Thread: .308 WIN Projectile Type/Weight Advice

agree MH. always good/best to check at hundy.... if you a lucky chap and were good in previous life...... your rifle will be sighted like that with say 150s and smack on at hundy with 180s...mine is that close to it its not funny.

Plenty of good advice here.

In your situation I would go with Nosler Partition when you start reloading. They have the BC of bricks, but that’s irrelevant for your desired use. Good expansion and penetration for those piggy shoulder shields.

150, 165 spritzer or 170 round nose would all do really well.

I am a fan of heavy for caliber projectiles for close and long work. Those big round nose jobbies hit really hard even at low velocity.

Good luck whatever you decide.

Hand loading and projectiles is a subject in its self.

If you intend to reload in the future then try to stick to one brand of ammo in the meantime to collect brass of the same type. Remington and federal are perfectly fine to make good hunting ammo later on. I don't know what type of brass Belmont use.

Fancy brass like lapua or norma is all good and well, you may get longer case life than lesser brands. If you not a competitive target shooter, I wouldn't worry to much, just try and stick to one brand of brass.

I started with handloading with about 150 cases of hornady that I had shot as factory ammo. That brass is well used now, most having been fired about nine times. Well work through three different rifles and two sets of dies, always full length re-sized to minimum SAMMI specs. Its still going strong and never been annealed.

Originally Posted by Dama dama

I started with handloading with about 150 cases of hornady that I had shot as factory ammo. That brass is well used now, most having been fired about nine times. Well work through three different rifles and two sets of dies, always full length re-sized to minimum SAMMI specs. Its still going strong and never been annealed.

That's pretty impressive! mind, I think Hornady brass is on the thick side but to have that many firings without annealing is good value. Be weary of a head separation coming up though.

Better would be to sight it 2-3" high at 100 and know that it'll be 0 at 26 and 250 (example numbers)
Of course there's nothing like actually shooting at actual distances to get DOPE for your rifle/bullet combo.

Yes @mimms I'm really pleased, especially how much its been worked. Last sizing run I gave them a good inspection both outside and in (use a small hook made from lacing wire) to check for head separation, I threw 3 or 3 out. Have bought a wee gas touch and been watching youtube vids so next time will give them a quick and cheap anneal.

Very conscious of head separation as many years ago a mate made up some grunty loads on military brass (I now know how dumb that is). A case broke of in my chamber and gunsmith had to remove barrel to get it out. After that I did some reading and decided if I was going to use reloads, I was going to make them myself.

It's simple Belmont 150,s interlocks $280 for 250 will kill anything in this country , want to reload after well you got plenty of brass to do

Sent from my TA-1025 using Tapatalk

And they use he awesome interlock bullet as well.

Just got some Belmont 308 ssts150gr,they were using PMC casings.Ammo shoots fine,groups well inside moa on a good day.

I like 110g just to throw a bone out, used them 20+ years big or small good out to 300yards and have pushed them away past that on goats.
Most hunting is under 200 and the old, if you can't make the shot don't take the shot.
Hunting isn't shooting it's the hunt, the stalking, tracking, yay out there doing it, hills, blood sweat tears,wind, snow and rain.
At the end of that if you can hit it, then the work begins.
Injoy your hunting as the seasons change and the hill become to high, and you get to sit around telling how it was.
I used 150s for a few years until I found them as wasting to much meat on fellow deer, which was I was working to get.
I became smarter shot better and took all the meat home.
What shoots on paper isn't worth making a big deal over as a deer is one big target at even two hundy.
Advice is good and reasoning is what lacks in it sometime, till you can shoot use the bigger 150g so you at least take some meat home.
Also a lot of expense is put into going out hunting,so slow yourself down get the best rest you can and take the shot, stay safe and eat well.
KH

Came looking for exactly the same question, found this thread.
Thanks all!

I’ve had 308’s for 34 years. Almost every deer I have shot has been shot with this caliber. For factory loads Hornady 165 grain are great. Used the exclusively for 12 years. Never lost an animal. Accurate and kill well.
I now shoot handloaded 165gr SST’s at 2550. Slow but really accurate out to my limit of 300m. They can go further but I don’t take shots that far. At this speed great up close too. Great killers when hit in the engine room which is where I always aim. My six cents worth based on quite a bit of practical experience. Hope this helps.
BTW the handloads are out of a Tikka bush pig.

Have used .308 for 42 years, a few different rifles using both factory and reloaded ammo. 150gr projectiles almost exclusively, currently use Speer or Remington Core-lokts. Have shot untold numbers of game and only lost I think two deer due to shooter error. Reload to about 2600 fps these days using 2206h, does the job. As i stated in another thread I've shot every big-game species in NZ with this caliber. It's a good reliable accurate caliber, never needed anything else although my primery culling rifle these days is a .223.

My current choice is Hornady 168gn Superformance Match with the ELD-M bullet. Kills spectacularly at all ranges from 20 to 600yds, and is reliable regardless of the target size. I think the beauty of the 165-168gn weight is that they will open up on light animals, but also have enough mass for decent penetration. Pretty much any 150gn projectile will work in this country, and let’s face it it is the ‘standard’ but the extra 15-18grains of bullet weight give you just a bit of insurance. As others have mentioned the 165 SST is a goodie in the Hornady factory ammo too.

Originally Posted by Hunter_Nick

My current choice is Hornady 168gn Superformance Match with the ELD-M bullet. Kills spectacularly at all ranges from 20 to 600yds, and is reliable regardless of the target size. I think the beauty of the 165-168gn weight is that they will open up on light animals, but also have enough mass for decent penetration. Pretty much any 150gn projectile will work in this country, and let’s face it it is the ‘standard’ but the extra 15-18grains of bullet weight give you just a bit of insurance. As others have mentioned the 165 SST is a goodie in the Hornady factory ammo too.

I have a CF 308 that I am putting together, hoping the above will work well.

168gr ELD-M
43.8gr AR2208
Lapua brass