Best .308 bullet choice for sub 300 yard knock down power

[jack243win]

Morning all,

I thought I’d pop this question in here, considering there is many experienced stalkers which I am sure have experience with the .308 during their time.

Just yesterday, I shot a roe buck at 140 meters off the sticks, perfectly placed heart and lung shot, using 150gr swift scirocco. Now, to my amazement, even after a perfect reaction, the buck proceeded to run off 70 yards, hopping a fence and eventually expiring in thick sapling cover. Without the dog or thermal, it took me a fair bloody while to find after tracking for half an hour.

So my question is; is there a bullet out there for the .308 which performs well sub 300 yards for good expansion and knock down power? Is there such a bullet in .30 calibre that will provide a shock and stop them from running off?


Regards

 

[20-250]

Was the buck alert as you shot? Just sometimes happens.
That said, there's a lot to be said for a traditional, not too hard, 150 grain soft point like the Hornady 3031.

 

[Malxwal]

Nosler Partitions or Sierra 165 gr HPBT Gamekings.

 

[Acm]

The scirocco is a really tough bonded big game bullet, and paired with the modest speed from a .308 I doubt if your getting much initial expansion. If Roe are your main quarry and your reload id try some of any of the below
Yew tree
Any of the virtus bullets
Nosler ballistic tip
Hornady interlock
Hornady sst
In my experience all of the above expand very quickly and would stop a roe in its tracks I think. There will be lots of other options too.
If you use factory try some sako gameheads, or good old federal power shock. But again, there will be loads of options to you here.
I’ve only had experience of swift scirocco 180grn in a .300 ultra mag, they were going around 3250fps and they still held together very well indeed on much bigger game than roe.

 

[jack243win]

Was the buck alert as you shot? Just sometimes happens.
That said, there's a lot to be said for a traditional, not too hard, 150 grain soft point like the Hornady 3031.

Yes, he was wary of my location and knew something was up. I couldn’t believe how far he ran on, especially with the .308. My .243 has stopped them dead in their tracks using 90gr soft points.

 

[Heym SR20]

I have come to the opinion that running after the shot is far far more due to shot placement than anything else.

For a deer to drop on the spot you need to impact the central
Nervous System. There are large bundles of nerves under the armpits, in the front of the chest cavity and under the spine. A shot inline with the foreleg half way up the body gives all of these a massive shock as well as taking out major blood vessels.

A shot further back and lower down will just damage the lungs and heart and the animal will run until its blood pressure falls so that its brain runs out of oxygen and it falls over.

With a conventional cup and core type bullet you get massive fragmentation and a bullet through the shoulders causes a huge loss of meat.

Taking the same shot with a monolithic bullet that stays in one piece results in drop on the spot and minimal meat damage. Bullet effectively cuts a two inch diameter through the body, but you can use meat right up to the hole.

Plenty of 308 options available - Fox, Peregrine, Yew Tree, Sako Powerblade etc. Fox in my experience is very unfussy and shoots well in most rifles. And works on small Roe right up to large Red with little fuss. I am using 130gn in my 7x57. Friends are using the 308 version - same result.

 

[stubear]

Never had any issues with standard lead cup and core bullets - Sierra gameking, pro hunter and the like.

 

[jack243win]

The scirocco is a really tough bonded big game bullet, and paired with the modest speed from a .308 I doubt if your getting much initial expansion. If Roe are your main quarry and your reload id try some of any of the below
Yew tree
Any of the virtus bullets
Nosler ballistic tip
Hornady interlock
Hornady sst
In my experience all of the above expand very quickly and would stop a roe in its tracks I think. There will be lots of other options too.
If you use factory try some sako gameheads, or good old federal power shock. But again, there will be loads of options to you here.
I’ve only had experience of swift scirocco 180grn in a .300 ultra mag, they were going around 3250fps and they still held together very well indeed on much bigger game than roe.

