Lapua Mega .308 bullets

gubrath

Well-Known Member
I have been invited to shoot abroad and the quarry list includes Moose and Wild Boar. My "heaviest" calibre rifle is chambered in .30-06. I have used 180 grain Nosler partitions in the past and they were certainly very good but I am finding supplies difficult to come by and very expensive but I can get the Lapuas easily and for about £40 a hundred

Now, I realise the Megas are conventional soft point bullets, with a mechanically "locked" core which is not actually a "bonded" core as Lapua say, but: Does anyone here use the Lapua Mega 185 grain bullet, from the .30-06 case, on the above animals? and would you recommend them as a good alternative to partitions?
 
I was on a elk(moose) hunt last week, I skinned several elk and all bullets where recovered,all but one where well expanded ,the least impressive was a Lapua mega 150gr out of a .308 ,I recoverd the jacket, but no lead although it was easy to see the widespread bruising ,the shot was non fatal even though it had broken a rib and entered the thorasic cavity.

Federal Powershock .308 150 grainers have worked well for me on both pigs and elk..


Where can buy Lapuas for £40 100???? good accurate round..
 
I was on a elk(moose) hunt last week, I skinned several elk and all bullets where recovered,all but one where well expanded ,the least impressive was a Lapua mega 150gr out of a .308 ,I recoverd the jacket, but no lead although it was easy to see the widespread bruising ,the shot was non fatal even though it had broken a rib and entered the thorasic cavity.

Federal Powershock .308 150 grainers have worked well for me on both pigs and elk..


Where can buy Lapuas for £40 100???? good accurate round..

You seem to say they are good, in the end, but you also fault the 150 grainer for shedding its jacket after failing to kill. :confused: ??? I'm confused, do you think they are actually good or just jacket shedding wounders?

The price is mail order, delivered and bullets only (all taxes paid)
 
I use them in 300wm
very high quality bullet IMO

not overly concerned about shedding or full pass through
some of the best shots I have had involved recovered bullets that weighed 40-50% retained weight


i have moved on to more readily available bullets but wouldn't hesitat to use them again if I could secure a cheap source
 
The 185gr Lapua Mega's are great bullets. Used them in both 308 and 300wm both to great effect.

didnt have any issue with pass through, they all exited on everything I shot from Roe, Sika and Red.

as above would use them if they were readily available and the correct price.

They get the :thumb: From me. They are probably as close as your going to get to Nosler Partition in hunting bullets.
 
I would imagine that they will perform just fine at 30-06 velocities. I belive Jonher from this site uses this combination. Even regular cup and core bullets can perform well as long as a heavy for calibre bullets are driven at moderate velocities.
 
You seem to say they are good, in the end, but you also fault the 150 grainer for shedding its jacket after failing to kill. :confused: ??? I'm confused, do you think they are actually good or just jacket shedding wounders?

The price is mail order, delivered and bullets only (all taxes paid)

Sorry for the confusion caused, but it was you that asked and I only tell it as I saw it;), I know the round to be accurate but was unimpressed by its performance on a large animal that im sure would have had a different outcome with the same bullet placement, but different projectile of the same weight and speed
 
I used the 150s in .308 and found them to be incredibly accurate but after a number of very noticeable ricochets, I stopped using them. I even had one pass through a roe, only to ricochet up the glen. I friend of mine tried them in a factory load and had very similar problems. I'm afraid I couldn't recommend them.

atb

Mac
 
If possible I'd like to have the opinion of anyone who has actually used the 185 grain Mega from a .30-06 on Älg or Vildsvin, please?
 
Getting a lot of feedback on the 150 grain Mega here, but only a little bit of positive info on the bullet I'm asking about (Thanks Tam and Border). So, thanks to the wonder that is google translate I went raking around some Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German and Polish websites. The first and most striking thing I have noticed is the absolutely universal approval of this bullet in terms of phenomenal accuracy. I have also derived from here but more from those other places that this bullet is really intended for the big stuff, ie. heavy Elk (ie. Scandi Moose) and heavy wild boar. On the correct quarry it has a very good reputation but on lesser game it may not get time to expand enough to give quick kills or great blood trails. As it is not a true bonded core bullet it is prone to the normal vagaries in performance that arise when bone is hit, i.e. cup and core meets bone and pretty much all bets are off as far as consistency is concerned in terms of predicting what happens next, with weird slippages of cores and explosions of bone etc, etc, but why would I expect anything else? The point is, I want an accurate, low cost, big game bullet for my .30-06 and the word is, the 185 Mega is indeed all of that. I'll let you know how it works out later but for the moment my confidence of what to reasonably expect is high and nothing the nay-sayers have said here concerns me unduly. I note no-one who has written on this thread, so far, has actually used the bullet I asked about on the game I asked about, but thanks all the same for your input. Incidentally, for deer and lighter game and vermin I already use the 150 grain Hornady Interlocks at both 308 win muzzle velocities and at full chat from my .30-06 and find they work very well, providing I exercise discretion in which spec I use for which quarry. The top velocity version does a lot of carcase damage and drops vermin on the spot but the 200-250 fps slower MV load is spot on for Roe, Sika and Red with plenty expansion and penetration for clean kills. I will be taking some of these rounds with me, on my trip, too.
 
gubrath
you are welcome to try these:

For Sale: .30 cal bullets - odds and sods

run a few through some home made ballistic gel or telephone books (or heaven forbid a carcase!) to confirm any expansion characteristics

personally never seen anything other than straightforward cup and core expansion and clean wound channels from these bullets albeit probably run at slightly faster MV's through the 300WM
 
Not used Lapua Mega but having just looked on Robsoft (Swedish hunting forum ) They come highly recomended. I've shot a few Älg and have never found them hard to kill. Shoot them in the right place and they die. So load up those bullets and kill a few. Skit jakt.
 
what do you expect a premium bullet to do (if you can shoot)? LM's are accuracte and dependable but expensive, better than ppu grom?? The 200gr options really cut through brush as any heavy 30 cal would
 
Only shot a few deer with Lapua Mega. Overall I think a very outdated bullet compared to a Federal Fusion which is in every way a better bullet. Much cheaper too.
edi
 
what do you expect a premium bullet to do (if you can shoot)? LM's are accuracte and dependable but expensive, better than ppu grom?? The 200gr options really cut through brush as any heavy 30 cal would

??? I expect them to efficiently kill the game I've chosen them to kill. And how expensive to you consider €43 per 100 to be? I consider that cheap compared to the partitions I'm choosing these to replace, on heavy European game. In fact, I consider that cheap compared to almost anything else I might contemplate buying.
 
Only shot a few deer with Lapua Mega. Overall I think a very outdated bullet compared to a Federal Fusion which is in every way a better bullet. Much cheaper too.
edi

That's OK, I'll be using an "outdated" rifle and an "outdated" cartridge and I'm way out of date myself. What is this with everyone and "cheaper" bullets than Megas? What price are your Federal Fusions coming in at? and Can you even get them readily?
 
well I was given 100 Lapua Mega's for 6.5mm and I can assure you it's the absolute worst bullet I have ever seen on roe and red deer, far too sturdy, not enough expansion and leaves runners.

went in the bin.
 
well I was given 100 Lapua Mega's for 6.5mm and I can assure you it's the absolute worst bullet I have ever seen on roe and red deer, far too sturdy, not enough expansion and leaves runners.

went in the bin.

Which 6.5 cartridge? What range? or more to the point, at What estimated impact velocity? please? and what is your preferred bullet for little deer from this "6.5"? Thanks.
 
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