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

[Jud96]

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.

Using 139gr bullets out of a 7mm Mag was your first mistake. I know SSTs are thin jacketed but not as thin as Berger or A-MAX target bullets or varmint slugs for that matter. And I can understand your position on match bullets, everyone has their opinions, I don't like the use of SMKs on animals but Berger target bullets and A-MAXs get the job done as proven by the members here. I don't want to cause any arguments so lets just leave it at that.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Using 139gr bullets out of a 7mm Mag was your first mistake. I know SSTs are thin jacketed but not as thin as Berger or A-MAX target bullets or varmint slugs for that matter. And I can understand your position on match bullets, everyone has their opinions, I don't like the use of SMKs on animals but Berger target bullets and A-MAXs get the job done as proven by the members here. I don't want to cause any arguments so lets just leave it at that.

You're right...I don't want to go there. But you opened a can of worms... And I also don't like being condescended and talked down to by some newbie. So we're gonna discuss this like men.

I had used 139 SST's for years out of my 7mm-08 and had zero issues. So I tried them in my 7mm Rem Mag. Just like anything that goes wrong, it's not always cut & dried so I tried it severla more times, and with the same result. I concluded that it was indeed the bullets. It didn't work, so I moved to heavier 160 class Barnes Triple-Shocks. After that never had a problem once I moved away from Hornady bullets. Never lost another animal, never had another one blow up. I've moved on to shooting Nosler Accubonds and Berger bullets these days and having no issues so far.

If small "ballstic tip" type bullets moving at high rates of speed at a close target means it's gonna blow up, then how can you explain my perfect entrance and exits, and zero fragmentation with Nosler 110 Accubonds, leaving my .257 Wby barrel at over 3,400 fps, and staying together just fine for 85-150 yard whitetail vitals shots in the ribs?

 

[Greyfox]

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.

The 165 SST's were not designed as a varmint bullet, at least as far as the .308 caliber is concerned. I have shot deer from 50 yards to 525 and the recovered bullets looked like the Remington Core Lock mushrooms n the adds, under the far side hide. Also shot them with 150gr 270WSM, same performance.

 

[Jud96]

Thank you Greyfox for backing up my experience with your experience!! Anyways back to Mudrunner. I'm not going to go on a thread hijacking argument with you with your opinions battling mine. And for the record how am I a newbie?! Post count on the forum doesn't represent your real world experience and reputation. Yes I'm only 17 but I've been shooting a rifle since I was three years old and have never stopped learning about firearms and sending rounds down range.My Dad who's 48 and has also been in this business since he was a toddler, has taught me everything I know and has helped me all through my shooting career. I understand that you think I have no idea what I'm talking about but I do. You said you like Accubonds and I never said one negative thing about them blowing up. All I said is that they're basically a bonded B-Tip that's all. I don't use them because spending twice as much for them than Hornadys, that have never failed me, is ridiculous. I'm done arguing over this on somebody else's thread.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Thank you Greyfox for backing up my experience with your experience!! Anyways back to Mudrunner. I'm not going to go on a thread hijacking argument with you with your opinions battling mine. And for the record how am I a newbie?! Post count on the forum doesn't represent your real world experience and reputation. Yes I'm only 17 but I've been shooting a rifle since I was three years old and have never stopped learning about firearms and sending rounds down range.My Dad who's 48 and has also been in this business since he was a toddler, has taught me everything I know and has helped me all through my shooting career. I understand that you think I have no idea what I'm talking about but I do. You said you like Accubonds and I never said one negative thing about them blowing up. All I said is that they're basically a bonded B-Tip that's all. I don't use them because spending twice as much for them than Hornadys, that have never failed me, is ridiculous. I'm done arguing over this on somebody else's thread.

I could tell by the attitude in your posts that you were in your teens or early 20's. We were all there at one time. And we all thought we knew everything and were invincible.

I never said you didn't know what you were talking about...I just said I don't like being condescended by someone much younger, and newer to this site, than me... This isn't Facebook. This is a forum where people go to socialize and learn things.

In 4 months I will be 11 years older than you. That's 11 more years of trigger time, experience, and practice...Because I started shooting when I was 2-3 years old, as well. And believe me...I am no slouch behind the trigger, either.

And in those years alot of learning curves will happen. Trust me...You never truly know everything, no matter how much you think you do, or someone you know does. They don't. I can assure you. Once you accept that reality as fact your attitude will improve, and your mind will open. But even Brian Litz, who is one of the greatest ballisticians of all time, doesn't know everything about guns & bullets. That's what makes technology keep progressing forward, because nobody will ever know everything.

 

[Jud96]

I dont act like I know everything, but I am also not stupid when it comes to this stuff. I'm here to learn, talk about hunting and guns, and to help others with what knowledge I have. I'm not here to argue, shoot my mouth off, or flaunt my ego around. I also do not give people attitude unless they do it to me or act like they are better than me and snub me. I understand that time brings knowledge and that no one knows everything, thats obvious. I do not need someone telling me how disrespectful I am because i'm a teen. I didnt mean to upset you by simply stating 139s dont work in a 7mm Mag to well. I was simply saying thats probably why the SSTs didnt work. If that hurt your ego than sorry that a 17 year old, invincible, Facebooking, know it all, newbie was just trying to help out. We can talk more but i'm done muudslinging at one another.

 

[Panchik]

Either a-max or sst do their job very good. It is proved in our mountains hunting from marmots to marals. Accubond has bigger bc and works very good as well but costs 25% more.

 

[Jud96]

Either a-max or sst do their job very good. It is proved in our mountains hunting from marmots to marals. Accubond has bigger bc and works very good as well but costs 25% more.

I agree with you, ain't nothing wrong with an SST. The heavier A-MAXs definitely have the other bullets beat though in BC.

 

[Greyfox]

The 165 SST's were not designed as a varmint bullet, at least as far as the .308 caliber is concerned. I have shot deer from 50 yards to 525 and the recovered bullets looked like the Remington Core Lock mushrooms n the adds, under the far side hide. Also shot them with 150gr 270WSM, same performance.

Maybe the confusion on the SST's has to do with the loads that are available for the 223. I have used both Hornady and Remington Accutip ammo(they OEM the SST). In 223 caliber, 55 grain factory loads, both of these bullets are pretty frangible, and behave as a varmint bullet when i have used them on coyotes. In the larger calibers, they are positioned as a game hunting bullet, and in my experience appear to behave somewhere between a an Accubond and Ballistic Tip in terms of expansion characteristics. Like the Ballistic Tips I think they may come aoart at closer ranges if driven at +3100 FPS. I have found them to be a good mid range hunting load out to 500-600 yards in my 7mm08(140), 308(165), and 270WSM(150). I used these loads when LR used to be 600 yards for me. While I handloaded these rounds, they replicated factory 7mm08, 308, and 270WSM factory Remington Accutip factory loads in the same bullet weights.