What's your favorite factory 308 deer load?

FACTORY loadings

And the 180grainers

150gn Nosler Accubond & 51.5gns Alliant PowerPro 2000-MR.

165 gr Federal Fusion.

I like a little heavier bullet to ensure exit wounds (but don't feel need to go to 180 gr). I've had 150 gr cup and core bullets fail to exit on deer.

Haven't tried all the 165 gr loads available these days. Don't want to pay premium ammo prices. Don't need boat tails.

Did try the Federal Premium Vital-Shok 165 Grain Sierra GameKing Soft Point Boat Tail ammo a number of years ago. Killed deer ok. Looked like a grenade went off in chest, blood everywhere - may be a little too soft, and $10 more a box than the Fusions.

Fusions are easy to find, reasonably priced, and work well. Haven't felt any need to experiment with others, although there seem to be a lot more factory 165 gr options than there were 8 or 10 yrs ago.

I've used a variety of C&C bullets on deer over the years. The majority in my 308 have been 180gr Hornady SPs.

I have been using Federal Power Shok (AKA Blue Box) or Fusion 150s and have been happy with both.

165 BT / 45.6gr Varget

150 Gameking with H4895

The 150's don't give complete penetration all the time in an '06 or a .308. Back a bunch of years ago when I hunted with a group, I switched the entire camp over to the 180 grain Remington round nose Core-Lokt and we never lost another deer. It was the bullet of choice for the Benoit tracking guys for a lot of years before they switched to Hornady SST's. That Remington round nose bullet opens fast and being 180 grain, penetrates through and through. Personally I think that the 165 grain bullet is ideal in a .308 for deer size game. My biggest buck fell to a 165 grain Hornady Interlock out of my .308 and I had a great blood trail starting only a couple of yards from where he'd been hit. That Hornady was more accurate out of my rifle than the Remington, but both of those would be on my short list for a .308 deer bullet.

Federal Fusion 150 or 165 gr. Whichever shoots better in your rifle.

My favorite factory load is the Hornady 150 gr Whitetail. Other-wise Varget and 150 Horn. or Nos BT.

130 grain Barnes TSX over Varget at 3150 FPS!. Very accurate. Makes two holes every time. Does a nice job wrecking what t hits. Goes straight on the way through every time, never seen one deflect. Well and truly head and shoulders above anything I have ever seen in a 308 for deer.

Opinions on the 180 grain factory loads?

They're packing about fifteen grains more than I prefer.

Never figured out a reason to use 180's for deer, unless of course someone gave me 10 cases of 180's.

Guess if I had to try a 180 for deer in the 308, I'd pick up a box of Winchester 180gr Power Points

It was only the 10 boxes of '60s era Silvertips, but that's pretty well how 180s got used for a few seasons in my 308. They worked ok.

I shot my first whitetail in 1974 with a 180gr. Hornady RN handload in .308, the buck only went 20yds. or so. Since then I have gone to 165gr. Nosler Balliistic Tip which is what I'll be shooting this fall in my .30-06.

Agreed. I use 150 Power Shoks or Core Lokts in my 308. 180's have 30 grains more bullet than I want.

I used 180s cuz they shoot well in a 308 Carbine I own. That load could have doubled as a moose load as well.

I _never_ felt that the 150 Corelokt was inadequate for deer. Always had pass throughs. Then again, I did not aim for the shoulder.

165 BT. Open up well and will shoot through any deer from any angle. Most always bang flops.


Lefty C

Killed tons of deer with 150 ballistic tip

That's the reason which makes sense to me. Also, simplification with one load to do it all means not needing to sight in for a different bullet.

They are not all the same. A few years back a guy did an extensive test of 30 caliber 180 grain bullets that was published in Handloader Magazine and I ordered it as a chart. That was a really good head to head comparison of lots of different bullets in wet newspaper. I know, we are not hunting wet newspaper, but it was a great article. Like I wrote earlier, I liked the Remington round nose Core-Lokt for our woods deer, so with nothing much better to do I shot dry bound together phone books with the 180 grain round nose Core-Lokt vs. the 180 grain pointed Core-Lokt. The round nose punched a bigger hole out of the first couple of phone books and the pointed opened later. It also out penetrated the round nose by two of three phone books. I was handloading back in those days and trying to simulate what I'd seen with those round nose Core-Lokts. The closest I came was with a 165 grain round nose Speer bullet.

180 grain 308 deer loads are not the best, I have killed several pick up truck loads of deer with 150 grain WW factory, rem corelocks, you name it, in the 150-165 grain range. Killed the two of the biggest one 12 and one 10 with cheap WW powerpoints 150 grain the 3rd with a 223 and a 62 grain bullet. If you want to shoot deer in the lungs with a 180 that's your business, but having done it and found it behaves more like a solid on deer I learned after doing it so don't do it anymore. I have killed at minimum 1-3 deer per year for the last 18 years on two hunting clubs. When the kids were young I was killing 4-5. People wax poetic over their favorite loads and what they have found by shooting ballistic gelatin or whatever, I have just killed animals with different calibers and bullets. Deer are easy to kill. Find the best round for your rifle in the 150-165 grain range, practice with your rifle, and if your cannot overcome buck fever to the point that you feel a magnum or heavy bullets are required to kill a deer then take up tennis.

I think they are. I using 150 TSX grain in the 30-06.

150 Hornady Interlock, 150 Remington CoreLokt or 150 Nosler Ballistic Tip

Don't need anything else.

A good deer killer would be the 150gr Hornady SP pushed by proper amount of Win 748.
There are plenty of others, mostly noted above, but this one is darn hard to beat.

I use a 130 gr sp from Sierra 44 ge IMR 4064 groups at 1/2 in deer kills Bang flop

I am sure it is not necessary, but I really like the federal power-shok 180gr. ammo for deer. It is accurate in my rifle and does a fine job on big heavy bodied whitetail bucks. I have had very good success with it. I save the cases and reload them with the now discontinued speer 180gr. mag-tip. Both shoot to the same point of impact from my rifle.

150gn Nosler - used to take down deers and also a brown bear.

Ill be using a 168 Amax this year...just because I have a bunch.

48.5 gr Varget with 155 Scenar's if you roll your own.

That's in WW brass, right?

They are all great loads it what shoots the best in your rifle an what u are groups and using it for. Your the only one going to get the job done

Lapua

You've got my interest. The Scenar is long for a 155, and the Lapua is not as roomy as WW. Is the charge compressed a good bit? Chrono result?

165's are king in both of my 308's. For factory ammo, Federal Premium 165 Trophy Bond is utterly accurate, same POI as the GMM 168BTHP, and bores one heck of a hole through a deer. I've never had one go more than 30 yards, blacktail and muley. All my hits are behind the shoulder (or through the shoulder when I get excited and forget where to aim). The bullet always opens up beautifully, bores a thick hole through, and exits out the back. I'd have no problem taking it to elk.

In the loading spectrum, 165gr Sierra Gamekings shoot amazingly well. I've not shot a critter with them yet (this year I will).

BUT, on the loading side of it, Federal just released the Trophy Bonds for reloading which they've never done before as far as I'm aware. You can bet I bought a couple boxes of em.

HSM Trophy Gold 168 VLD

Just put the 308 deer ammo in the box today. There are 2 factory loads in there. 165gr Hornady and 150gr Remington coreloc. But the reality is I will kill any deer I shoot at, with 125gr Ballistic tips over a max load of w748.

It is compressed, not too adverse. The load clocks 2890 fps in my 22" Rem 700.

150 gr Core Lokt. Used 165 Speer Grand Slams back in the day when they were a factory load.