308 Ammunition 150 gr vs 165 Gr

[Rooney]

For those running Hornady American Whitetail (or similar cup-and-core loads), have you noticed any meaningful difference between 150gr and 165gr in real-world use?


I’m less interested in paper ballistics and more in what actually shows up in the field—terminal performance, penetration, blood trails, etc.

In practical terms—especially inside typical whitetail distances—it seems like the difference might be marginal. Most feedback I’ve seen suggests deer won’t know the difference if shot placement is solid

 

[bigbassfish]

I have shot pigs with both 150gr and 165gr AW and there was absolutely no noticeable difference in wounding ability. I would buy a box of both and pick what shoots better in your gun, one of them shot slightly tighter groups for me, but both would have been acceptable at expected distances.

 

[sierracharlie338]

Agreed. I’ve used both even before it was American whitetail and zero difference in terminal performance. I’ve shot the 150 out to 330 with devastating results on deer.

 

[blackhawk219]

Not exactly sure what you mean by inside typical whitetail distances as that depends on your location, but anything within 300 yards and the differences are minimal. The deer will not know the difference and will die as long at the shot placement is good.

Just for comparison, using 2800 FPS at the muzzle (24" barrel) for the 150 gr - at 300 yards it is 2144 FPS

Using 2700 FPS at the muzzle (24" barrel again) for the 165 gr - at 300 yards it is 2180 FPS

That is plenty of speed for a cup and core to perform on a whitetail.

 

[Rooney]

Not exactly sure what you mean by inside typical whitetail distances as that depends on your location, but anything within 300 yards and the differences are minimal. The deer will not know the difference and will die as long at the shot placement is good.

Just for comparison, using 2800 FPS at the muzzle (24" barrel) for the 150 gr - at 300 yards it is 2144 FPS

Using 2700 FPS at the muzzle (24" barrel again) for the 165 gr - at 300 yards it is 2180 FPS

That is plenty of speed for a cup and core to perform on a whitetail.

Appreciate the response! I'm in the North East so under 300 yards is what i've encountered in my limited experience.

I believe I may be over-thinking it a bit.

 

[blackhawk219]

Appreciate the response! I'm in the North East so under 300 yards is what i've encountered in my limited experience.

I believe I may be over-thinking it a bit.

All good we all go through this exercise of overthinking trust me lol. Just buy what you can afford, train as much as you can, and have fun! The fact that you are even thinking about this means you care about doing it right, not just pulling the trigger and hoping for the best. Asking the question shows you’re thinking about your equipment, your limits, and making a clean ethical kill. That’s exactly how a responsible hunter should think

Good luck

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Appreciate the response! I'm in the North East so under 300 yards is what i've encountered in my limited experience.

I believe I may be over-thinking it a bit.

Under 300 yds no difference buy whatever is on sale. Hell under 300 yd you could go up to 180gr.

 

[Rich M]

I'm big on 150s. No reason in my head to go larger for WT.

We went with 165 partitions for ME hunts with big deer and possibility of needing to make some weird shots.

 

[mad_angler]

A buddy of mine once said to look at the ammo box...

For example, 12 gauge shotgun shells with #4 pellets have a pheasant on the box. So use that ammo for pheasant.

Similarly, i think you can buy any box of 308 ammo with a whitetail on the box. They'll all work just fine.

For whitetail within 300 yards, I don't think there is a wrong answer...

 

[JimIsland]

I've killed a lot of Deer with the 150s Hornady Whitetail and Core Lokt. They both kill Deer very dead and I've had no reason to try the heavier bullets.