Sako .308" Win. 123 Grain cartridges ?

[Tikka-T3]

I used to have an old .270 with T8 Reflex, and used Federal Powershok 130's which I used for foxes and deer. I have now bought myself a new Tikka T3 Lite stainless / synthetic, in .308 win. calibre, along with a new T8 Reflex.

I have bought a box of Federal Powershok 150's to try although have also bought ( on the advice of Gregor McLeod of R. Mcleod's of Tain - where I bought the rifle ) some Sako Gamehead 123 grain. He seems to sell a lot of them, although mainly in .270, and he tells me that they are a very flat shooting round. Certainly looking at the ballistic tables, with a zero of 150 metres, they do look promising !

Can anyone else recomend them ? I will be using them for fox, hill and woodland red deer and woodland sika deer, hence at varying ranges. I also have roe stalking although I would imagine they would do too much damage to a roe, so I will stick to using my .223 for them, unless anyone can tell me different.

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[Ben P]

I have used the sako 123 gr for a number of years in my .308.

They have accounted for everything from Hill and woodland stags/hinds, Roe, wild pigs, and a few foxes.

As long as the person behind the trigger does their part you should have no problems.

Regarding meat damage I would put money on the 123gr .308 making a neater job than the .223.

All the best

Ben

 

[Tikka-T3]

Thanks Ben P - this is the kind of reply I am hoping for ! Cheers !

 

[caorach]

There seems to be a lot of very experienced deer managers using these 123 grain Sakos now. I've used them and seen them used from a 308 on hinds and the best I can say is that the hinds died within 10m of where they stood. Some people say that they expand too quickly and aren't suitable for deer and they might be right but that is not my experience.

Unfortunately I can't find anyone who will stock them in my area though several of the people I called reported that they had received several recent calls from people looking for them. If it weren't for that I'd probably use them myself.

I've never looked at the figures for them but am willing to bet that in the real world of realistic distances they are probably not much flatter than the 150 grain Federals. The key is probably more in knowing your load. Either way enjoy the new rifle and have fun finding a load for it.

 

[Tikka-T3]

Thanks Caorach

 

[buck52]

I use a 308 & 150 grn bullets, I would be interested to read the figures on 123 grn as I fancy something a bit flatter.

 

[Tikka-T3]

Hello buck52 - rushing to work just now - will get back to you tomorrow

 

[howa243]

I have been banging on about this round for ages on this site. It is a great round. I would heartily recommend it. You might put it into 'search' cos it has been talked about before. Some people thought it was just too fast. I have introduced it to two RFD's who now sell this round for .308 more than any other make.

 

[Tikka-T3]

Thanks howa243 - thanks for your input - it all sounds good !

 

[Tikka-T3]

Hello buck52 -

the ballistics you are looking for, for the Sako 123 grain round are on the Sako website viz.

www.sako.fi

however, I have copied them here for you. The full details of this round is

Sako 129A Gamehead, .308" Win. calibre, 123 grain

Muzzle velocity 925 m/s
100m velocity 825 m/s
200m velocity 733 m/s
300m velocity 648 m/s

Muzzle energy 3423 joules
100m energy 2722 joules
200m energy 2147 joules
300m energy 1681 joules

With a 150m Zero

50m 0.4 cm (high) - roughly 1/4" high
100m 2.0 cm (high) - roughly 3/4" high
150m ZERO
200m -6 cm (low) - roughly 2 1/2" low
250m -16.9 cm (low) - roughly 6 1/2" low
300m -32.7 cm (low) - roughly 13" low

From the above figures ( still to be tested ! ) it is fairly flat shooting from 50m all the way out to 200m ( all within the 4"circle for a deer ).

I haven't calculated the velocity and energy figures into imperial as yet.

For those in the know - the round uses an LR Primer and N140 Powder - although this means nothing to me - not being a homeloader !

It also gives 10mph wind drift figures - I'll let you look them up yourself at the above website.

Hope this helps you " buck52 " and anyone else that it is interested.

Tikka-T3

 

[Renard]

I was also interested in giving these a try. I assume the above posters who are using them have the soft point "Gamehead" bullets.

 

[Tikka-T3]

Hello Renard

Yes - I should have said - they are the " Soft Point " bullets.

Tikka-T3

 

[howa243]

Tikka. I bought a scout a few years back and used this page http://www.steyrscout.org/steyrdb.htm to look for other peoples experiences with it. I found the results from the 123gn Sako and although its a different head i thought lets give that a go. I was not disappointed. Although I became so with the scout and got rid of it, I still use the Ammunition. At £20 a box its not bad value either.

 

[Claret_Dabbler]

Ballistics look pretty good, almost identical to a 270win shooting 130gr heads. 8)

Not a bad place to be.

 

[buck52]

Hello buck52 -

the ballistics you are looking for, for the Sako 123 grain round are on the Sako website viz.

www.sako.fi

however, I have copied them here for you. The full details of this round is

Sako 129A Gamehead, .308" Win. calibre, 123 grain

Muzzle velocity 925 m/s
100m velocity 825 m/s
200m velocity 733 m/s
300m velocity 648 m/s

Muzzle energy 3423 joules
100m energy 2722 joules
200m energy 2147 joules
300m energy 1681 joules

With a 150m Zero

50m 0.4 cm (high) - roughly 1/4" high
100m 2.0 cm (high) - roughly 3/4" high
150m ZERO
200m -6 cm (low) - roughly 2 1/2" low
250m -16.9 cm (low) - roughly 6 1/2" low
300m -32.7 cm (low) - roughly 13" low

From the above figures ( still to be tested ! ) it is fairly flat shooting from 50m all the way out to 200m ( all within the 4"circle for a deer ).

I haven't calculated the velocity and energy figures into imperial as yet.

For those in the know - the round uses an LR Primer and N140 Powder - although this means nothing to me - not being a homeloader !

It also gives 10mph wind drift figures - I'll let you look them up yourself at the above website.

Hope this helps you " buck52 " and anyone else that it is interested.

Tikka-T3

Thanks T3

Its interesting to note that the 150 grn in .308 is no more than 1/2" different over 200, 250 & 300 yds, I thought the 123 would be a lot flatter.

 

[Tikka-T3]

On the subject of this cartridge - does anyone out there know ( off the top of their heads ) the conversion for joules to foot/pounds energy ?

Tikka-T3

 

[Renard]

1 joule = 0.7375 ft lbs

 

[Tikka-T3]

Thanks Renard

 

[Tackleberry270]

Has anyone got a length for the bullet itself? I'm trying to run some calculations.

 

[Dalua]

These (when I had some) did 2990fps from my rifle. I think they dropped 6" at 300yds when the sights were set for 2" high at 100yds.

Pretty good, really.