My New Deer Rifle
 

Just got this Tuesday and it is a tack hammer.

It's a new Thompson Center Venture Compact .308. 60° (3 lug) bolt lift, short action with a new Hawke Vantage 3-9 x 40 scope and Hawke medium height rings. They discontinued this rifle and are now making a cheapo "Compass" POS. I saw this at my gun dealer friend's store and snapped it up. If anyone doesn't know about Hawke scopes you should take a look through one sometime.

I had seen a article on a test on 10 low priced scopes. It turns out 9 of the 10 were all made in the same Chinese factory and all had parallax problems. The Hawke is made in China but at their own factory and the product is much better controlled and no parallax problems. I couldn't believe the sharp image when looking through this scope.

Nice weapon. Let us know how it shoots.

I spent some time yesterday on the bench and while it did good I know it can do better. I was shooting Nosler 125 gr. ballistic tips (3150fps out of a 24" barrel). This barrel is 20" but I think they are too "short" and a heavier 150 gr. bullet will group better. Will try some Hornady Super performance sst's and see how they do. Man is that Hawke scope nice.

You really do not need a long barrel for accuracy in a centerfire gun. Just find the round your rifle likes. The problem not is to find .308 ammo especially the stuff that is not fmj. I don't know if reloading components are as scarce as ammo is. I have always shot 150 grain corelocts in my .308, the barrel is 21 inches and it groups very nicely.

Thanks for that. I'm open to any other suggestions on ammo.

Just try some different ammo, if the 125 grain bullets are not shooting like you want move up. That load is a good one if it shot well enough though.

That load "wasn't bad" but after 50 years of reloading and playing with different bullets, loads etc I think it will do lots better. I no longer reload so it comes down to finding and buying the "magic load" for this rifle. Gives me something to do (if we ever get ammo back on the shelves).

For deer I'd go with something in the 150 - 165 gr range. No need to spend the $$ on premium ammo either IMO. Just grab yourself some Winchester Super X or Federal Power Shok ammo and try it. Honestly I don't think there is a production rifle out there today that won't shoot 2 - 2.5 MOA which is plenty accurate for the average deer hunter. And most rifles will do even better than that. Almost all of us have fallen to the 1 MOA or less bug. I have a couple rifles that will shoot that well and had others that shot even better but its not really necessary.
I believe your Venture will serve you well for many years. Good luck.

I always want a rifle that shoots MOA in case I win the lottery and can go out west. Only been on one hunt years ago near devil's tower and got a so-so muley. But it was an awesome experience. And I agree on your suggestion of 150-165 gr. not needing premium ammo.

Good for you on your new rifle. The .308 is a great round, The 125 is on the lighter end of its range though...you might find better accuracy with a heavier bullet. The 150 is pretty much the go to (but I myself love and reload Speer 165 gr) . The longer projectile lends more stability in flight, thus better accuracy down range, and the heavier bullets also retain more energy. Now the tough thing is finding ammo this year...