Selecting a general purpose .308 round.

H

Hoss Delgado

New member
The rifle in question is a good old Remington 700. It's not likely to ever shoot at anything bigger than a whitetail, which is mostly what we have around here. I am a relative beginner to rifles, being mostly a shotgun man.

I'm quite aware that the answer to "What's the best ammo?" is always "It depends." But let's talk in some generalities. I'm trying to find something with good expansion, reasonable accuracy, and not massive cost. I'm not looking to kill elephants, it doesn't have to be an ultra high end round, just a good round. There are a few I've been looking at and I'm open to suggestions.

The first was Federal Gold Medal. I'm a little iffy on this now. While the accuracy is consistently rated as second to none, the expansion appears sketchy. Sierra themselves say that the MatchKing bullet isn't appopriate for hunting, though oddly, I hear it's a very popular police sniper round. Out of morbid curiosity more than anything, is it considered effective against human targets compared with hunting rounds?

The next is Federal Vital-Shok. The GameKing bullet has better expansion, though I understand the penetration is not as good as some other hunting rounds. It's also a bit more expensive. It is, however, a similar design to the MatchKing, and is supposed to be highly accurate.

The third is Remington Core-Lokt. All reports on killing power are that it's top notch. Surprisingly though, I've hardly found any data on accuracy one way or the other. Does anyone have any comment on this? Also, the weight choices are 150 or 180 grain. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground. Thoughts on this?

What say the experts? Anything else good that I've missed?
 
I'd look for a round using the Nosler ballistic tip. It performs awesome on PA. Whitetail.

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In years gone by, I had good results with Federal hunting rounds.

You don't need a nossler or anything exotic for white tail.

Also each one may perform somewhat differently in your rifle, 3 inched is plenty good at 200.

And how long are the shots? May be too close to make any difference.

What is easy to get?

Years back I thought I had 40 rounds of 7mm stashed, none. Hunting next day, trying to load up and get a sight in session.

Bought the Premium Federal in 7mm, it was as good as anything I ever made by hand and I never did another 7mm round again, 2 or 3 range shots, one hunting shot, a pack of 20 for emergencies (bear)

Longest shot was 250 yds and it hit right where I aimed it (no cross hairs though gura hairs found on Caribou, but it was so close that the Bou and I did not care, his troubles were done and mine were just beginning)
 
For what you want to do any of the factory 150 gr bullets are about equal and will do what you want to do. Buy the cheapest one that shoots well in your rifle. I hand load and generally prefer to buy premium bullets for hunting or trying to shoot tiny groups. But I still use the standard jacketed lead bullets for playing around at the range and wouldn't feel handicapped for 90% of my hunting.

Some premium bullets are designed to work best at magnum speeds, others are tough and designed for elk or bear, but may not expand on deer. Others are designed to be very aerodynamic and expand well at very slow speeds at long range, but perform poorly at close range. They all work well if used as designed, but can cause problems if used for purposes they were not designed for.

Most of the standard bullets work very well at 308 speeds and at moderate ranges where 90% of shots are taken. I'd use 150's on deer, 180's on larger elk or bear and 165's are a very good compromise if you want to hunt it all with just one bullet. After experimenting you may find 165's to be the most accurate. They are really heavier than you need, but if they shoot better I'd use them.

Since I load my own the premiums aren't that much more expensive and still cheaper than common factory loads. But the advantages don't start showing up unless hunting game larger than deer or at ranges over about 300 yards. I don't think you have that in mind and if you ever decide to push the envelope at a later time you have the option.
 
I can't imagine why the plain old corlokt or win power points or basic federal would perform perfectly at .308 win velocities. Buy a box and test them, their price is low enough that it won bankrupt you and you might find the perfect factory load for your rifle.
 
+1

Yeah, I'd encourage anyone to get started in loading.

A GP .308 round....for me is a 150 gr PSP. I do load, and use the Sierra 150 gr flat base Pro-Hunter bullet. The other benefit of that bullet weight is that bulk 147 gr FMJ GI ammo generally has similar qualities and can sometimes be obtained for practice in quantity at reasonable prices.

Back when I didn't load, I fed my only .308 rifle at the time W-W 150 gr PowerPoints.
 
When I bought my wife's Model 7 I picked up a box each of whatever standard 150gr pointed soft point Federal and Winchester was at the store along with Remington CoreLokt.

All were deer hunting accurate but the CoreLokt shot about half the group size of the other two. She's shot probably 15 deer with 150gr CoreLokt and most dropped on the spot.

Your rifle might prefer one of the other two, I'd try a box of each.
 
