.308 Win for whitetails

Matt N.

Matt N.

New member
Just got a great deal on a Remington 700 LTR in .308 Win. Does anyone have any favorite .308 whitetail loads or bullet/powder combinations they would share?

Thanks.
Matt
 
Seems like a 168 and 43gr or so Varget or H4895 eorked well in mine. Depend what bullet you can find and want to shoot. I like the 155 weight for hunting. I load them for my dad with I think 46gr varget
 
Matt, my brother, nephews, and I have killed a slug of deer with the Sierra 125g Pro hunter and 125g Nosler ballistic tip.

We shoot win748 between 49-52g and accuracy is usually the size of a dime. 200 lb deer just fall over, with velocity between 3000-3200 turning their innards to spaghetti. Even a el cheapo old mossburg shoots 1/2' with the loads not bedded nor freefloated, nor trigger job(impossible on this model).

You can shoot a big bullet, but it really is not necessary. You can use the same load with the tipped barnes triple shock on elk(or deer if you are feeling particularly insecure). You can shoot deer up the butt with the triple shocks, you will not find the bullet as it will exit the chest.
 
About any quality 150 - 165 grain game bullet is poison on deer from the .308 Winchester. My little Browning BLR 81 has been fed a 165 grain Sierra HPGK over a dose of Varget the last few years. Deer hate it!
 
Originally Posted By: pahntr760165 gr Sierra BTHP. Push em quick and they'll do the rest.

Same here 165 game king BTHP with IMR4064 is devastating on deer. Many fall right over.
 
The fun thing about a 308 is that it is very capable with any bullet.

Spend some time to find what your gun likes and go with it.

I prefer a bonded bullet if shooting the lighter bullets. Shooting light steel targets, (okay, i was really being a menace to my friend by putting holes in his lite steel targets), i had some of the 125 and 130s splash. 150s + penetrated just fine
 
.308 for deer ! You guys are out of your mind, way to big !
w00t.gif
 
Almost anything that shoots well (other than a target or varmint specialty, frangible) will well on deer. My choice is about 2800-2900 fps with a Sierra Gameking 150 gr Spitzer Boattail. YMMV
 
My 308's have worked so well for deer hunting it took me about 20 yrs to try something else. I usually shot 165 grn handloads.

Just to mix it up I now usually use my 284 Win or a 243, neither 'better' than the 308 though.
 



Originally Posted By: swift onethe 155 lapua scenars are accurate as hec and have worked on the big game that i shot them with.

X2 I do love them at long range.
 
I must picked up some 165gr SP Federal "Deer Thugs" from Walmart that I was going to try. Has any one every tried them? I also have some 168gr HPBT match but I'm not so sure about the over all effects or going out the other side.

If all else fails, I have some Winchester 100gr for my .243. My wife will be shooting 140gr Fusion in her 7mm08.
 
I have shot the deer thugs in 165 and 180 through 3 different guns. They shoot pretty good.

A rem700 Sps varmint shot 10 (quickly) at 1.5". I was trying to determine how the gun handled shooting hot.... It did pretty good... Lol. For accuracy, they should be MOA through this gun.

The other guns didn't like them quite as well, but they still shot very well for the price.
 
I shoot 165-grain Hornady Interlocks over 45-46 grains of Varget. This is a great load and has taken deer and elk. 45 grains in my 18 1/2 inch barrel clocks 2557 and the 46 grain load is a little over 2600.

At these moderate velocities, the 165 Interlock performs as well as a premium, with perfect mushrooms.
 
Originally Posted By: sbhooperI shoot 165-grain Hornady Interlocks over 45-46 grains of Varget. This is a great load and has taken deer and elk. 45 grains in my 18 1/2 inch barrel clocks 2557 and the 46 grain load is a little over 2600.

At these moderate velocities, the 165 Interlock performs as well as a premium, with perfect mushrooms.

My dad and I both used to shoot the 165 gr. Hornady flatbase Interlock from my handloads driven to just about 2,600 fps for our Ozark timber whitetails. That bullet was accurate and deadly reliable on deer. I switched to the Sierra bullet for no real reason other than I wanted to try something else for awhile.
 
My current 308 deer load consists of:

150gr Accubond
45.5gr IMR4895
CCI 200
Fed and/or Win cases
2.809"

I twisted these up thinking I may take the rifle to Colorado for some elk hunting. This load has printed groups as small as 3/8" and generally hovers right around 1/2", making it probably the most consistently accurate big game load/combo I use. Same rifle shot 5/8"-3/4" routinely with factory Federal ammo.

I generally use Varget or R-15 for match loads in my other 308. That said, 4895 and 4064 can be extremely good as well IME.......
 
Frankly, any bullet weight that will penetrate deep enough to cause a fatal wound channel will work in the .308 for whitetail.

If you reload, there is almost an endless supply of .308 dia. bullets that can be tailored to your .308.

Any standard off the shelf 150 gr. soft point would be a good choice for normal hunting conditions.

Obviously, if your hunting conditions require shots of multiple hundreds of yards, then you have a unique situation that requires a bit more work.

Hunter303
 
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