Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting White Tail Deer, recommended grain for 308

my old 308 will shoot anything I put through it. For Coues deer and Mule deer, I have taken both with 150 grain Factory ammo. I really like the 150 and 165 ballistic tip. This years as a backup and fun gun I am going to load TSX's for it. Hopefully they will perform.
I would say use the 150 factory ammo from Federal or Remington. If you feel you need more for your hunting, use the Partition with 4350 powder. it will do the trick and then some. After all I have read, the TSX is a great bullet, and I am going to use them in my rifles as long as they shoot.

Enrique

use a factory load that shoots best in your rifle. published comparisons don't mean squat for YOUR rifle. i'd buy a box each of rem 150-gr core-lokts, win 150 power points, fed gray box 150-gr. if none of them shoots worth a bean, get a box each of the 180s.
one of 'em will shoot just stinkin' fine.

Brent,

As I suspected your deer run bigger than ours. Since you say your shots are typcally close, the impact velocities will be relatively high. If I was going to hunt your deer and stick with 150's I'd probably switch to an Interbond, Accubond, Partition or TSX. More likely I'd move up to a 165 and put it on top of 46 grains of Varget. That load has worked well in every 308 I've tested it in so far, but it's full steam and I was testing in bolt guns. I'd back off a couple of grains and see how things go if I was loading for a 99. Reloder 15 also kicks a$$ with 165's, but I'll leave it to you to figure out which published max you believe. They vary a bit for this one. For 180's, in bolt guns, I've gotten excellent accuracy using 44 grains of Reloder 15. I'd just use the regular Hornady Interlock flat base at this weight.

mathman

150 core lokt does great. Check my avatar.

Try a 130 to 150 grain bullet . I like H4895 powder. I use these bullets and have good luck.

If you've got good luck, any bullet will do. That's why I concentrate on being lucky!

I've used 150 Power Points over Varget and factory 150 Corelokts. I'm testing 165's now to get one load for deer and elk. They all work.


Okie John

1- 150s-165s

2- If using store bought...Hornady Light Mag.

3- NO FMJ for hunting!...probably illegal anyway. Most states require expanding ammo for big game.

I have shot Hornady 150 sst's out of my 100 with excellent results and my blr will shoot 150 pp's into nice groups. I really do not think that you can go wrong here as long as you stay away from fmj bullets.

A molyed 150 grain Sierra BT over 47 grains of Varget gives me 2850 out of my Stainless Classic and 3/4" groups. I like that combo for deer and smaller stuff. I'd want a tougher bullet for elk or bear, but I'd also likely be using a bigger caliber then. Still, the 308 is elk and bear capable.

remington core-lokt 150-180 grain bullet what ever is more accurate in your gun

IMHO 150 grain is ideal for the .308 Win. I normally use Wichester ballistic silvertips, but I have some Accubonds made by Georgia Arms that I'm going to try this fall.

46 gr RL15, F210 primers, 150gr Hornadys
44gr RL15, F210s, 165 Hornadys

I have used 150 Gr. corelokts in 308 on too many whitetails to recall. Always worked great if I did my part.

125gr sierras were very accurate in my savage 99. you will lose some meat around the large hole they leave but the deer stay put

Terry,

As the bullets in the factory loads have improved, I have moved down in weight in my .308. The last Canadian whitetail (a 300# 10-point Sask deer) I shot with a 165 gr Trophy Bonded.

In Texas I would shoot the 150 gr Nosler Partition.

As noted above, the military bullets are not suitable for game, and most places don't allow their use either.

jim

I've used 150gr. Core-Lokt , 150gr. NP, and 150gr. TSX with great results on WT and exotic deer.

I like the 150 grain bullet in .30 caliber. I prefer the hornady but any work well.

i plan on trying 130 gr tsx's this year. i have used 150's with success everytime though. the 130's fly close to 3100 and should deliver quite the impact with the tsx design.

shootinurse, You copied my loads. Very accurate.