Deer rifle and high power hand loads

[Metzger]

Hi,

I currently have a browning X bolt 308 22" barrel that will shoot 3/4moa at 200 yards with off the shelf 168 federal match ammo @ 2615 fps. My question is since it is a "deer" rifle will it react different to a higher power load than a bull barreled gun? My objective is to load and try these combinations and keep as close to 3/4moa as possible
155 Palmas shooting for at least 2850fps
178 and 180 at at least 2675fps

 

[Gunpoor]

Every rifle/barrel will determine what it will do or won't do, and the only way to know how it will shoot will be to try it. That is the reason why some factory ammo will shoot well in one rifle and may not shoot worth a pinch of %$#^ in another.

 

[J E Custom]

Every rifle/barrel will determine what it will do or won't do, and the only way to know how it will shoot will be to try it. That is the reason why some factory ammo will shoot well in one rifle and may not shoot worth a pinch of %$#^ in another.

+1
Each barrel will normally prefer one style and weight of bullet . some will shoot ok with one bullet and great with another.

Heavy barrels are more forgiving with different loads (They may shoot more than one load well)
Lightweight barrels are typically more finicky and require more load testing to find the best load.

The twist rate also has a lot to do with how a barrel handles heavy bullets.

J E CUSTOM

 

[roninflag]

if I had a 308 for hunting I would shoot 168 cbt and I-4064 and call it good.

 

[MudRunner2005]

If I hunted with my .308 Win, I'd run Berger 168 VLD's with 44.0gr of Varget and Federal 210M primers in Lapua brass...

But, I have a buddy who has a Browning A-Bolt II .308 Win, and I loaded him up some "Mud specials", and he said aside from them being slightly lower POI than his previous loads, they were grouping around 1/2" 3-shot groups, and he was impressed. What I loaded up for his were some Nosler 165 Accubonds, 44.0gr of Varget, Fed 210M primers, Hornady Match brass, and the bullet seated to SAAMI spec COL of 2.810".

Hint, hint to the OP.

Incase most haven't noticed the trend...Most .308's shoot good with 165-175gr bullets with 44.0gr of Varget. It's a pretty universal load.

 

[Frostbite Slim]

I hunt with two 20" barreled .308's. One is a 1:12" twist, and the other is 1:10" twist. Both of them are very accurate with bullets from 155 grains to 210 grains. It depends on the intended purpose, the distance I plan to shoot, and the environment as to which load I plan to use.

More often than not, the 1:12" twist gets 155 grain Berger hunting VLD's, the 1:10" twist gets 175 grain Berger hunting VLD's. I'm getting 2600-ish FPS from both of these loads.

Varget powder, LC brass, CCI primers, nothing fancy, just played a little with seating depths, and I'm reaching out to 1000 yards on paper. Longest game shot (10" twist) was 350 yards on a whitetail, dropped where he stood, DRT.

(Disclaimer- I wasn't "hunting", that deer was across a muddy pond and pasture, I was feeding the cows and he was just standing there.)

Hope this helps!