bullet selection for 308

[huntsman]

I am fairly new to hunting with 308, this season being my first since handing in my 6.5x55. I have been using hornady 150 gr soft points interlock (a flat base) with a mild 43 gr of vit n140 and they are nice to shoot and grouping well.

 

The problem is the damage and blood splash the last two sika does were shot about 150 yds heart lung shots . The bullet on bullet in both case hit the muscle on the rear of the front leg (but made no contact with the bone). There was considerable splash both on entry and exit, on exit the splash was all the way back along the flanks to in front of the back leg. The blood travelled up under the muscle planes too and considerable trimming was required. All front legs had to be used for the dogs. Both deer more or less fell on the spot and there was no external signs that such damage had occuered in both cases the bullet passed in and out with entry ~1 inch and exit slightly larger.

 

I am not going to use these any more but would like any suggestions from the 308 users out there as to what works for them. Obviously if neck shooting only, there would be no problem , but I prefer the percentage heart/ lung shot where possible.

 

Thanks

[menial 1]

You don't say whether you're shooting them at close quarters, sub 100yds, or medium range, out to 250yds.

They call the .243 the dogfood calibre, but I found the .308 to be worse when body shots are taken, I partly cured the problem by running Nosler 125grBT's at a modest 2770 fps.

I still prefer the .243 for my deer work and have this season turned my .308 into a long range rifle and don't miss it in the field at all.

In my humble opinion you gave up a better calibre in the 6.5 for general deer work.

Pete.

[huntsman]

I was begining to think the same and have another 308 waiting to be collected, i am a bit sorry now I didn't go for it in 6.5 again or 270 win for a change. oh and the distance was about 150 yds.

[DL.]

Huntsman, I have used the same load in .308, and liked the Hornady Interlock the most out of all the .308 bullets I have tried.

Hornady Interbond don't open up enough for me (I like my Roe stalking) and Hornady SSTs are a bit drastic!

I suppose you could try 165gn interlocks and see if they expand more slowly.

[duey]

I used to use Nosler BT 165gr but found occasionally had expansion problems (too quick) especially if hit a bone on the way in

use sierra gameking now and not have any problems now

my 308 is a 1-10 twist hence why the heavier bullets as 150gr ones didn't group consistantly

 

a friend uses 150gr Nosler Partitions and has downed in excess of 300 in the last 3-4yrs, mainly fallow, with a few roe and the odd muntie with no reported problems

 

Ian

[ejg223]

Hope this is not too graphic.

 

I found , same load often different results.

This was the exit wound of a snap shot sika spike at about 90yds. Entry was just a small hole.

Just about no meat damage. 165gr SST Dead on the spot.

 

same load (165gr SST) sika spike 180yds ran 30 yds. Entry wound,

 

 

As a comparison sika spike with 22-250 120yds. Entry wound. Opposite side also had good blood splash.

 

 

edi

[casts_by_fly]

We've shot hot loaded 165 NBT's from the -06 forever now at whitetails. If you want DRT performance, shoot them in the shoulder. If you absolutely want to minimize meat damage, shoot them behind the shoulder. A behind shoulder shot will have a pencil hole going in and a fist sized bruise coming out, about what EJG has in his first picture. The behind shoulder shots will usually drop them on the spot if they are calm and walking through. For pushed deer and ones alerted to your presence they will pick up and run a little.

 

Thanks,

Rick

[MarinePMI]

Huntsman,

 

I feel your pain. As a younger man, I made the mistake of hunting whitetails one year using Winchester Law Enforcement Only ammo (had a DEA friend). This stuff was designed for taking down the bad guys with minimal sympathetic response (assuming you hit the right areas). Let's just say I got used to the smell of ruptured intestines that season, even with forward lung shots...

 

That being said, I would wager ejg223 hit the nail on the head, regarding civilian available bullets. Most bullets are designed to be run at certain speeds and terminal bullet performance will be seriously affected by this variable. It might be good to play with the velocity a bit rather than just writing off the bullet as being too explosive or frangible....

[huntsman]

Thanks for all the replies, the actual bullets are hornady (# 3031) saw someone else on another post recommend these for there accuracy with vit n140. I can 2nd this.

Ground one in half and they seemed to have a good jacket and it took some time to get the job done . I was using 43gr n140 so should I try sending them faster or slower?

Friends have suggested trying 150 gr federal fusions.

[Foxshooter]

At the risk of getting flamed by those more expert than I, have you tried 168gr AMax.....

 

I've had good results with munti, roe, fallow and red

 

Mark

[grahamfarmer]

huntsman,

 

for what its worth i found the standard 150grain load a bit severe on roe and munties so i have dropped down to some 110 grn vmax which is a superb fox round and drops roe just as well not found them to be over explosive as they are a hunting grade bullet in 30cal . also use 125 grain sierra pro hunters which is my prefered round for roe with the 308 both these loads are loaded to mid range with varget at 47 and 46 grains respectively.with both giving sub inch groups at 100 yds . i suspect the 150grain would be perfectly ok on bigger quarry in fallow and reds ,it may be a case of adjusting bullet weight to quarry size some buts thats just my oppinion .

 

graham.

[Trapper]

Barnes TSX 180g