New to Group, got a .308 question

[Fatboy1970]

Hey guys. New member. Been reading post here for a couple years. Finally joined the group. Thanks for the info you provide. Have a reloading question. New to reloading, just a couple years in. My .308 shoots 175 SMK's very well. Never used it for hunting until this year. Having trouble finding a good load with a "hunting bullet". I bought a box of Barnes 175 gr LRX BT because the sectional density and bc are almost identical to the SMK's I'm shooting. No go on a group, about 1.5 moa. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

 

[Taylorbok]

Either do some load development with the Barnes or just shoot animals with the SMK's I've talked to several people that say they work fine on game.

 

[cajun]

How far off the lands? Smk's do well close. Barnes like to jump a bunch. Like.060-.080.

 

[Akredneck]

I load 200gr SMK's for my buddies 300 win. He gets a moose every year with them.

 

[440coronet]

Find some 165 or 168gr Ballistic tips Don't use the SMKs on an animal please
They deserve to die humanly and quickly if hunted

 

[Pdyson]

40 some odd years ago a friend and I were loading for our 30-06 and discovered how well the SMK shot and decided to hunt with them. We both were drawn to hunt on a old plantation park near Charlestown SC. I killed a 165lb feral hog, and a young spike. My pal killed a yearling doe. The deer dropped in their tracks and my hog ran 50yds. They are explosive on game causing a lot of blood shot meat. The yearling doe was almost
ruined. We never used them again and as soon as we got back we both switched to Game Kings Using the same load data. I still shoot SMKs but only at paper.

 

[Fatboy1970]

How far off the lands? Smk's do well close. Barnes like to jump a bunch. Like.060-.080.

I have not checked distance to lands for either round. Loaded the SMK's to 2.810 with 42.8 grs of Varget (load was recommend by a friend for my rifle) shot great first time out, haven't changed since. I have read what little info I can find about the Barnes bullet, most of it on this forum, seems like I may need to slow it down but I want to be terminal at 300 yards. Really not a worry right now because I would not try a 300 yard shot with the group it's producing. Shooting a REM 700 SPS 20 in barrel 1/10 twist. Had the bolt trued, still shooting factory barrel. Thanks for the help.

 

[cajun]

 

[Fatboy1970]

View attachment 406593

Been hunting some CFE 223 powder to try, no luck! Thanks guy!

 

[Recon$$]

I got 168 TTSX to shoot very well in my last .308 and was really able to push the velocity limit with RL15.

 

[Bucklowery]

I have same gun. Have not shot Barnes. Mine loves anything in 168g though and varget. Good luck

Thanks

Buck

 

[RidgeTop]

I don't load over 165gr and Win 748 is my go to powder for .308W.

 

[Mark37082]

There are so many factors that can impact the ultimate accuracy in a particular rifle load. Eliminating outliers can be frustrating, but I like to start with a basic approach. Sometimes a rifle just prefers a particular bullet. If a bullet shows inconsistency in accuracy, I eliminate it fairly quickly. Try other proven bullets for your hunting purposes and fine tune once you get within the MOA range to squeeze the performance to your desired result.

 

[338 dude]

Hey guys. New member. Been reading post here for a couple years. Finally joined the group. Thanks for the info you provide. Have a reloading question. New to reloading, just a couple years in. My .308 shoots 175 SMK's very well. Never used it for hunting until this year. Having trouble finding a good load with a "hunting bullet". I bought a box of Barnes 175 gr LRX BT because the sectional density and bc are almost identical to the SMK's I'm shooting. No go on a group, about 1.5 moa. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

Try the berger classic hunter line of bullets