Factory 308 hunting ammo

[j-bird]

Well I have a new 308 on the way.....so.....I am going to need to try different ammo to see what the gun shoots best. That said, there is no reason to test ammo that doesn't/won't perform well from a hunting perspective. So, what do you all hunt with and get good results with. I'm hunting deer at 200 yards or less ......for now. I'm talking ONLY FACTORY AMMO.

 

[H20fwler]

Like I’ve said before I like the TTSX bullets and how they perform...you can get by with a lighter weight round which gets you more speed and a flatter shot with pretty much 100% weight retention. And you can use them in any state being they are a copper load.

Barnes has them in hunting rounds and Federal loads the bullets in some of their hunting factory ammo.

 

[JFK52]

Nosler ballistic tip or Nosler partitions. I would stay in the 140 to 150 grain range as for whitetails you do not really need a bigger bullet than that size. Both can be found as factory ammo but will not be cheap.

 

[jackpine]

Remington core-lokt in 150/180 gr softpoint. Widely available and often on sale. For deer under 200 yds my humble opinion is that they are superior to many of the premium factory loads which I believe under expand and over penetrate deer size game (and cost two or three times as much). The core-lokt dumps most of its energy into the deer and they go down quick. Only possible drawback is the fact that it is lead if that is a concern.

 

[ghilliehunter]

Jbird, H2O is correct, the Barnes VorTX is awesome, but it is expensive. For the money, buy Remington CoreLokt. I use it in my AR10 and it is great.

 

[Someday isle]

As kind of a gun nut and hand-loader I’ll say that I really like nosler partitions and ballistic tips. Hornady interlocks are great too. In reality though a .308 is more than enough to be fully capable at harvesting deer. As long as it’s an expanding bullet it’ll be fine no matter what you choose. You simply don’t “need” premium bullets. Whether it’s Hornady, Federal, Winchester, Remington etc... their run of the mill standard deer loads will work great for your needs. Many people will likely recommend 150 - 168 grain bullets. A lot of match bullets are 165-168 grains. My personal preference in my own .308 is a 165 grain ballistic tip. It shoots well for me and has more than substantial weight for anything I need it for. My suggestion would be to pick one you like and shoot enough to get really comfortable with your new rifle. After that you can fine tune your shooting and your accuracy by experimenting with different ammo to find the one your riflle likes best. Whether you choose a premium bullet or a simple soft point won’t matter much. Let your rifle tell you what it likes. At normal ranges inside of a couple hundred yards they’ll all be fine. A .308 with a good scope is a fine choice for deer hunting at any reasonable range.

 

[Tree Spud]

J-Bird ... I think you are over thinking this. You are buying an "economical" rifle and worrying about ammo?

The old rule is spend as much as you did on your gun as you will on your scope. Glass is everything, especially at low light conditions. You should plan on $300-$400 for a proper scope, more if you can afford it.

Then practice ... practice , practice ....

I have an out of the box Ruger M77 Hawkeye .308 with a very good scope. This is a short barreled gun. At 200 yards I can group 3's at 3.0" with federal 165 grain nozzlers. Have shot 10-15 deer over the past 10 years at 100-180 yards.

I am a hunter, not a shooter, learn how to shoot under multiple conditions. Practice your breathing ... forget the gun vise, learn to shoot off of thesame type platform you will hunting from. End or the day, shoot a lot ... learn to breath and relax ...

 

[sandbur]

What is the current recommendation for breaking in a barrel?

The method I used was clean , fire one shot, and repeat 5- 9 Times. Then go to three shots and clean for the rest of the Box.


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[j-bird]

I am simply looking for factory hunting ammo that others have had good accuracy with. The scope will get replaced if/when I think it needs it. I have heard decent things about the nikko-stirling brand that it comes with in 3.5-10x44

 

[Someday isle]

Just to follow up. I’ve always had great success with Remington factory ammo accuracy.

 

[Seabee]

Hornady 168gr. BTHP. 30$ a box and will be the most common found in the store.


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[j-bird]

I will be honest in that I have never "broken in" a rifle before, but have done some digging on the ole inter-webs. I will see what info comes with the rifle and may even contact Howa to see what they say. Some of the reading I have found seems to vary quite a bit. Some say it's a requirement while others claim not so much. Lots of variables.

 

[Peeps]

There is no need to break in the barrel of the average hunting rifle. Breaking in or seasoning the barrel is a process reserved for precision shooting such as sniper rifles or long range competition shooting. This process improves accuracy especially on the cold bore shot. The hunter or plinker will not notice a difference wether they season the barrel or don’t season the barrel. More import is to fully clean the rifle before shooting it for the first time to remove cosmoline that some manufacturers apply to prevent corrosion in the box. Now if you want to season your barrel, go ahead and do it. It won’t hurt anything.

 

[Bill]

I'm late to the party. I agree a good scope can make a big differance in low light hunting comditions.

I also agree with Peeps, I've seasoned rifle barrels and not seasoned them. I can't tell the differance.

I reload and like the nosler bullistic tip. You can buy production loads with them. I shoot 120 grains out of a 7MM Rem mag "originally" set up for long flat shooting in Wyoming. Haven't been in years but the load has worked on Mulies and whitetail. Some guys hate bullistic tips because (the theory) is they expand to quickly. I prefer to call it violent rapid expansion. I've never lost an animal and most never make another step..

Never shot Barnes but read good things about them. I'd say pick what shoots the most accurate out of your rifle and call it soup.

 

[Don'tWorryIHuggedItFirst]

I've been using Federal Fusions in my newest deer rifle. Just looked, $25 in 308 and there is a $5 rebate til tomorrow. They perform well for a somewhat inexpensive round. I did a lot of reading and found looking at reviews on Cabela's website a good start to narrow down the contenders. I like that they are bonded and I don't have to pay a fortune for them.

Things that steered me away from certain rounds were pencil sized holes at closer ranges(copper bullets) and bullets that fragment and don't take the deer down right away/ no blood trail(ballistic tips).

 

[Telemark]

Remington CoreLokt and Federal Fusion both shoot great in my .308, and they are often on sale. I just got three boxes of each for under $13/box.

They also kill the crap out of deer.