Thanks for the logical recommendation, perhaps I’m not achieving expansion on such a small target. I hand load and got these free from an old friend. I will try hornadys offering.

 

[dodgyrog]

May I suggest a lead soft nose flat point as used in a 30/30 calibre around 180 grain.

 

[triggertrix]

Morning all,

I thought I’d pop this question in here, considering there is many experienced stalkers which I am sure have experience with the .308 during their time.

Just yesterday, I shot a roe buck at 140 meters off the sticks, perfectly placed heart and lung shot, using 150gr swift scirocco. Now, to my amazement, even after a perfect reaction, the buck proceeded to run off 70 yards, hopping a fence and eventually expiring in thick sapling cover. Without the dog or thermal, it took me a fair bloody while to find after tracking for half an hour.

So my question is; is there a bullet out there for the .308 which performs well sub 300 yards for good expansion and knock down power? Is there such a bullet in .30 calibre that will provide a shock and stop them from running off?


Regards

Don’t change anything, you can have 9 drop dead and 1 run 100yds with the same shot placement and bullet. Seen a buck with H/L’s shot out run 100yds uphill at 60 deg angle before expiring. Never seen something like that, but it happens.

 

[RCS Deer Management]

Nosler Partitions or Sierra 165 gr HPBT Gamekingsthey will work but I’m not sure how you can class them as having the most knockdown power. I would be thinking sub 150gr to get the speed and then go for a fragmenting bullet such as the sst or nosler ballistic tip

 

[RCS Deer Management]

Don’t change anything, you can have 9 drop dead and 1 run 100yds with the same shot placement and bullet. Seen a buck with H/L’s shot out run 100yds uphill at 60 deg angle before expiring. Never seen something like that, but it happens.

Why don’t change? He is using a bullet designed for heavily built African game on roe. A softer bullet would be much more suitable

 

[Malxwal]

Jeez, I'm not omniscient, just offering options from experience.

 

[RCS Deer Management]

Jeez, I'm not omniscient, just offering options from experience.

if you saw someone answering to a question and you knew their answer was wrong would you not correct them? Whilst i have no doubt that your suggestions work well for you the question was

Best .308 bullet choice for sub 300 yard knock down power​

Which unless you can prove otherwise would be the fastest most frangiable bullet on a small animal such as roe. You could argue that such a bullet wouldn’t be the best choice due to meat damage ect. But that wasn’t the question

 

[Malxwal]

if you saw someone answering to a question and you knew their answer was wrong would you not correct them? Whilst i have no doubt that your suggestions work well for you the question was

Best .308 bullet choice for sub 300 yard knock down power​

Which unless you can prove otherwise would be the fastest most frangiable bullet on a small animal such as roe. You could argue that such a bullet wouldn’t be the best choice due to meat damage ect. But that wasn’t the question

Welcome to the ignore list.

 

[oldhamstocks]

I use Sako 123 grain Gamehead in .308 with Roes, fast, flat and haven't (to date) caused any issues.

 

[User00040]

Shoot between the eyes

 

[pete evans]

I’ve had good results with 150 hornady interloc and both Sierra pro hunter and gameking also in 150g

 

[Donkey Basher]

As already mentioned, the OP's bullet isn't well suited to small soft skinned game like Roe, add the fact the buck was 'aware' & no surprise at the results.

I've been shooting 150gn Nosler BTs in my 308 for more years than I can remember, they can be quite 'traumatic' when put through the shoulder but they do the job with, in my experience, a high energy dump from the bullet bringing good results. I know one deer manager who preferred to use 125gn Nosler BTs as they resulted in 'bang flop' on a very reliable basis.

I'm now on Sierra 150gn SPBT (2125) as I couldn't get the Noslers when the last batch ran out. So far no issues with these on roe bucks & fallow prickets - furthest any of them went was about 10m & that was a pricket who'd trotted past me in the open then stood & looked back long enough to get a shot in, so he was 'well aware' & not really surprising he went a little way

 

[purdeydog]

165 SST