Hunting round for deer in 308

[rangerroy]

Hey gang,

I know this has been asked, but there have been a lot of development in bullets. I have a 308 that I hunt whitetail with. I have tried both Berger VLD hunting and Hornady Btsp, while both have brought game down, I've had issues with both. The VLDs have done pass through without opening up, and the BTSP from Hornady shattered on a shoulder bone at 200yd shot barely caused damage. Been able to recover all, but it has me wondering. 165-175 gr seem to shoot best in my rifle.

What do you guys recommend? SSTs, Noslers, etc....?

Thanks in advance

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[HD1911]

Barnes TTSX are worth a look

 

[Niles Coyote]

I have use berger hunting vlds in my 308 and have yet to a pass through, but if that is what you are after the bonded or solid bullets would be the first place I'd look. The 165 & 180 accubond have decent BC's. If you want a fast light weight barnes makes or made (its been a few years since I bought them) a 130 triple shock. My only experence with barnes bullets and deer have been with the .224 53 grain triple shock and it did a fine job on a mule deer...

 

[pdogsbeware]

Honestly, all the years spent around the deer shack with 4-8 guys all trying different things...Remington Core Lokt has been the most liked. As alway, it goes without saying that shot placement is key. But Core Lokts are inexpensive, acceptably accurate, and consistently perform in putting whitetails down. Yes yes, everyone likes the newest and greatest/highest tech bullets out there, how did we ever survive and harvest any animals before their invention!? (sarcasm) Sometimes the basic things are just as effective.

 

[Artifact]

Winchester Ballistic Silvertip 150gr does great for me.

 

[Adam B]

I would give the load used in this thread a try

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...547-berger-185gr-juggernaut-deer-results.html

 

[meathunter1]

Last year I shot a doe head on with a 180 remington core lokt at about 75 yards. Skinned her out and found the perfectly mushroomed, intact slug right under the skin in her ass cheek. Penetration was a little excessive! I will be shooting 150s from now on. LOL!

 

[Bradu]

I was going to recommend the 165 btsp but sounds like you don't like them. I have had nothing but good experiences with them on deer.

 

[rangerroy]

Thanks guys.

Adam - thanks for the link.

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[redneckbmxer24]

Are you looking for factory ammo or bullets to load? It's unclear as you ask about a round but you also mention a bullet that I'm not sure if companies offer factory 308 ammo with.

There is no magic bullet that will work perfectly 100% of the time. Period. There are many however that will do as it should most of the time. There are so many things that affect the actual effect on how the bullet acts that you can't know 100% until you make that shot on that deer and have it on the ground. Even with bullets that work most of the time they are still affected by manufacturing consistency, impact velocity, what the bullet impacts, and how much of what the bullet hits that it penetrates. There are other affects as well but those are a few.

I'm quite surprised you had any issues with the interlock (assuming thats the BTSP you're reffering to) at 308 velocities, they are usually a good performer at that level as long as impact velocity is high enough its going to expand or fragment (anything above 1800fps should do the trick) which SST's and Interlocks seem to do either or. They do have some issues with higher velocity rounds though as do the SST's since they're basically the same construction up to the tip.

If you want to reduce the risk of the bullet blowing up on bigger bones then a bonded bullet is the way to go but they can also pencil right through. Myself and others have had this exact experience and I personally do not trust them and won't use them anymore. They do tend to be more reliable in higher velocity rounds though (over 3000FPS MV). Some will disagree (mostly those who have never tried it) but for me the most reliable bullets for deer out of a 308 has been the Amax's and the Scenars. I've killed many deer with them and had the same result every time and I know others who use them and have the exact same experience. People have even killed elk with them and they worked flawlessly. I'm sure one could fail from time to time just like anything else though, and they probably have but I have personally never seen or heard of it.

If you are hunting with a target rifle and want to shoot the same bullets at paper and game, use an Amax, Scenar, or other known performing target bullet. If this is a dedicated target rifle, do that or just pick another poison. Either way you have to keep in mind there is a chance that any of them could fail for reasons beyond your control.

For the record the Hornady book in the bullet info section has all of the Amax bullets except the .224's are marked as suitable for medium game.

 

[oughtsix]

I have used the 178 amax at about 2750ish fps for closer in shots for several seasons now. Even punched one through a shoulder blade and out the far side humerus (100 yard shot). Put one through the slats and it looks like a bomb went off in there, but meat damage is remarkably low; that's likely a function of the comparatively low velocity. But I've seen green-box remington core-lokt stuff do the exact same thing.

