308 loads for antelope

smallblockfuelie

smallblockfuelie

New member
My brother is going to make a Wyoming antelope hunt this year and is going to be using his .308 and we need input on a good load for them. Thanks for your input. (I am sure there are better suited calibers for antelope out there, but since this is being done on a budget and he has a .308 that is what he will use. Please don't recommend he use another rifle. Thanks.)
 
Absolutely nothing wrong with a 308 for antelope. Any of the 150gr hunting bullets should work well. Even 125 to 165 will be OK.

Jack
 
I agree...the .308 is a fin cal for antelope...I load the Speer Grand Slam bullets in 165 grain, with 47 grains of Winchester 748 and Magnum Primer....This is a near max load, so I would caution you to start with 43 Grains and work up slowly...Speer also makes the Grand Slam in 150 Grains, and the Hornady Interlock bullets in 165 are Fantastic on ligh boned game like antelope. Follow your loading manual.

By the way my .308 is a Winchester 88 with a 22 inch barrel.

Tell him good luck.
 
I would start with a 130 gr. Barnes TSX bullet, which
will give you accuracy, and one of the flattest shooting
.308 Win, loads possible. I have a W748 load, for
Barnes XBTs, that I shoot out of my Savage Striker(14"
barrel), that chronies at 2775 fps. As I recall the powder
charge is at max. in one loading data book, for 130 gr.
bullets, and about 1 gr. under max, in one or two data
publisher's books. It shoots sub MOA, in this Striker, and
my .308 Win BAR Stalker LW. The on game performance is
impressive. I have take several northern whitetails with
it, and all have been BANG, flop, except one, and that one
stumbled less than 20 yards, and then went flop.

Late last fall, I started working with Barnes TSX bullets,
for my 130 gr. 308 Win. loads, and they show even more
accuracy, and I expect the same on game performance.

If you try Barnes bullets, you will want to heed Barnes's
recommendation to start load development with bullets
seated .050" off the lands. I struggled with X bullet
load development until I got over the habit of trying
to seat .005" - .010" off the lands. Now I start
at .050" +/- .010" off the lands, and find the most
accurate loads usually end up somewhere between .040",
and .050" off the lands.

For antelope, this 130 gr. load will give you plenty
of punch, and flatten the .308 Win out some, which
with a 150 yard zero, should eliminate hold over out
to 250 yards.

Squeeze
 
I suggest you try the 155gr AMAX/Interbond or Combined Technolgy BST. Load up with 46.5 gr. of Varget and you should be deadly accurate @ about 2900fps. I suggest these bullets because of ther good ballistic coeficient, this will help flatten your trajectory at longer ranges. Those antelope seem to know just about how far 400yds is and that is how far they will stay away from you when they see you. I also would shoot some steel at these ranges (400-500yds) for practice.
hers some ballistic data from JBM
http://www.eskimo.com/~jbm/calculations/traj_basic/traj_basic.html
Range Velocity Energy Drop Wind (10mph)
(yards) (ft/sec) (ft-lbs) (inches)
0 2900.0 2894.3 -1.5 -0.0
50 2793.5 2685.6 -0.2 0.2
100 2689.5 2489.4 -0.0 0.7
150 2588.1 2305.2 -1.0 1.6
200 2489.1 2132.2 -3.3 2.9
250 2392.5 1969.9 -7.0 4.5
300 2298.3 1817.8 -12.3 6.8
350 2206.2 1675.1 -19.1 9.4
400 2115.8 1540.7 -27.8 12.5
450 2027.5 1414.7 -38.4 16.2
500 1941.4 1297.2 -51.1 20.4
550 1857.7 1187.8 -66.2 25.2
600 1776.6 1086.3 -83.7
 
.308 is fine but I'd suggest he use a heavy bullet (160gr or better) and zero for 350yd.

I'm assuming he'll be hunting south or east WY where the wind ALWAYS blows and the shots are going to be out to 400yds or so. You don't need the heavier high BC bullet for the game but it sure does help in uncertain wind conditions! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
NMLEON,

You know, I need to ask where he is hunting. Excellent point about the wind, I will ask and then maybe load some 130's and something to help buck the wind.
 
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