Best factory ammo/ bullet for long range shooting 308/hunting

[Railroader82]

I have a 308 with a 22" barrel with a 1/12 twist rate. I want to long range hunt and shoot (target practice) from 300-600yds. One day 1000yards ,hopefully. I'm trying to get set up for a future long range shooting school by wolf percision.

 

[AKGuide]

A guy that I shoot with uses the Federal Match 168 ammo and it shoots well out of his target savage.

Reuben

 

[RT2506]

First off with a 22" barrel forget the 1000 yard shooting dream. You just can't get the velocity out of a 22" barrel you need to be consistent at 1000 yards.

You need to give a little more information on the hunting end. Like what do you intend to hunt. I have killed a bunch of deer over the years with a 308 and I can tell you that I don't like to use Match Style bullets like the Sierra Match King. In my experience sometimes they open up like a grenade going off and other times they just pencil through. For a good all round deer size game bullet the 165 Nosler Ballistic Tip is a good one. Nosler and Federal loads this bullet in factory ammo.

 

[trigger puller]

I shoot a 22" Krieger in my Surgeon and I get 2730 with a 175 SMK, my 1028 yard zero is 34.25 MOA and it is lethal on pigs @ 725. I would use a 168 out to 500 after that the 175 SMK will outperform it, it is a target bullet but it performs real good on deer and hogs. I reload so that is how I can get this kind of speed out of a 22" barrel but even with FGGM I don't have a problem getting to 1000.

 

[Railroader82]

I was wanting to use a 20" barrel but it sounds like that is our of the question for 1000yards. What do I need for barrel length and what twist rate? I want to be able to hunt deer sized game or smaller. I really want to learn to shoot from 100-1000. I just don't want to pack around a 12ilb rifle.

 

[AKGuide]

A 30" light Palma contour should keep you low on weight and should help you push 175 bergers around 2800-2850. A Palma light contour in .308 would weigh around 5.4 pounds.

Reuben

 

[Greyfox]

For mid range shooting and hunting most accurate 308 hunting bullets in a couple of my 308's that also gave excellent performance on deer sized game were Nosler Custom 165 Ballistic Tips and Hornady 165 SST's. Loaded to 2800 FPS using 45.2gr of Varget, they produced consistent .5MOA and reliable expansion on game out to 500-600 yards.

 

[Panchik]

For my bar with 21" I use Hornady A-MAX 168 gr. for both long range hunting and target shooting.
My longest big game (maral) was taken on 660 meters by this bullet. Targets are hit consistently until 914 meters.
Like this cartridge.

 

[benchracer]

For factory ammo, I would take a hard look at the Hornady Superformance Match load with the 168 AMAX @ 2840 fps.

You would really do better, though, to forget factory ammo and load your own. Varget will get you to about 2900 fps with Berger 155 grain VLD's and around 2700 with Berger 168 grain Classic Hunters.

All three of the above loads were tested from 24" barrels. The .308 isn't known to give up a lot of velocity from shorter barrels, so I doubt you will lose much from your 22" barrel.

All three loads should work well on deer out to 600 yards, stay above transonic speeds out to 800 yards, and remain supersonic to 1000 yards @ standard temperature and pressure.

IF you can get it to stabilize from your 12 twist barrel (some have reported success), you may wish to experiment with the 208 AMAX and RL-17. I have seen reports of 2500+ fps and good accuracy from 20" 12 twist barrels.


Here are some threads on what is possible using heavies in .308:

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/208-amax-1-12-twist-308win-range-report-26984/

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/308-win-berger-215-a-122434/

 

[MudRunner2005]

First off with a 22" barrel forget the 1000 yard shooting dream. You just can't get the velocity out of a 22" barrel you need to be consistent at 1000 yards.

You need to give a little more information on the hunting end. Like what do you intend to hunt. I have killed a bunch of deer over the years with a 308 and I can tell you that I don't like to use Match Style bullets like the Sierra Match King. In my experience sometimes they open up like a grenade going off and other times they just pencil through. For a good all round deer size game bullet the 165 Nosler Ballistic Tip is a good one. Nosler and Federal loads this bullet in factory ammo.

Are you kidding me? I used to shoot 1K all the time with my 20" custom .308 Win, shooting factory Hornady TAP LE (red box) 168 BTHP's. And it was **** accurate!

Wish I still had that rifle everyday, but a **** thief wanted it worse than I did...

