Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Competitive Shooting 600 yard .308 bullet

Thanks for the info. I was thinking maybe go with a lighter bullet for reduced recoil at the short line and heavier for the longer stuff where the BC really starts to take over.

I did some playing with JBM and their bullet database with a Service Rifle scenario at 600yds. I found that the choice of bullets could make up to 10 inches of wind drift difference in a 10mph wind.

Or ya can shoot a 168 and be done with it.. grins..

I take it your range tis windy, which I would think. Probably telling me I could come off with a 198 and be happy then if thats the best the AMU could do.

I was really sold on 175 jlks in the M14s. 185 jlks and 210 jlks will be my next tests in 308...

All in all, if you are not running the best BC in the most accurate load, how will you ever know if the mistakes are you or the gun/load combo?

Regardless I think for 600 everyone should shoot a 223 with 80 smk at around 2650.

I don't believe you'll see a big difference in recoil when going from 155gr to 190gr in a F-TR weight rifle.

No there probably isn't much difference, but having busted a couple of vertebrae in my lower back and messing up my neck (part of my job involves jumping out of perfectly good airplanes)I'll take all the recoil reduction I can get.

With the weight of the big rilfes.... recoil is less of an issue. But beyond that, assuming you can get to your required accuracy, and you are paying to play the game, and playing the game to win, why would you not use the best bullet for the given task?

Way I look at it, probably minimum for most folks at least an hour drive one way to a match. Some weekends we drove 3-4 hours one way... the day of time lost. The cost of entry fees. The cost of what you have invested in gear/guns. Not to mention ammo. I mean I just don't understand....

Recoil really shouldn't factor in that much. I know for quite some time I drove 210s in a 308 that was way to light to be shooting IMHO... but at 1000 they shined... dang near shined me up too.... but it was the way to win, not be an also ran.

I can understand your viewpoint, but don't necessarily share it. We all shoot for different reasons you have yours and I have mine.

That tis true and I often loose track of that. Not understanding why anyone would want to waste time and effort just to make a gun go bang. I suspect there are those like that in this world though. I simply take on anything I try to do, to learn to be the best I can in that effort, or else its simply a waste of time to me. I often fail at what I'm doing though, but I simply just don't like half assing it along.

If recoil is an issue, then I'd take the next best BC driven as hard as I could...

I'll say this too.... I've watched a buddy run flat base custom BR type bullets at 600. Ain't too shabby because they are so dang accurate. Of course when the wind blows he shoots what I shoot... else I'll stomp him good.

I was thinking more of a 300 yd load and an everything else load. I figure at that range I'm giving up a little windage but I'll probably shoot it better overall. At 500 and over the better windage of the 175gr or heavier VLD's does make a lot more sense.

300 it isn't bad. I only ran heavier bullets at 300 IF it was really bad conditions.

Thanks to all for the input. Very informative. I'm still a little gray in one area, so I'll try clarifying by asking the question in a slightly different way...What would theoretically trump-a slower heavier 200 grain SMK with higher ballistic co-efficient or a lighter faster 175 grain SMK? Does a .308 case have enough room to push a 200 grain bullet fast enough for 600 yard shooting?

I'll be looking at the scenars, as well.

In theory the 200gr will shoot through conditions better than the 175gr. Thing is that may bite you in the aze by getting over-confident and not watching the windflags as close as you should be. Some shooters believe (along with me) that a Master or High Master class shooter will benifit from the heavies, say when your just cutting a ring and need a little extra insurance against dropping a point.

Rattle Monte's (Memilanuk) cage. He's done some experimenting with the heavier bullets, one of the best people around for experience level.

Try playing "what if" with JBM. With the numbers I played with the pokey Sierra 190 kicked some serious butt. And it got better as the bullets got heavier. Take a look at the 210 Berger.

What speeds are you pushing them at Chris?

Hound46
Another thing I haven't seen mentioned is with a 20" inch barrel you have too be sure that whatever you pick will stay supersonic. Some bullets will get unstable during the transition phase. The 168 SMK is a prime example of this. I'm sure some of the more experienced posters here could tell you stories of bullets hitting sideways at a 1000.

Seems to be about where I'm at. I spent most of the last season mentally cussing about wanting a '9.5' ring about 1" out from the 10 as that seems to be where I drop about 90% of my points. The rest of them... well, there ain't much help for those shots



Not as much as I'd like... mostly living vicariously through others The 185-190gn bullets seem to be the current collective 'favorite' as far as best compromise between useful achieved velocity and BC. There are a number of folks playing with the 208/210gn bullets and claiming all sorts of things... but the ones I know well enough to trust their tests and scores seem to be of the opinion (currently) that what the heavies make up in windage they may give up in sheer accuracy. Whether its they are harder to shoot as accurately due to recoil, or are just enough 'too big' for the .308 Win case that they are kind of finicky, I don't know. If I ever get off my butt and finish my brass prep for the upcoming season and get to testing... I've got several boxes of B185LRBTHP and B210LRBTHPs on the shelf.

The other issue is that you can fit a 155-190gn bullet in most any .308 and do some neat things with 'em. The 200+ gn pills start needing longer throats or you start giving up case capacity right when you need it the most. One of the few areas a 'factory' Remington barrel might come in handy...

If you aren't watching the flags, then you aren't competing, IMHO... what I mean is you use the best you can for ammo, and do the best you can all the time for wind doping. What good bullets do for you... first you look up after the shot and say )(*&)(*&.. and hope the bullet you have isn't a POS wind wise.... it comes up a line 10 and you are thankful. The other one is the call is hard, and the bullet comes up wide... you won't make that mistake twice so you correct... had it been a POS the first warning you have is a 9.

Remember how tiny that friggin 10 ring really is. You should be shooting Xs and 10s should be warnings.

As to the ability of the heavy bullets...210 JLK is what I'm going after IMHO eventually. 210 berger isn't far off. They will be as accurate in the right rig. They do buck wind better, I know... I hotrodded 185s and would still get burned by 210s at 1000.
NOW shooting a heavy bullet.. the follow through has to be repeatable.. I used to cuss coaches telling me if the follow through is not straight up and down recoil wise... that if the gun lands to one side or the other, no matter how perfect the shot was, thats where the bullet goes... and they were right. Any time you add more recoil, and especially a faster recoil, its harder to ignore it. THe other factor, 210s add recoil BUT they are slower so the gun recoils further before the bullet gets out the tube, meaning while the recoil isn't so viscious, your follow through has to be better for longer. I got to the p;oint in 223, that I could shoot and folks said I had no follow through because I was getting ready for the next shot while in recoil... but I'd shot enough to know how long I had to ride it out....

The Sierra 168 HPBT works best with a 1-12 ROT! The 155 Palma bullet shoots best out of either a 1-13 or 1-14 ROT!!

INteresting, we had a couple of 12s, they didn't shoot the 168s nearly as good as the 10 twists we followed them with.

Somehow I missed your post here.... guess I am human after all. Grins...

Anyway now that I read that... are ya sure you wanna play FTR? With those injuries you might wanna go F all the way, and get a lighter recoiling round period.
Or you can go 223 in FTR... I"ll say this.. a long tubed 223 and 80s and 90 jlks ain't all that shabby at longer ranges... 90s in a 20inch tube is about what I shot most of at 1000 in a 223 AR. I did a run of 308s but then moved onto the AR service rifle. There were some wildcat bullets aroudn that might have even been better than 90 jlks....