Best .308 cal hunting bullet

[ahankster]

Hey guys,
This is probably a pretty broad question, but I appreciate any help.
Let me start off by telling you that I am not a newbie to reloading. I have a Dillon 550 and a Lees single stage press. I reload allot of handgun for competition purposes, some years more than 8 or 9k roundsof.357 depending upon how many shoots I go to. I also reload 30-30, 38-55, a little 45-70, and an occaisional 12 gauge or so. I generally use Hodgden powders with the exception of the W231 I use for my handguns.

I grew up with a .308 and hunted for all my youth with it. Back then, I just used the standard off the rack Remington Corlokts in 150 or 160 grains or so, If I did my part, the bullets never let me down. Been so long I don't really remember the exact grain of the bullet. But, bullet construction has advanced by a huge margin in the past 30 years.

Now, there are silvertips, ballistic tips, bonded, a frame, solid copper, partitions etc and etc. My head spins looking at all the different bullets in the Midway catalog and every one of them are advertised to be the best penetrating and have perfect expansion. I know that most of them are probably great, but am hoping that some of your experiences will help me.

My barrel is a custom .308 barrel for my Encore and I am not necessarilylooking for bench rest accuracy, I need terminal performance as well. This bullet and load will be used for hunting whitetail. I am thinking a 150 to 160 grain bullet would be the ticket. I am used to shooting a fair distance, but my shots would probably be pretty much limited to the 50 to 300 yard range, mostly limited to within 200 yards.

Thanks in advance for all your suggestions and help.
Hank

About the finest thing going these days is a accubond. But out of a 308, I just don't think they will do anything more than a bullistic tip. If you are shooting a 300RUM I suggest accubonds. Silvertips are bullistictips that are coated and very little more.

I use a 165gr gameking out of my 308. Great bullet. But no great advances than the corelok. They just tend to fly little better.

About the only great advances these days is bonded bullets and barnes triple shock. You haven't missed much.

[Roskoe]

I kinda depends on what you are hunting. Just about all 150 and 165 grain bullets expandingare going to work for deer in the .308 Winchester. Some of the better ones are the Nosler Ballistic Tip and the Sierra Pro Hunter. Also good are the Hornady Interlock and the Speer Grand Slam. Then there are premium bullets - like the Nosler Partition, Siwft A-Frame,and the Barnes X - that give increased penetration and bone breaking ability. But they generally don't kill quite as well on broadside rib shots.

One of the nice things about calibers in the .308 velocity window is that you really don't need expensive premium bullets for deer size game. It's only when you start talking about shooting elk, bear,or moose that a premium bullet sounds like a good investment.

[ahankster]

Thanks guys,
I thought about a 300 mag for the Encore, but I fealt that it was overkill for whitetail. I have a 450 Marlin barrel for if I ever get to hunt bear.
Anyway, compared to the commercially available ammo from 30 years ago, the stuff now is much better. I was looking at the Nosler Accubond, Nosler Ballistic tip and/or partition,Barnes triple shock x-bullet and the Swift A-frame.
I haven't made up my mind yet,I find the triple shock X interresting,but I will probably give one of these group a try.
Hank

[handloader1]

For deer I would go with a Nosler Partition. Good luck.

[James B]

The Nosler Partition and the Barnes X bullets.

I hear alot of people say use partitions for deer. I mean I use them on Moose and things, but do you guys really use them on deer?

[kelbro]

Why not???

They don't cost much more than lesser bullets.

[thndrchiken]

For whitetail you really only need a standard construction bullet, I would go the 150 or 165's. Buy a couple different ones, I like Hornady 165's in my 06, but have also loaded corelokt's and Gamekings with good results. You really have to try different bullets to see which your gun likes best.

[Ridge Runner]

at 308 velocities to 300 yds, find whichever 165 gr bullet shoots best and stick with it. if you go up in game size go to a nosler partition or accubond whichever shoots best (my money would be on the accubond)when you start runnong them hard above 3300 fps, then I'd go with the accubonds, they will do better than the partition (sorry guys)when you need penetration at high velocity.
Hear good reports out of guys shooting the hornady A-max's if you keep the inpact velocity below 3300 fps.
RR