New to .308... Help me with advice

[alaska]

175 Berger OTM subsonic
Better than 175 Sierra MK
Bryan is probably the best I know for 308 win LR performance

Berger 308 175 match OTM Tactical

PART ONE Berger has designed and tested a new 308 bullet that they claim will pass through the transonic zone without being upset. It is shown on their website under “tactical bullets” as a 175 grain match OTM tactical.. Bryan Litz, the ballistician for Berger has loaded ammo listed for sale...

www.longrangehunting.com

 

[30BR]

The 155.5 Berger is a good 30 cal bullet for long range target. Designed for Palma use. Start around 44 gr Varget. You should be able to get 3000fps with no issues.

 

[rifledoc]

I load the 168gr SMK with 44.8 gr of Varget in federal brass to simulate the FGMM but hotter and was hitting 1140 yards with a remington 700, 24 inch barrel, 1 in 11.25 twist. That gun does not want to stabilize the 178gr no matter how I load it.

 

[COBigJohn]

The Savage that was listed... "In Stock" .... wasn't. And couldn't find the Savage in stock anywhere, so went to plan "B"... which might be better than plan "A".

Picked it up this morning..... Ruger American Hunter Matte Black
308 Win, 20" Heavy Barrel, Ported
MagPull Stock
Vortex 6-24x50

Purchased three boxes of Winchester FMJ at $19 a box for the 'break in'.... Then I purchased a box of Hornady Match 168's and a box of Federal Gold Medal 175's... to see how it shoots those two rounds. If neither of those pan out, I will continue looking....

 

[rustyshackleford]

The Savage that was listed... "In Stock" .... wasn't. And couldn't find the Savage in stock anywhere, so went to plan "B"... which might be better than plan "A".

Picked it up this morning..... Ruger American Hunter Matte Black
308 Win, 20" Heavy Barrel, Ported
MagPull Stock
Vortex 6-24x50

Purchased three boxes of Winchester FMJ at $19 a box for the 'break in'.... Then I purchased a box of Hornady Match 168's and a box of Federal Gold Medal 175's... to see how it shoots those two rounds. If neither of those pan out, I will continue looking....

I'd run the numbers through a calculator on whatever ammo you bought to see if they'll do what you're wanting. Just a quick glance and SG ammo has 185 berger gold medal match in stock if these don't give what you want. I'm not sure which hornady 168's you got but I'm betting the 185 berger has a better form factor than them or the 175 sierras. And not by a little

 

[Maol]

Noticed that you ended up with a 20" barrel. I just checked and CCB still has 25 boxes of these 168 grain Tipped Monos in stock. These should stay supersonic past 1,000 yards even from a 20" barrel if you keep them warm. Hunting in the cold I keep my mags inside my clothes if I can.

Druid Hill Loaded 308 Winchester 168 grain MKZ:

Starline large primer brass
2700 FPS from a 20 inch barrel
Opening diameter to .840 in ballistic gel
Expansion at 1650 FPS is .750 of an inch. (650 yards at Sea Level)
Double caliber expansion to 1600 fps
Ballistic Coefficient .540 G1

(For calculators the bullet length needs to be corrected down to 1.33" from 1.48" because of the cavity.)

 

[BW64]

Read an interesting article where they were using the 195 TMK in a 308. Although that's already getting heavy for the .308s capacity, for 1000 yard shooting it actually did notably outperform any of the 168-180 grain offerings.

Yep. Been running them in mine for a while. Very happy with them but the 175 TMK are the best for 1000 & up.

 

[jpd676]

What 208's are you running at what velocity that they run out of gas at 950?

I'm shooting 208 Amax at 2400 fps out of a Remington LTR 20" at 7000'. By out of gas I'm meaning they are dropping like a rock and I'm not able to reliably predict the wind past there.

 

[Calvin45]

Yep. Been running them in mine for a while. Very happy with them but the 175 TMK are the best for 1000 & up.

