What ammo for my Sako 75 in .308 for deer stalking?

[clivej]

I will be getting my second-hand Sako 75 in .308 soon and what to know what ammo I should be thinking of using for deer stalking.

Many people have said to use soft point only and avoid meat damage while others are true to the balistic tip rounds.

 

I am leaning towards the Federal Fusion 150gr SP but I'm open to your thoughts.

 

I have also posted this thread on other forums to see what the answer may be.

[Greenbear]

I used 150g Fusion in my Tikka T3 to great effect, I like the Federal ammo if I am buying it.

 

Took a nice red on Arran with Fusion, dropped to the spot.

[grahamfarmer]

hi clive,

 

you will enjoy the 308 as a caliber but they are even better if it is moderated. as for balistic tip bullets once you go over 90 grain bullets in the larger calibers ie 243 or bigger they tend to fall under the discription of hunting bullets not varmint and the explosive action is towards controlled expansion rather than out right expansion and fragmenttation. personally have used 110 grain vmax on roe and 150 grain nosler bt as well, the damage is not much more than 125 or 150 sp bullets but they do give a slightly larger exit wound and hence a better blood trail not that i have had anything run far yet. they do cause more damage if you catch a shoulder on the way in or out though so just bear that in mind if they are not quite square on when taking the shot. cant comment on effects of neck shots as dont like them but standard text book heart lung area havent had any problems.

 

as already said you may be a bit limited as to what your gun likes shooting unless you load your own. as a bit of an aside the 110 vmax in 308 will make less mess of a fox than a 70grain blitzking in my 243 . hope this helps a bit if you need more info just ask you will probally find as many balistic tip users as soft point but as long as we kill cleanly and humanely we are doing the right thing. the lost of a small amount of meat shouldnt rule what we do or use in my opinon.

 

graham.

[clivej]

I'm hoping to sort out the license this week as I'm already waiting 3 months for any word, so it's a visit to the Super.

I have a Bushnell 6-24x50 scope and an ASE Nothstar mod got for this rifle so just waiting on the go ahead.

[menial 1]

Graham has it about right, I've found until you've shot a large number of beasts with your rifle in all the stalking situations , close up head/neck shots, close up body shots which tend to make the expansion rates vary greatly as opposed longer range body shots where velocity is greatly reduced.

It's almost impossible if we're honest which bullets will suit the type of stalking you'll mostly pursue. I ran 150 soft points for a long time but after experimenting with 125gr Nosler BT I'm happier with the results I've had with these, about 80% of my shots will be head or neck at generally less than 150yds, but they may not neccessarily be your cup of tea.

Generally speaking you won't go far wrong with 150gr soft points to begin with, There's not a deer in the UK or Eire that they won't drop with correct bullet placement.

If you already load then the world is your oyster and you can spend the next few years tormenting yourself, if you buy factory then you'll be at the mercy of you're local rfd and virtually everything he sells you that expands will do the job satisfactorily.

So to be honest you'd be hard pushed to find anything from factories that won't suit your rifle to an acceptable degree of accuracy as regards stalking.

Pete.

[pointer]

Hi , Federal Fusion, unbeatable in my opinion.

[clivej]

The Federal Fusion seems to be getting the thumbs up so I'll start off with that and get some of the other ammo as well down the line.