.308 bullet

foxrunner

foxrunner

Active member
So I just bought a Remington alpha 1 in .308 with a 22 inch barrel , 1:10 twist

From what I understand with that twist rate, the barrel likes a bit heavier bullet?
Any recommendations for a bullet I can start re-loading with?
 
You can shoot most any bullet in that barrel (within reason). Better to have the faster twist as it gives more flexibility. The 165 all the way to 210 will do just fine.

You can go to the Berger website and use their stability calculator to get some idea.

We always ran 165-180 grain bullets for hunting. But that's been a looooooong time ago.
 
The 1:10s I've owned have handled all 150's through 190's extremely well, but I've shot 110 & 125's through most of my 308's and 30-06 and usually get them to shoot moa or very close to that @ 100 yds. Years ago I even had a couple of 03A3 Springfield rifles, one 4 groove barrel and the other a 2 groove that shot 100 gr 1/2 jacket "plinkers" and 93 gr. .30 cal luger bullets to minute of jackrabbit with spectacular results. :)
 
What is your main purpose for this rifle? Are you deer hunting with it mainly and for shots under 500 yards? My go to weight in 30-06 is 180 grains. Probably gonna be 100 ft./s slower in 308… but I’m sure a deer never notice it. Heavy enough to blow through any deer from any angle out to a couple hundred yards easy. My goto bullet is a hand loaded 180 grain core loct. Not fancy or glamorous but it works best for me after all the expensive goofy premium bullets I’ve tried over the decades. I get consistent .2” to .3” groups out my boring old pump 7600 Remington with the same twist. If your on the plastic tip band wagon I like the 180 grain ballistic tips. They exit, drop deer in their tracks like Thor’s hammers, but make a huge mess inside their body cavities. Heavy for caliber is king for exits and quick recover on deer in .308 diameter bullets. I’ve tried 125 grain noslers in my 300 RUM at 4000 fps. They do exit deer and antelope…and make BIG mess as well. My Winchester 1917 Enfield 30-06 likes 150, 165, and 180 grain bullets. It’s not picky. Shoots under MOA with all of them. I have a bulk box of Seirra #2170, 180 grain round noses. I’m going to try them on deer in my 06’. I loaded up some the season before last in my 300 RUM and tried it on a decent buck. Big hole in and out with a random starting load I picked that shot MOA. Low heart shot broadside around 50 yards. There was a river of blood for a 110 yards and at the end was my dead deer. Cant believe it went that far but the exit hole was huge so the blood trail was spectacular. I have zero areas to shoot over 200 yards anymore so heavy for caliber is king for a guaranteed exit and quick recovery in most cases. Twenty five years I would have loaded 125 to 150 grainers to shoot a county mile.
 
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The worst bullets I e tried over the years were seirra .308 150 grain Game king boat tails, Nosler .308 180 grain accubonds, and all the Barnes offerings. the game Kings never exit. Deer and Elk ran like they weren’t hit with no blood to follow. The accubonds never expanded at 30-06 velocities. Deer stood there like they weren’t even shot requiring follow up shots. A couple I followed up with shoulder and one with a high back bone shot. They ALL had their throats cut to finish them off. I won’t ever use an accubond in any caliber again. I had the exact same experience with them on deer with 260 grain .275 accubonds in my 375 RUM. They won’t expand on thin skinned deer. Great hog bullet for huge boars with heard and should plate shots. It lifts them off their feet at close range. Never got a Barnes to shoot with acceptable accuracy in dozens of my guns with ladder testing several powders. I gave up on them due to poor accuracy. I did try them on a few close range deer and they acted just like the accubonds did. Junk.
 
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Never tried the accubonds in .30 cal., but loved the 200 gr. .338's on nilgai and scimitar horned oryx. They performed about like the 210 gr. partition and were a bit more accurate than the partitions. In .223 ,.308 , & 30-06 the ballistic tips are hard to beat. Even dropped a number of medium sized hogs w/55 gr. NBT Varmint bullets while hunting coyotes. Always waited for broadside shot between eye and ear, so no real feat for any bullet. I'm sure the hunting BT's would be better for that job, but the varmint bullets were what was in the magazine.
 
The Hornady 165 SST is an easy bullet to tune for in the .308 size case. A good hunting bullet also. The Berger classic Hunter would also be easy to find a load for, would be my no tipped bullet choice. If you want exits Speer Grand slams are easy to tune also.
 
My day rifle is a Ruger American in .308.
My night gun is a Ruger Predator in .308.
My bullet of choice for both are the 165gr Remington CoreLokts Tipped.
Shoot deer during the day out to 225yds.
Shot pigs and coyotes at night out to 200yds.
Where I hunt, that’s a LONG shot due to brush and landscape. Most shots are 100yds or under.
If anything runs it’s not farther than 30yds with a blood trail a child could follow…at nigh without a light.
I’ve even tried shooting pigs dead center so they’d run off and I wouldn’t have to drag them from the site and they fall anyways.
I buy these bullets by the case every 3 months unless I have to buy sooner, lol. Buy by the case and you can usually beat by the box prices.
 
Nosler ballistic tips in any weight or caliber have always been extremely easy to get to shoot ridiculously accurate in every gun I’ve tried. If you can find 180 grain Nosler ballistc tips I’d tell you give them a try. You won’t find bulk core locts unless you find a private buyer with old stock. I have a few hundred I stick piled from a decade or more ago along with about 1200, .311 core locts in 180 grains. I’m going to have to get my hands on a lee .308 sizing die and squeeze some through it to down size and test with my proven 30-06 core loct load to see if they shoot just as tight. Hornady I can get to shoot almost as good as the noslers in my guns but I have have to work a lot harder to get them to even as close to as tight of groups. The Hornadys are alot more finicky to get to shoot accurately"
 
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Dultimatpredator said:
Nosler ballistic tips in any weight or caliber have always been extremely easy to get to shoot ridiculously accurate in every gun I’ve tried. If you can find 180 grain Nosler ballistc tips I’d tell you give them a try. You won’t find bulk core locts unless you find a private buyer with old stock. I have a few hundred I stick piled from a decade or more ago along with about 1200, .311 core locts in 180 grains. I’m going to have to get my hands on a lee .308 sizing die and squeeze some through it to down size and test with my proven 30-06 core loct load to see if they shoot just as tight. Hornady I can get to shoot almost as good as the noslers in my guns but I have have to work a lot harder to get them to even as close to as tight of groups. The Hornadys are alot more finicky to get to shoot accurately"
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Ended up finding some Noslers! Thanks!!
 
Good to hear they were always the easiest bullet to get to shoot accurate in every gun I owned. I need to get my hands on some 180 grain ones myself.
 
Dultimatpredator said:
Good to hear they were always the easiest bullet to get to shoot accurate in every gun I owned. I need to get my hands on some 180 grain ones myself.
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.308 180 gr. NBT Seconds
GRADE-C Bullets - Polymer Tips have a low pull rating: Meaning, they could potentially to be pulled from the seating pocket. After our internetal inspection, found no loose tips in the bags.
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