If all you're looking for is accurate hunting ammunition, start with Federal Power Shok (aka blue box), Winchester Power Points (Silver Box), Hornady American Whitetail, or Remington Core-Lokt. All the ammunition I suggested is around $20 a box, and is usually accurate enough to handle any hunting situation out to 300-400 yards. Find one that is accurate in your rifle and buy a few boxes and go hunting.

I also recommend getting into reloading as a hobby but never to save money, as it has never saved me money I just expanded my rifle collection and increased the amount of cartridges I shoot. I reload for a lot of different cartridges, but more and more I find that I'll buy a box or two of factory ammunition to hunt with in my more common rifles. My .243 Win, .270 Win, .30-06, and .30-30 pretty much digest mainly factory ammunition anymore for hunting. I save my reloading time to my high volume cartridges for varmint and target shooting such as .223 and 6X47 of which I'll shoot several hundred in an outing. I also reload for my more expensive cartridges to buy such as .250 Savage, .300 Savage, 30-40 Krag, .300 H&H, .375 Ruger, and .338-06.
 
The Matchking is ok for hunting varmints, but nothing bigger. Doesn't expand.
165 grain hunting bullets work well out of the .308. Doesn't really matter which one/type/brand. The .308 loves 165's.
If you're not reloading you'll have to try a box of as many brands as you can to find the ammo your rifle shoots best. Cost of the ammo means nothing.
Like RC20 says, you do not need premium bullets. Not just for deer, but for anything. Accuracy doesn't have to be a one hole group or even an inch at 100for deer either. Two or 3 inches, consistently, is fine.
 
PPU Soft points expand very well, and are pretty accurate, considering how low the cost is. The brass is also very good for reloading. They offer a 150 that would work well.
 
The way things are now buying a reloading setup costs a lot and it always seems that you must keep buying the new stuff as it comes out always looking to improve the setup. With pistols a lot can be saved with cast bullets and a few grains of powder but for a guy that shoots 50 standard rifle rounds a year maybe getting all the equipment for reloading might not make sense. 150 grain core locks which have been mentioned are a fine choice as are the 165 grainers
 
I've found that Winchester Power Point ammo has never been real accurate in my rifles. Remington Core-Lokts are all 90% of hunters need they have been accurate too, but in my area I find them harder to find and more expensive than other hunting type ammo.

If it were me I'd try the 150gr Interlock from Hornady in their American Whitetail line. It's been accurate in several of my rifles and is as cheap or cheaper than Federal, Winchester, or Remington. And a 150gr Interlock in a .308 is very deadly on Whitetail
 
I pretty much have had the same experience as carjunkiLS1. I don't use factory .308 hunting ammo much, but some of the "High end" bullets and loads are worse than the traditional box ammo. I use a lot of Hornady bullets, but have had issues with some of their smaller caliber bullets. As everyone else said, it really depends on YOUR gun.
 
Funny thing. I have three rifles in .308 Win. I bought cheap because their previous owners said they were extremely inaccurate. One was a hand loader but the other two owners were not. It took me two years to fine a load for the first rifle that would group to my standard of consistency and was well worth the effort. I've been hand loading since 1954 and that rifle was a challenge. Two more of the same make came up and I bought those. That load worked in all three rifles. They were Ruger tang safety RSI's, the one with the Mannlicher style stock.
I've been showing .308's of one sort or another since my first one in 1973 and other than a few boxes of factory, all my rifles have use my hand loads.
My preference for an all round load in the .306 is a 165 gr. bullet. Even though the 165 gr. Speer is only doing 2550 FPS from the 18.5" barrel, I would have no qualms using it on game as large as elk within reasonable distance.
I've taken several dozen deer at ranges from 35 feet to 250 yards with that somewhat slow load. The one at 250 yards was facing me and hit at the base of the neck. I recovered the bullet in one of the hams which retained 65 percent of it's weight. I like to eat venison and the 165 gr. is less destructive of eating meat that the 150 grain bullets and penetrates better on angling shots.
Like I said, I haven't bought any factory ammo in years, just empty brass and loaded them myself.
Paul B.
 
People over think things.

Try a few different loads in 150-165 grain bullets and use whichever is the most accurate in your rifle.

The deer won't know the difference.
 
I like Hornady Custom 150 gr SST's out of my .308. Shoots them very good with sub MOA groups and kills deer well.

I agree that any of the popular 150 gr loads will be fine for deer hunting. You'll likely find some that group much tighter than others
 
Problem with reloading ,will cost you more money because you will shoot 3x 's as much, which is a good thing ,because more trigger time ,the more you are comfortable with the firearm,and more comfortable you are the more accurate you become
worked up a load with my 270 ,and tested same load with 3 different bullets, the sierra was most accurate ,hornady a close second and speer third ,so now i dont consider speer in that rifle
 
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