.308 round for roe

Mungo

Well-Known Member
I'm about to take delivery of a new (to me) .308 (Steyr-Mannlicher).

It's initially only going to be used for roe (very open ground, much subject to strong wind). In the long term, I will be using it for reds, but not any time soon.

What would people recommed as a good bullet?
 
federal 150gr soft nose work perfectly for everything from the smallest munties to the biggest stags, brilliant round in my opinion.
 
Sierra Pro-hunter 150gr #2130. Nothing I've ever shot with them ever had any questions, and meat damage has been negligible so far on the muntjac, roe and fallow I've shot since I started using them.
I've also tried the Federals as above, and they group pretty well out of my rifle, but not shot anything other than paper with them so far so can't comment on that, I'm afraid.
 
The federal Powershok (blue box stuff) certainly worked well for me on sika plus it was very accurate and as inexpensive as ammo gets.

I've loaded two bullets for deer:

The 150 grain Hornday Spire Point which are relatively inexpensive and give great accuracy. My load with these ended up giving 3000fps. These bullets worked well for me in that every deer I shot with them died. I did shoot one sika calf at maybe 60 - 70 yards that suffered considerable meat damage and I lost the whole front end of it plus it still ran 70 yards. I always got an exit with them but chest shot sika always ran.

The 150 grain Nosler Partition. I've never managed to get these to shoot as accurately as the Spire Points but they are the only bullet that I've found sometimes put chest shot sika straight down. I've had good expansion even on neck shot deer, at least judging by the damage. My take on them is that the front half is relatively soft and so expands well though I've never shot anything quite as small as a roe with them. I have recovered one Partition, it was from a high angle head shot on a sika stag and traveled down his neck, the recovered bullet looked like a magazine advert for bullet performance. I'm currently shooting the Partitions at around 2700fps as my main deer load and would like to tidy up the groups a little bit but my view is they perform a little better than the Spire Points on sika, even on smaller calves which can't be a lot bigger than a roe. Meat damage with the Partitions has always been as good as can be expected based on the shot placement.
 
Have only put Sako 123 gr through my Howa and it groups nicely. More importantly though it doesn't give me any more meat damage than a .243 on the roe (so far and aiming for heart and lungs) and the roe have all dropped where they stood which is something I'm not used to with the .243.
 
155 A-MAX works perfectly for me, but seeing as your north of the border...150gr Nosler Ballistic tip at modest velocities work very well.
 
Given the mild controversy caused by the recent thread on Nosler BT in 125gr for .308, I reply to this thread with a little trepidation! At mild velocities, they are very good, at high velocities also very good but meat damage can be an issue. Same can be said for Sako 123gr game heads which were a very good factory loading when I used to use them. If looking for less meat damage and happy to adjust to accommodate very slightly less flat trajectory then 150gr pro hunter or swift scirocco have worked well for me. If woodland and modest range the 165gr Accubonds are worth a look.
 
Thanks for the replies so far, folks - much appreciated.

I'll just clarify that I don't reload, and don't intend to.

I use the Federal soft points in 100gr for the .243, and like them, so the 150grs seem a sensible place to start. I like the sound of the 123grs though.
 
+1 on the hornday spire point top accuracy in my 308 .the nosler partition did not work verry well at all '
The federal Powershok (bluestuff) certainly worked well for me on sika plus it was very accurate and as inexpensive as ammo gets.

I've loaded two bullets for deer:

The 150 grain Hornday Spire Point which are relatively inexpensive and give great accuracy. My load with these ended up giving 3000fps. These bullets worked well for me in that every deer I shot with them died. I did shoot one sika calf at maybe 60 - 70 yards that suffered considerable meat damage and I lost the whole front end of it plus it still ran 70 yards. I always got an exit with them but chest shot sika always ran.

The 150 grain Nosler Partition. I've never managed to get these to shoot as accurately as the Spire Points but they are the only bullet that I've found sometimes put chest shot sika straight down. I've had good expansion even on neck shot deer, at least judging by the damage. My take on them is that the front half is relatively soft and so expands well though I've never shot anything quite as small as a roe with them. I have recovered one Partition, it was from a high angle head shot on a sika stag and traveled down his neck, the recovered bullet looked like a magazine advert for bullet performance. I'm currently shooting the Partitions at around 2700fps as my main deer load and would like to tidy up the groups a little bit but my view is they perform a little better than the Spire Points on sika, even on smaller calves which can't be a lot bigger than a roe. Meat damage with the Partitions has always been as good as can be expected based on the shot placement.
 
because.... AMax are legal on deer south of the Border?!.....

