.308 bullet choice

[Alantoo]

Hello,

I'm looking to develop a stalking round for my .308 and wanted to know what bullets people are using. I mostly shoot Muntjac, Roe and Fallow between approx. 50 - 150 yards. I shoot for the meat but I'm not at the point were I feel confident to take headshots so in the ideal world I'm looking for a bullet that puts the animal down humanely but with as little meat damage as possible. Obviously nearly everything has to do with my shot placement and it may be that with the varied quarry I'm asking too much of one round but any bullet advice or experiences gratefully received.

On the advice of the rifle manufacturer I want to keep the bullet weight at 150gr/155gr, certainly not over 180gr. I'm shooting a remington 700 with a 24" barrel and 1 in 12 twist.

Thanks

I have mainly shot the same deer species at similar distances as you.

The first deer I shot was a Muntjac and the second a Fallow, both with 150gr NoslerBTs. I went on to factory soft point 150gr Power-Shok (Fallow, Roe and Boar) and Sako 150gr Hammerhead and 123gr Gamehead, (Fallow, Roe and Muntjac) then used 165gr Hornady SSTs (Fallow and Roe) last four years I have been using factory and home load 150gr Hornady GMX (Fallow and Roe) and home load Barnes 130gr TTSX (Fallow, Roe and Muntjac).

Every animal died with one shot, most dropped within a few metres and the longest run was a top off the heart shot fallow doe of 60-ish metres across an open field.

I have also been loading 110gr TTSX and 130gr Fox with Vihtavuori N135 which are both producing 5 shot groups averaging around 0.85"

My conclusion is that it doesn't matter what bullet you decide on. They all work.

I am happy with the 130gr TTSX but I will try the Fox 130gr and the Barnes 110gr TTSX next.

The lead-free non-ferrous bullets seem to me to have all the advantages. Shock and sharp edge damage throughout the wound channel by their 2x diameter expansion. Penetration and exit wound of a Partition or Bonded bullet to effectively puncture the chest cavity. Coupled with the 97% retention, no metal shards of any type so far with the ones I have used, just the polymer tip is left in the wound. "You can eat right up to the hole" as @srvet is fond of saying! They seem to be win win.

Alan

 

[JTM12]

The lead-free non-ferrous bullets seem to me to have all the advantages. Shock and sharp edge damage throughout the wound channel by their 2x diameter expansion. Penetration and exit wound of a Partition or Bonded bullet to effectively puncture the chest cavity. Coupled with the 97% retention, no metal shards of any type so far with the ones I have used, just the polymer tip is left in the wound. "You can eat right up to the hole" as @srvet is fond of saying! They seem to be win win.

Alan

Thanks for this.I'm definitely going to load up some lead free bullets, as you say they seem to strike the right balance of factors I'm looking for. Nosler Partitions also seem to be favoured and I'd like to try these too.