 

[Scoby]

I'll give another vote to the Remington Core-Lokts in 150gr. for a factory load. They have worked well for me for years.

In a handload I'm using Hornady 165gr SSTs. They have been working very well.

 

[Win.308]

I use Barnes tsx 168s and have no complaints. Super accurate mushroom and penetrate perfect and cause a lot of damage on soft tissue doesn't tear up a lot of meat great blood trails

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[JWV]

I just took a buck with a 155gr Amax. It was a weird angle but I grazed the heart/lung, and liquefied the other lung. The exit hole was small which was weird because the ribs on the exit side were just turned into oblivion. Velocity was around 2900 or so and distance was 30 yards. There was zero damage to the meat, although slightly different shot placement may have rendered his shoulders hamburger.

 

[coldboremiracle]

Hey gang,

I know this has been asked, but there have been a lot of development in bullets. I have a 308 that I hunt whitetail with. I have tried both Berger VLD hunting and Hornady Btsp, while both have brought game down, I've had issues with both. The VLDs have done pass through without opening up, and the BTSP from Hornady shattered on a shoulder bone at 200yd shot barely caused damage. Been able to recover all, but it has me wondering. 165-175 gr seem to shoot best in my rifle.

What do you guys recommend? SSTs, Noslers, etc....?

Facepalm.....
This is f_cking hilarious! every one of these threads starts out the same way; "I know this has been asked before, but somehow my situation is different and I cant seem to get the results I want with what I've tried."

Followed by everyone chiming in recommending EVERY damned thing under the sun, including what the OP has already tried. Here's an idea: Maybe you just suck.

Its been long established that ANY BULLET will work if it is placed properly in the vital organs of an animal, nothing will work if you dont place it properly. Every bullet can excel, and every bullet can and will fail, its all about the guy shooting it.

If people would just work on their skills instead of looking for some magical bullet that will kill anything with so much as a glancing ricochet, a bullet they put their absolute confidence in just because that one shot they made that one time that hit just right (probably by accident) dropped a deer, they would have much better killing ratio's.

 

[bohem]

Up til very recently I'd have said a good match bullet placed in the right spot does it however with your experiences and the way I've recently seen the new Nosler LR Accubonds perform I may be switching over to them for hunting.

Nosler's Long Range Accubond is a wholly different bullet than the classic AB's and the BC's published seem very reasonable when comparing the shape to other match bullets of the same caliber with known BC's.

The Barnes TTSX won't blow up on you unless the entire bullet fractures into little pieces. How long are the shots you're taking with this rifle? Even at 400yd the 308 has so much scwhack still on board that I don't see why you can't hunt whitetails with a lower BC hunting bullet that will assuredly penetrate and kill cleanly from muzzle to 1/4 mile.

 

[lightman]

The 150gr Sierra Pro Hunter works well at around 2800fps. Lightman

 

[ss7]

I took down a 205lb last week with 168gr Berger Classic Hunter. The bullet made it to through to the hide on the other side, but the lead did separate from the jacket.

 

[jlitalien]

I'm a fan of the 165gr Sierra Gameking. I get comparable accuracy to the 168gr FGMM. I have taken deer out to 600+ and dropped them with one shot.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I use the Remington Core-Lokt Express 150gr (.30-'06, at most sane deer harvesting distances, the ballistics are too close to the .308 to lose sleep over), which is a (the first) bonded bullet, and still selling to repeat customers after all these years.

For all the marketing hype alleged by other ammo offerings, the task is a simple one, and simple solutions work quite well enough. After all, we are not dealing with dangerous game, or bounding antelope, etc.

The key to taking deer is in placing a decent bullet where it needs to go, and the .308 and .30-'06 Core-Lokt Express 150gr is way decent enough for that mission. It also helps a lot if the shot is not taken at heroic distances.

My Son-In-Law has taken several deer with .30-'06 150gr Core-Lokt Express (supported shots) in the past two years at distances I later lasered at over 300yd. Both he and I understand that shots that long are crap-shoots.

Minute of venison is about 2MOA. It that's too broad a dispersion, the answer is to get closer, rather than upping the ante on the ammo. The operative term here is 'fire discipline'.

On-range accuracy has little to do with practical deer harvesting, unless one is patiently, laboriously recreating the on-range conditions. A lot of hunting situations do not permit one to set up a sure shot in such a way, hence the 2MOA reference.

Ask yourself, would the problem with the shoulder blade be better solved with a super duper ammo selection, or with better shot placement?

Greg

 

[Switchblade]

I'm a fan of the 180SGK with the same loading I use for my match loads in 175SMK. The ballistics are so close there is no adjustment needed on the rifle