I'll defer to that first hand experience. I just thought it was interesting, everyone preemptively writes off heavies in the .308 but few ever try it it seems. I shoot a .300 win but don't currently have a .308. With my .300 I run into some who say the opposite nonsense, that there's no point running anything under 180 grains in a 300 magnum of any kind….while I appreciate my 225 eld load it doesn't get me as excited as my 120 barnes tacTx at 4050….waste of capacity? I don't think so. And people act like if you go over 180 with a 308 you might as well just throw rocks.

 

[COBigJohn]

I'm going to grab the dies and will start reloading this summer, when I get my barn finished, but until then.... I will be shooting some factory ammo that is reasonable. $50 a box is over my limit for .308. .308 ammo is dropping in price and I am hoping I can stay with some really decent cartridges in the box for $30-$35 a 20.

Got many a 'dirt dog' to dispense this spring.... and will be on factory ammo. Hope I can be 0.6-0.8 MOA. Gotta have that to hit 'em at 300 yards. My Savage Model 12, 26" Heavy, .223 is 0.4 MOA with 68 grainers.

 

[rustyshackleford]

I'll defer to that first hand experience. I just thought it was interesting, everyone preemptively writes off heavies in the .308 but few ever try it it seems. I shoot a .300 win but don't currently have a .308. With my .300 I run into some who say the opposite nonsense, that there's no point running anything under 180 grains in a 300 magnum of any kind….while I appreciate my 225 eld load it doesn't get me as excited as my 120 barnes tacTx at 4050….waste of capacity? I don't think so. And people act like if you go over 180 with a 308 you might as well just throw rocks.

People get hung up on weight but it's really just form factor. A bullet has a drag coefficient and it's resting on top of a powder reservoir. Some people want to make it more than that but I really don't think it is.

 

[Leo 35]

There are manny post about Palma shooters using 155 grain match bullets moving around 2960 for 1000 yards.
You have to be able to read the wind.

 

[new2mud]

Wheew, you're not gonna like my answer: I think you will be disappointed in trying to find a "do-all" round.

I've had the exact same 2 objectives with my 20" .308: shoot steel at 1000 and use it for prairie dogs.

Here's the rub: as mentioned by others, a 165-178 match bullet (or faster, lighter weight but also high BC projectile) is needed for high BC to get to 1000 reliably. It's a challenge with .308 due to projectiles not bucking the wind nearly as well as a 6.5. Where I could hit 10/10 targets at 750 yds with the .308, that extra 250 to get to 1k is where things start to fall apart fast (in .308 and 20" barrel). BUT, if you can train to be consistent at 1k with this setup, then when you get a higher BC round/cartridge later it will be a walk in the park.

Prairie dogs. Shooting them with 165-178 HPBT will absolutely kill them. But it won't be fun. Because once you start shootings p-dogs, then you realize you want the acrobatics and "red mist" effect of launching them into the air. Sounds barbaric, but not only is it a humane kill, but once you witness this you will no longer be satisfied with a bang-flop. And for aerobatic launching, you need a highly explosive light bullet pushed really fast. My p-dog load in .308 is a 110 Vmax that literally launches them 30 feet. But use that same 110 Vmax with its dismal BC to hit 1k? That's a real skill builder, to say the least!

So—while 1 round CAN do both, I think you'll eventually diverge to a dedicated round for each purpose.

 

[sierracharlie338]

The Savage that was listed... "In Stock" .... wasn't. And couldn't find the Savage in stock anywhere, so went to plan "B"... which might be better than plan "A".

Picked it up this morning..... Ruger American Hunter Matte Black
308 Win, 20" Heavy Barrel, Ported
MagPull Stock
Vortex 6-24x50

Purchased three boxes of Winchester FMJ at $19 a box for the 'break in'.... Then I purchased a box of Hornady Match 168's and a box of Federal Gold Medal 175's... to see how it shoots those two rounds. If neither of those pan out, I will continue looking....

With that short of a barrel you may want to shoot the two different types of ammo you have at distance and see what it does. I shot factory 168s out of 18 inch 308 and they keyholed at 800. That was that rifles limitation.