It is a great deer round at close-to-medium range. If you can get it to shoot accurately, I would feel okay shooting out to 200+ yards with it. I only shoot the round out of an SKS, and while the accuracy is decent, I would limit my shots with it to 125 yards or so.

Personally, I would not mess around with handloads, and just buy some decent quality factory loads. All the major companies load hunting bullets in this caliber. If I recall, handloading can be an issue because the bullets are .311 in diameter instead of .308 (someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

In any case, I would use a good soft-point bullet in the 125 grain range that groups well in your rifle. I believe there are some 154 grain factory loadings out there as well that might work. Good luck!