 

[Jud96]

RT2506, I don't agree with your statement about 22" barrels not working at 1000yds. My Dad use to shoot service rifle matches with the Army Marksmanship Unit and all he shot was an M1A .308 with a 22" barrel. They shot superb groups with these rifles even with iron sights laying prone and never had problems at 600yds and even at 1000yds. He has his own personal M1A with a Springfield reciever, Hart heavy stainless barrel, tuned trigger, beautiful walnut stock, a Brookfield mount, and a Nikon Buckmaster sitting on top. The rifle is properly bedded and shoots 1/2 MOA groups. We handload all the ammunition for it using Federal Match Brass and Sierra 168gr SMKs.
Now back on topic, I would say shoot Hornady Match ammo loaded with 168gr A-MAXs like benchracer also suggested. This slug will shoot both superbly accurate and expand well on game. I advise against shooting animals with BTHP match bullets because expansion is not very predictable like RT2506 mentioned. I wouldn't recommend Nosler Ballistic Tips though, have seen them blow up on game. A better more suitable designed hunting round would be the Hornady SST, which also shoots excellent but doesn't always have the high BCs like match bullets. Hope this helps!

 

[MudRunner2005]

RT2506, I don't agree with your statement about 22" barrels not working at 1000yds. My Dad use to shoot service rifle matches with the Army Marksmanship Unit and all he shot was an M1A .308 with a 22" barrel. They shot superb groups with these rifles even with iron sights laying prone and never had problems at 600yds and even at 1000yds. He has his own personal M1A with a Springfield reciever, Hart heavy stainless barrel, tuned trigger, beautiful walnut stock, a Brookfield mount, and a Nikon Buckmaster sitting on top. The rifle is properly bedded and shoots 1/2 MOA groups. We handload all the ammunition for it using Federal Match Brass and Sierra 168gr SMKs.
Now back on topic, I would say shoot Hornady Match ammo loaded with 168gr A-MAXs like benchracer also suggested. This slug will shoot both superbly accurate and expand well on game. I advise against shooting animals with BTHP match bullets because expansion is not very predictable like RT2506 mentioned. I wouldn't recommend Nosler Ballistic Tips though, have seen them blow up on game. A better more suitable designed hunting round would be the Hornady SST, which also shoots excellent but doesn't always have the high BCs like match bullets. Hope this helps!

The SST was designed as a light-jacketed varmint bullet. It is not a better designed bullet, nor is it suitable for whitetail, IMO. I won't shoot whitetail with any kind of ballistic tip bullets. HPBT's or Accubonds, only.

 

[Jud96]

The SST was designed as a light-jacketed varmint bullet. It is not a better designed bullet, nor is it suitable for whitetail, IMO. I won't shoot whitetail with any kind of ballistic tip bullets. HPBT's or Accubonds, only.

It is a hunting bullet. The V-MAX is a varmint bullet. HPBT's are match slugs, have seen them blow up on game and have seen them pass through with no expansion. The Accubond is basically a B-Tip with a bonded core and jacket. I have taken three whitetails in the last two years with 140gr SSTs out of my .270 Win going 3000fps. Shots ranged from 15yds-150yds. On every occasion there was a pencil entry hole and a fist sized exit with internals souped. One DRT and the other two ran dead for 20yds. Also the two close range kills were shot directly on the shoulder and the 150yd shot was placed quartering away behind the shoulder. Have had better success with these than SPBT's. I know my shots on deer are close, but close range shots would be the ones to blow up because of the high velocities.

 

[MudRunner2005]

It is a hunting bullet. The V-MAX is a varmint bullet. HPBT's are match slugs, have seen them blow up on game and have seen them pass through with no expansion. The Accubond is basically a B-Tip with a bonded core and jacket. I have taken three whitetails in the last two years with 140gr SSTs out of my .270 Win going 3000fps. Shots ranged from 15yds-150yds. On every occasion there was a pencil entry hole and a fist sized exit with internals souped. One DRT and the other two ran dead for 20yds. Also the two close range kills were shot directly on the shoulder and the 150yd shot was placed quartering away behind the shoulder. Have had better success with these than SPBT's. I know my shots on deer are close, but close range shots would be the ones to blow up because of the high velocities.

Not all HPBT bullets are match bullets. Berger, Sierra, & Barnes makes some of the best hunting bullets money can buy, so does Cutting Edge Bullets, and they all use hollow point boattail designs.

The Accubond is NOT the same thing as ballistic tip. Because it has a bonded core and jacket that makes it a whole different type of bullet...

I have had 139gr SST's blow up on whitetails with my 7mm Rem Mag, and they were factory loaded Hornady ammo. You can't tell me they aren't thin-jacketed. They are not specified as a "varmint" bullet, but they are very fragile just like the A-Max bullets are. Some folks go through life using them and never having an issue. Majority of user, like me and several others on here, have used them and had them blow up. You couldn't pay me to use A-Max bullets on game, since they ARE specified as target bullets.

Look, I'm not trying to be a ****er, but you're not gonna convince me otherwise. I've been there, done that, watchted them blow up, lost animals over it, and will never use them for deer hunting again. Coyotes and smaller game...Certainly, but I also have other calibers for them....Like my .257 Wby, and .25-06 Ackley Improved.