180 gr. in .308 for hunting whitetail?

savage.308 · 03-28-2003, 04:27 PM

I was reading in the American Rifleman April issue about handloads for the .308 and there was a paragraph about the correct bullet weight for the twist in your rifle. Mine has a 1 in 10 twist rate which it said a 178 gr. (according to Hornady) would be optimum for. My question is, when I start handloading should I start with a good hunting round in 180 gr. with a mild powder charge and work up my charges from there till I get a good accurate round? Anyone have a 1 in 10 twist they handload for, and what is accurate in it? Has anyone found a good whitetail load using 180 gr. bullets in .308 or 30-06? If I load such a cartridge I will probably only be able to load single shot as my OAL will probably be too long for my magazine. Any suggestions about this? Lots of questions but don' t feel obligated to answer all of them.[X(]

thndrchiken · 03-29-2003, 08:05 AM

You shouldn' t have any problems with seating depth and the magazine with a 180 gr bullet with your .308. For a hunting rifle, seat the bullets to what the manual says to start then you can start moving it out. I recommend seating far enough out to improve accuracy but still ensure reliabe cycling of the action. Your probably thinking about trying to get close to the lands, well you' ll never get there on some guns, but others you can depends on the throat. Once you find the sweet spot for the bullet / powder selection as long as you and the optics do their job you be inside 1-2 inches and that' s plenty good for hunting, then you get to try to make it better.

stubblejumper · 03-29-2003, 08:21 AM

Just because the 180 is supposed to be the most accurate in your gun does not mean it will be.I have a .308" caliber rifle with 1 in 10" twist that shoots 165gr bullets much more accurately than 180gr bullets.Theory makes for fine reading but only shooting the rifle with different weight bullets will tell you which will actually shoot most accurately.

Vapodog · 03-30-2003, 04:08 AM

your .308 will nicely handle all bullets from 110 grain to 220 grain.......for whitetail hunting I' d suggest 150 to 165 grain loads.

Don' t get too excited over twist rate.....it' s a mythical thing usually.

eldeguello · 03-30-2003, 08:32 AM

For whitetails, I would also recommend a 150 or 165 grain bullet as probably optimum. The 180' s will kill well, but often with a 180, the animal will travel farther after being shot than with a lighter bullet at higher velocity. This effect would be exacerbated if you loaded the 180 to even lower velocity levels!!

savage.308 · 03-30-2003, 03:05 PM

I would like to add, what about using the 180 gr. Nosler bt' s? The 150 and 165 gr. bt' s I' ve shot through my .308 so far, though very accurate, have been turned inside out when I dug up some of the rounds out of the loose dirt behind the target. Maybe the 180' s would hold together better on deer in this particular round maybe? Anyone fired loads like this in .308 or 30-06?

savage.308 · 03-30-2003, 03:07 PM

Need to add that those rounds I' ve fired were factory rounds at 200 yds.

stubblejumper · 03-30-2003, 03:40 PM

150 or 165gr bullets are plenty for any deer especially at 308win velocities.

jed · 03-30-2003, 07:52 PM

I only use 150 grain slugs in my 308. I would not woorry too much about the Nosler, assuming you are talking about the bt' s or another premium bullet it' s meat in the freezer

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