Best .308 Hunting Ammo?

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A lot of good advice so far. I’ve shot a lot of deer with 150 grain lead soft points, mainly Remington and Federal, have loaded and hunted with Sierra and Nosler 150 grain bullets very successfully too.

In non lead I just started loading and using BARNES TTSX 130 grain and Maker TREX 130 grain bullets, too early for any real feedback at this point other than both bullets shoot accurately.

I agree with the comment of find something that shoots well, buy a lot and stay with it. For this reason and the general move to non lead I would suggest that you find a lead free solution that works soon.

If you are new to shooting / hunting, buy cheaper ammo and get practice shooting in different positions and at different ranges, build your confidence. Save expensive ammo for the actual hunting and practice to zero
 
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RWS evo green been using them a while now and not far short of 100 deer and boar of all sizes on the deck. No real issues to date other than a bit of bad shooting on a couple by me.
 
Most modern rifles in .308 are forgiving. Most commercial offerings within spec will shoot to 1” groups at 100m. That said you find some that your rifle just won’t like at all - and hopefully the brand/s that gives you sub 1” groups all day long. When you find the magic combination buy as many as you can.
 
Whatever is in your barrel at the right time while you are out hunting. Most of the current day factory loads will do the job, its how well the rifle you havehoots that specific ammo and how much time you have getting used to the rifle that matters the most. The so called best ammo might be very pricy and I tend to stick with a happy medium which does the job and doesn't burn a hole in my pocket.
 
BigPat said:
3 questions I would ask...

1. Target species......Let's assume Munty, Roe and Fallow
2. Selling to game dealer or personal/family and friends consumption......Lets assume personal/family and friends
3. How often you will stalk....Lets assume every couple of weeks so 26 times a year with an average of 3 shots each time to cover off zero'ing as well (4 boxes per year)

If this looks right then cost shouldn't to be the issue, even at £50 a box you are only looking at spending £200 a year and frankly you can buy decent ammo, Federal, Sako, Norma etc for much closer to, or even below £30 a box.

So my advice, gained from using the .308 for the past 30years+ would be to go into your local gun shop, ask what they have in 150gn soft/lead tip, make sure they have plenty in stock of whatever you choose. Take 1 box, make sure it shoots well in your gun (almost certainly will as the .308 loves just about any traditional bullet in 150gn - 165gn range) and once you can confirm its all good, go back buy 5 boxes and forget it for the next year to 18 months.

The beauty of the .308 throwing a 150gn round (or 165gn) is that it will kill everything in the UK including Boar and Red's but so long as you get a simple 150gn hunting bullet and avoid the plastic tipped stuff, it won't make a mess of anything. Avoid any ammo that quotes super fast speeds (2900fps+) as this will cause unnecessary entry and exit damage and the .308 likes to run out somewhere in the 2600fps to 2800fps.

My personal favourite for many years was the Federal P308C which is a 165gn round, but I would probably look at something more in the 150gn now just to keep it as flat as possible.

On the other hand is you do need to use copper then again go see what your local gun shop holds as a stock item and try that. I would still stay in the 150gn range but 130gn would also be OK but be careful of silly speeds (2900fps+) that cause the extra damage on entry and exit and be really careful that what you buy is a pure hunting bullet as there are lots of fragile bullets being sold as 'Hunting/Varmint' and they cause a lot of damage.

There is a lot of chat around getting the copper bullets up to 2900fps and above but if its a new hunter then shots are likely to be (and should be) in the 50m-100m range which does not need excessive speed. Its only when you are up into the 175m+ ranges that speed starts to matter with copper.
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Nothing wrong with ‘plastic tipped stuff’ provided you choose an appropriate bullet just as it does with a hollow or softpoint ( a tipped bullet being an infilled HP after all). Which is more down to core bonding and jacket thickness.

A bonded premium bullet like an accubond will behave like a premium bonded bullet. A thin jacket ‘soft’ bullet like an SST will smash things up, but then it does stand for Super Shock Treatment after all…..
 
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25 Sharps said:
Nothing wrong with ‘plastic tipped stuff’ provided you choose an appropriate bullet just as it does with a hollow or softpoint ( a tipped bullet being an infilled HP after all). Which is more down to core bonding and jacket thickness.

A bonded premium bullet like an accubond will behave like a premium bonded bullet. A thin jacket ‘soft’ bullet like an SST will smash things up, but then it does stand for Super Shock Treatment after all…..
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I agree, and In fact I often use hunting ballistic tip stuff myself. My point was that if the guy is new and trying to find a decent hunting bullet, it’s easier to stick with SP,s that are usually hunting type rather than plastic tips or hollow points that can have confusing marketing messages on the boxes.
 
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For a lead core, inexpensive (compared to some of the offerings), accurate and reliable - Hornady Whitetail ammunition (150gr Interlock bullets, SP, flat base).
These have served me very well. £25-£30 a box. Very good stuff.
 
I posted earlier in this topic and just wanted to give some additional feedback on non lead bullets in .308. Ive been loading and using BARNES TTSX 130 grain and Maker TREX 130 grain bullets, just had a chance to shoot them over a chronograph, using WIN748 powder several grains under max load, I was achieving 3,150 FPS and achieving clover leaf accuracy with a Blaser R8.

Based on the expansion of these bullets and the retained weight, I have to believe that at the above velocity the knock down performance on deer will be excellent. I look forward to field testing these .308 bullets along with similar bullets l have loaded in .338 win mag, 9.3x62 & .375 H&H.

The move to lead free bullets may be forced but I plan to invest the time and money to keep enjoying my stalking and hunting.
 
Sierra pro hunter 125g I’ve used them on every species of uk deer and they do the job as for lead free I’ve tied Hornady shop offering there ok just waiting yewtrees offering
 
Sako 123 soft point. Been using it for a long time. My old Mauser likes it. I think it’s a very good round. Like some of the other lads say try a few different boxes of ammo and see how you get on. 👍
 
Just buy PPU and see if it groups well enough in your rifle. If not, buy the next most expensive, and so on and so forth....
 
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Three of the stalkers I shoot with all use Sako Powerblades on Muntjac, Roe and Fallow. So far so good, but we mostly head/neck shoot at less than 80 yards where possible. The shots to the engine room at further distances do cause some meat damage which the game dealers knock money off for.
 
123 grn sako 1/2 “ grouping and excellent knockdown on fallow and sika
good all rounder but you may get a flyer every now and then if it hits the shoulder on exit i’ve had 2 run up the neck causing front leg and neck damage
 
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