308 factory loads for whitetail

[Pilarczyk85]

Hey fellas. Was looking for recommendations on factory bullets in the 150 grain range for a 308 for whitetail. So far I've been sighting in my gun with Federal Fusion but was curious on if there is anything else out there you guys are liking.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Wife and kiddo both shoot 308. Their rifles like the 150gr cheap stuff and it all kills great, Core-Lokt, PowerShok, Fusion in that order. Wife killed a big mature elk Cow with 150gr PowerShok this year. Her rifle shoots a little bigger groups with Accubonds so didn't use those.

 

[Choupique]

Literally anything with a picture of a deer on the box will work great.

I'm a fan of PPU soft point ammo. Cheap, accurate, available, good brass for reloading. Keep it and give it to someone if you don't reload.

 

[Pilarczyk85]

Literally anything with a picture of a deer on the box will work great.

I'm a fan of PPU soft point ammo. Cheap, accurate, available, good brass for reloading. Keep it and give it to someone if you don't reload.

I haven't gotten into reloading so im at the mercy of factory loads. The fusion doesn't seem to bad as far as groupings go.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Shoot some different flavors and pick what works best. Those Fusions are great if your rifle likes them.

 

[Choupique]

The fusion doesn't seem to bad as far as groupings go.

Use em. Fusions are great bullets, especially for the price.

.308 is just such a perfect caliber. The barrels last forever, there's TONS of factory ammo out there, a whole bunch of it works great on deers. There's a factory load for anything you could ever want to do with it, from varmints to bison.

Now, if you want to talk long range that's a different story. For your average dude, you can literally just find a box of ammo that has a picture of the stuff you want to.kill on it and it'll probably work great.

 

[Rich M]

I always found federal blue box to shoot tight and use it as a control when working up loads. Fusion probably hits harder.

If fusion shoots good, run with it. If hunting elk get some nosler partition bullets. Good gun.

 

[KenLee]

Factory SST Superformance and Nosler Ballistic tips wreck deer.
On the cheaper side, federal power-shock, Hornady Whitetail, Winchester Power Points, even Core-lokts.
The Fusions seem to also work fine. I loved the Winchester Power Max Bonded, so of course they were discontinued.

 

[TN2shot07]

Not sure there’s any reason to be hung up on 150’s, Barnes loads 130 ttsx’s and they absolutely hit like lightning. I tried the 150’s first but my rifle didn’t like them as well

 

[mi650]

I've generally used 168 gr. Win. Ballistic Silvertips in 308, but really there's been no reason to spend the extra $$$. Like several have said, anything with a pic of a deer is gonna work great.

The last few years I've used Fed. PowerPoint .30-30 and haven't had to track a deer shot with them.

 

[jimh406]

I'd use whatever 150s group in your gun, or 130s if you go with copper.

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

I've been shooting excellent groups with the Federal Premium 150 grain Nosler Partitions. Shot 3 deer so far this year. One at 50 yds, 2 others at 130 and 120 on the same afternoon. All bang flops. I'm not changing bullets, though I have plenty of cheaper rounds.

Shot a buck last year right under my climber (10 ish yards, 30-40 feet up) with a frontal shot. Bang flop and found the intact round around the urinary bladder, but caught up in all of the omentum (caul fat for you lay folk). Very impressed.

 

[dan2173]

Fusions have been great for me thus far on whitetails.

 

[Wolfshead]

I have a Tikka T3x compact .308 with a 20” barrel that I handload for. When I first bought it I used Hornady’s american whitetail ammo to sight it in. It was very accurate out of my rifle, and is relatively inexpensive.
150 grains, and is, I believe, the interlock bullet.

 

[ssimo]

Hey fellas. Was looking for recommendations on factory bullets in the 150 grain range for a 308 for whitetail. So far I've been sighting in my gun with Federal Fusion but was curious on if there is anything else out there you guys are liking.

At what max distance are you gonna shoot?

 

[Yoder]

We killed two doe this year with cheap Federal blue box 150gr round nose. They dropped in their tracks at about 100 yards. Unless you're shooting long distance, I think premium ammunition is a waste of money on deer.

 

[CHGray]

Been using Barnes VORTX 130 TTSX for two seasons and have been very impressed.

 

[OlPappyB]

I have 2 308's and both rifles love the Federal Fushions. You can use just about any bullet (minus the 1 I talk about below) out of a 308 and have good performance on deer. It all just depends on what your rifle prefers. Hornady SST, Hornady Interlock, Federal Fushion, Remington Cor-Lokt (the cheap bullet that just works every damn time) Barnes TTSX, Nosler Accubonds. The ONLY bullet myself and a few others I've talked to that we do not like and will not use is the Nosler Partition. Idk what it is about that bullet, but people either love it or hate it. For me it's hate based on performance on deer, you couldn't pay me to use those rounds.

 

[lhbackcountry]

My tikka 308 has shot 150-180gr mix of factory and hand loads both give or take 1-2 moa from 100-500 with no problems and probably even better if it wernt for the blind idiot behind the gun shooting offhand every couple shots. The gun has had sub moa groups with 162 amax and 168.

 

[KenLee]

We killed two doe this year with cheap Federal blue box 150gr round nose. They dropped in their tracks at about 100 yards. Unless you're shooting long distance, I think premium ammunition is a waste of money on deer.

Those are usually one of the 2 most accurate rounds out to 200. Often no exit, but drt or close.