Factory Ammunition for .308 or 7.62

Can anybody suggest to me the best factory loads for accuracy for a .308 in 125 grain and 150 grain.

Cheers

Welcome to the forum Highlander!

Your question seems to be a bit "how long is a piece of string"/ish. The accuracy of your rifle with various ammunition will depend on many things, but if you want a general starting point why not ask the forum for advice on ammunition used in your particular make/model/barrel combination of rifle rather than just for a .308/7.62.

Simon
 
I don't know about best and most accurate, but for target and practice,surplus MEN 7.62 is probably the cheapest at £38/100 from ITL who are not all that far away from you.if you want to go hunting then you will need to spend a bit more.
 
Hi highlander 308
I'm with flytie on this one, the answer is, it depends.
It depends on a load of variables like barrel length, barrel profile, rifling twist rate etc etc.
For one of my rifles, I zero one inch high at 100m with Norma 150gr Ballistic tips, and the same rifle, scope and moderator drops 180gr Nosler Partitions from Federal Premium spot on at 100m = convenient for me, I've got a longer range load and a heavy hitting one too, but it took a lot of messing about to find that - I would have been cheaper going down the reloading route, which I'm now doing.
You gotta try stuff mate, I've never used factory 125gr, but most .308 rifles seem to like 150-180grain ammo.
Grab a few spares from mates and/or buy boxes of 20 to try to find out what you and the rifle like, and all the best with it mate.
 
Hello geoshot
Thank you for the advice, as a newcomer to deer stalking and shooting in general ( I only introduced myself last week on the forum) there are obviously a lot of variables that I am overlooking.
I asked the question because when I zeroed in my rifle ( Sauer 202 highlander)I used a cheap ammunition ( 150 grain federal premium) and the guy on the range passed comment " this will take a lot of these cheap bullets to zero this gun in " so I presumed that there are better ones to use ( not necessary the most expensive ). I was obviously wrong in thinking this.
I think I will take your advise and try various types.
Cheers
 
Hello geoshot
Thank you for the advice, as a newcomer to deer stalking and shooting in general ( I only introduced myself last week on the forum) there are obviously a lot of variables that I am overlooking.
I asked the question because when I zeroed in my rifle ( Sauer 202 highlander)I used a cheap ammunition ( 150 grain federal premium) and the guy on the range passed comment " this will take a lot of these cheap bullets to zero this gun in " so I presumed that there are better ones to use ( not necessary the most expensive ). I was obviously wrong in thinking this.
I think I will take your advise and try various types.
Cheers

Highlander, I think the guy you met on the range was pulling your leg, there is nothing wrong with Federal ammunition, and I just used Powershok before starting to reload. The Premium range was out of my price range. You could find worse ammunition!

But there is nothing like trying different weights and makes to find what diet your rifle prefers.

Simon
 
I have a .308 tikka. I use RWS 150 soft point at £33 for 20. Works well, very consistent and accurate. For practice I use NATO 7.62 150g at £12.50 for 20. I'm not too into ballistics but for some reason the NATO drops less than the RWS on the range at longer Ranges so still wise to practice with a few hunting rounds to know what they will do at given ranges.
 
I have a .308 tikka. I use RWS 150 soft point at £33 for 20. Works well, very consistent and accurate. For practice I use NATO 7.62 150g at £12.50 for 20. I'm not too into ballistics but for some reason the NATO drops less than the RWS on the range at longer Ranges so still wise to practice with a few hunting rounds to know what they will do at given ranges.
£12.50 for 20 surplus is expensive. try this guy
 
I used to shoot NATO rounds in 30-06,,after a hundred you need two aspirin, an alkaseltzer, and a dark room with soft bed and no noise...
 
Simon,,,surely you meant to say "You couldn't find worse ammunition!":lol:

Well, I suppose the deer weren't very keen on it. It kept going bang when i pulled the trigger and the deer kept falling over dead. Made a mess of the centre of a few targets too. Cheaper than RWS and more accurate out of my rifle too.

Awful stuff, cheap, accurate and devastating on deer ;)

Simon
 
I have a .308 tikka. I use RWS 150 soft point at £33 for 20. Works well, very consistent and accurate. For practice I use NATO 7.62 150g at £12.50 for 20. I'm not too into ballistics but for some reason the NATO drops less than the RWS on the range at longer Ranges so still wise to practice with a few hunting rounds to know what they will do at given ranges.
Higher velocities, better bc (streamlining)
 
Hello geoshot
Thank you for the advice, as a newcomer to deer stalking and shooting in general ( I only introduced myself last week on the forum) there are obviously a lot of variables that I am overlooking.
I asked the question because when I zeroed in my rifle ( Sauer 202 highlander)I used a cheap ammunition ( 150 grain federal premium) and the guy on the range passed comment " this will take a lot of these cheap bullets to zero this gun in " so I presumed that there are better ones to use ( not necessary the most expensive ). I was obviously wrong in thinking this.
I think I will take your advise and try various types.
Cheers

That person on the range was an idiot!

If you follow a methodical approach to zeroing it should not take lots of ammunition. Those that do are usually playing at it and chasing each shot.

If you can starts at 25 yards and a nice large target. This means that even if your initial set up is way out you should find the hole on the target and can adjust it to the centre line. Just remember that a scope with 1/4" clicks at 100 yards means you have to move have to move Four clicks at 25 yards to equal the 1/4" at 100 yards.

Sadly a lot of ranges will not allow you to do this.

If you do manage it get the group 1" above the Point of Aim (POA) then move the target to 100 yards and make the final adjustments for your desired zero. Of course if your using a hubble size scope that will effect the fall of the shot due to it being much higher on the rifle that was usual for sights. It was always thought that line of sight 1 1/2" above the bore was a good way to have it set up. Sadly as odern shooters seem to be lacking in the eye sight department they need scopes more suited to star gazing.

Also note that barrels vary in what they like, even those off the same production line, add in bedding and it's effect on harmonics plus ammunition batch variations and you will begin to see why we cannot tell you what is best through your rifle.

The gamekeeper I used to stalk with always used Federal Permium as it shot very well through his .243. In his 7x64 he used RWS or Hirtenberger.
 
Hello geoshot
Thank you for the advice, as a newcomer to deer stalking and shooting in general ( I only introduced myself last week on the forum) there are obviously a lot of variables that I am overlooking.
I asked the question because when I zeroed in my rifle ( Sauer 202 highlander)I used a cheap ammunition ( 150 grain federal premium) and the guy on the range passed comment " this will take a lot of these cheap bullets to zero this gun in " so I presumed that there are better ones to use ( not necessary the most expensive ). I was obviously wrong in thinking this.
I think I will take your advise and try various types.
Cheers

I think the person at the range either was pulling your leg, or a complete idiot (which, sadly, in my experience is not uncommon to find at the local ranges; a lot of folks who hang around so that they can flex their muscles over their firearms knowledge to the unwashed masses).

There's been a whole heck of a lot of deer killed in the US with plain jane Federal Premium ammunition...
 
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