0 gr. of W748 with the Sierra 150 is my go to load.

46.0 gr of TAC shoots very well in my .308 with 150’s. YMMV

Mine too, but my "go-to" is 46-47 grains of Varget with a 155 Scenar.

I use 44.5 gr of Varget with 150 Nosler Ballistic Tip and Fed 210 primer in 3 different 308's. All will shoot at least .65" groups. My wife can shoot a 5 shot group into .38"with a Ruger American Predator with a Leupold 3.5x10 at 100 yds

Yup, 46.5 TAC under a 150 Nosler Partition. Shoots under an inch and 2849 pfs.
In a Tikka T3x and a Browning BLR.

A 150 grain TTSX over 45 to 46 grains of Varget is mighty hard to beat 👍......Good hunting...Hb

150 Hornady Interbond loaded with 46.5 grains of IMR-4064.

It seems like that would require a drop tube and some compression as well.

Once I used a friends scale at his place and instead of 44 grains of 4064 I mistakenly loaded 40.4 grains. It was three inches low at 200 yards but under an inch 3 shot group. Milder recoil, no idea the velocity but I bet it was superior to a .30-30W.

Nosler load data says 44 gr of 4064 under a 150gr bullet is good for 2740fps out of a 24" barrel. Sounds like you were getting close to 2700 out of your Savage (22" bbl?).

Different rifles shoots different loads the best, but for good accuracy I have always found H335, WW 748, 4895, 4064 and BL-C2 to be top pics. In my life I have owned about 15 different 308s and these powders gave me good to great results in them all. As of now I only own 2, and AR10 type I made myself and a Mossberg MVP.

For a 150 grain bullet I found the Hornady Flat Base Inner-Locks, the WW Power Points and the Nosler Partitions all to be good. I killed some elk with the Winchester bullets and found them to hold their weight far better then I expected. I recovered two and one weighed 131 grains and the other weighed 128 grains which is exceptionally good for a cup and core 150 grain 30 cal bullet.

For game up to about 300 pounds I don't think there is a lot of difference in the way the 3 of them kill and pernitrate, but on heavier game the Hornady is not as tough as the Partition or the Power Points (in my experience --- not just form the 308 but also from the 30-06) Most people will hunt deer and maybe hogs with their 308s so once you get an exit all the damage a bullet can do has been done, so nothing else really matters. The Hornady Spire Point is the one of the 3 that holds the lest weight, after expansion but still for most shots you get exits, so I would not hold back on hunting with them on any animal up to about 300 pounds.

In my 308s I found the Hornady RN to shoot the best groups but they don't make them anymore. Under 1/2" in my rifles.

The Hornady Spire Point is almost as accurate with some groups coming in at around 5/8"
The Partitions shoot about larger groups at .750" to 850" and the Power Points shoot the "worst" of the 3, but still in my guns they come in at about 1"to about 1-1/16", so clearly good enough for most hunting I would do with a 308 and a 150 grain bullet.

I was working up some loads with Varget and 165 TTSX but got off track with some other projects. Right now, the only load I have a significant quantity of is 140 gr Barnes MPG for coyotes, etc.

Ken Waters shows two loads with IMR3031 and 150's...42gr with a 150 Sierra and 43gr with a 150 Speer this he states "near max"
Hodgon shows 43.5 IMR3031 with Nosler 150 BT 43.5 max
I like BLC-2 and Reloader 15

Nope. It fills just fine. This load shoots lights out in my Winchester 70 featherweight with a Kreiger barrel and my Tikka T3X stainless.

Nosler lists 44.0 starting, 46.0 mid range, 48.0 max load.

45.0 H4895 150 horn sp.

With Varget nearly as scarce as hens teeth, I've turned to 45 grains of Shooters World Precision Rifle, and a 150 ballistic tip.

Precision Rifle is very similar to Varget and works great in my Bergara wilderness Ridge.

I tried two 150grbbullets with 43gr of IMR8208xbr. The velocity seems sane, the brass/primers look fine.

WLR primers, once-fired Starline brass. The Hornady Interlocks have a COL = 2.7", the Nosler 150gr Ballistic Tips COL= 2.8".

2800fps from a 20" barrel.

The Ballistic tips shoot tiny groups. But I haven't used either bullet on game - yet.

Same here. 45gn H-4895 with a Hornady 150 Interlock, BTSP.

Actually the super secret load is 47 gr Varget in a Hornady case using Federal 210M primers pushing a 150 gr Barnes TTSX, but don't tell anyone. Mine is right at 2894 fps at 2780' elevation. These numbers were generated using a Winchester Model 70 Extreme.