Yes they are. If you can direct me to a relevant piece of legislation or applicable case law etc. that says otherwise I will stop using them.
 
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+1

Sierra Pro-hunter 150gr #2130. Nothing I've ever shot with them ever had any questions, and meat damage has been negligible so far on the muntjac, roe and fallow I've shot since I started using them.
I've also tried the Federals as above, and they group pretty well out of my rifle, but not shot anything other than paper with them so far so can't comment on that, I'm afraid.
 
I use the Federal soft points in 100gr for the .243, and like them, so the 150grs seem a sensible place to start. I like the sound of the 123grs though.

personally i would stick with the 150 gn over the 123 gn. i speak with only a little expeiriance but i went from a 243 to a 308 because i wanted something heavier for fallow buck. so i didnt see the point of only increasing the bullet weight by 23 gn. i now home load 165 gn game kings and i personally think the meat damage is less on roe than with the 243.

can i ask why you are changing from a 243. is it for the reds

regards pete
 
Yes they are. If you can direct me to a relevant piece of legislation or applicable case law etc. that says otherwise I will stop using them.

"Schedule 2 of The Deer Act 1991 prohibits the use of any ammunition, other than soft-nosed or hollow-point, for the killing of deer. Therefore, if you use a weapon for deer stalking, you will require an authority on your firearm certificate to acquire and possess expanding ammunition." (I admit slightly ambiguous on the point construction but the controlled expansion design is clear)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/54/schedule/2/enacted

Expanding ammunition is by definition Sec 5(4) restricted.

The mere fact that AMax are treated as a non expanding target bullet are postable, and
are marketed as a "Match" round by the manufacturers :
http://www.hornady.com/store/Match-A-MAX/
as such are allowed on ranges limited to non-expanding:
http://www.nrcofs.org/OldResults/2011/hornady_a-max_21840.pdf

Quote from a review by a committee made up of representatives of:
BASC, The British Shooting Sports Council, The Home Office, ACPO’s Firearms & Explosives Licensing Working Group (FELWG) and Hornady


"The Home Office indicated that in the absence of a court ruling and any public safety concerns,
there was evidence to show the design of the bullet was for match target use, and not as a hunting
bullet designed to expand on impact. "

and

​are NOT section 5 restricted

....should be the first clues

and since when was the deer act split on bullet choice between Scotland and England (calibre, bullet weight, ME and MV ...yes. Bullet Construction? No.)



Use them if you want but good luck justifying that in court if it all goes nipples skyward.
more to the point I can't think of a single reason to use them on deer when better suited bullets are available

 
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best you STOP using them then !!! Read the Deer act

I have read the deer act.....


Prohibited on deer - Any bullet for use in a rifle other than a soft-nosed or hollow-nosed bullet.

A-max are soft/hollow-nosed.

There is no mention of the bulet having to be designed to expand in a contolled way in the English/Welsh deer acts - try to imply all you like, but it is not mentioned in legislation that it has to be expanding as defined by the Home Office.

If you section a Nosler BT, Hornady SST or V-Max and there is no noticeable external difference in construction to an A-MAX. They all have a hollow cavity filled by a polymer tip. Yes they may have different bonding, gilding etc. but that difference is not required to be defined by the deer act.

A similar daft example is Berger target VLD's a few years ago, people shouted from the rooftops about them not being allowed, despite them working very well.....Then Berger introduced a thicker jacket 'target' bullet to withstand higher velocities and rebranded their 'old' target bullets as a new hunting bullets!

If anyone wants to continue this, I suggest they start a new thread to save derailing this one any further. Either way, I'm off out stalking.
 
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123g Sako soft points..

My Pro Hunter loved them.

If you buy a box of the most popular rounds mentioned your rifle will show you what suits it best.

I tried all sorts and for my rifle the most consistent grouping was the Sako's
 
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