UPDATED: Ammo choices in .308 - so many questions...

[The Annoyed Man]

I've had good luck with .308's.

We have too. My son and I own 5 rifles between us in that caliber - 3 bolt rifles, and 2 M1As.

[ccoker]

my 1 in 12 Remington LTR prefers 165s, tested with numerous bullets
in all honesty, any standard softpoint in 150 or 165 will be more than adequate for our deer

I did a little project for a youth rifle in 308 with a Browning Micro Hunter and loaded up 130g Barnes TTSX
only tested on one hog but I have absolute confidence that no deer in Texas would take a good hit with it and go very far

[The Annoyed Man]

my 1 in 12 Remington LTR prefers 165s, tested with numerous bullets
in all honesty, any standard softpoint in 150 or 165 will be more than adequate for our deer

I did a little project for a youth rifle in 308 with a Browning Micro Hunter and loaded up 130g Barnes TTSX
only tested on one hog but I have absolute confidence that no deer in Texas would take a good hit with it and go very far

I saw that review. Very nicely done.

[JackRR]

Just bought a Savage 10 FCP and so far I have shot the Hornady 165gr GMX and the Win 150g PowerPoint.
Sub MOA on the Hornady, +MOA on the Winchester. @200yds 1 1/4 - 2 1/4" groups on the Hornady 2-3" on the Winchester

I plan to reload with all this pretty brass leftover. Bout 80 pieces now.

In my very small sample pool, the Hornady wins out every time I have gone out (5 trips since I got the rifle)

Yeah $35/20 vs $18 but worth it.

[UpTheIrons]

Thanks to all of your help, I finally got to the range and spent some quality trigger time with my Marlin XS7C in .308 - it was grueling, let me tell ya!

The only ammo I could find in both weights (150gr and 168gr) was the new Barnes VOR-TX. I figured I had better do an apples-to-apples comparison, so i wound up with this pricey stuff: http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/b ... mmunition/. It does shoot nice, though.

After I got it fairly close to dialed in with cheap FMJ and a few 150gr Barnes rounds on Sunday, I went back today to dial it in for next weekend. Here's what happened:

This is the first group of 150gr rounds at 100 yards:


This is what the 168gr rounds did from the same distance. Not too impressive at all:


After I adjusted the crosshairs for windage, the 150gr rounds made the group in the middle. After adjusting for elevation, the 150s made the group in the bottom right. The 168s made the top right group - not at all impressive:


For some reason, I always seem to get a flyer. To be fair, the 168gr flyer (the lowest one of the bunch) came before I let the barrel cool enough.

All in all, I am impressed with this rifle and what it can do with 150gr rounds. Now, let's see if it will put some venison on the ground.

ETA: Ignore the two holes on the right border of the last two pictures - they are from the previous session.

[UpTheIrons]

In the rush to post the above note last night, I neglected to remember to mention that the wind was blowing like mad from the 10:30 or so direction. All shots were from a Caldwell Lead Sled.

[ccoker]

you just never know until you try and see what the gun likes..
My LTR is running 165 ABs, one hole at 200 yards and 1/2" at 300, no bull

took a doe last weekend at 250, flawless performance
got a lot more of the 165 ABs coming, really happy that Nosler and Barnes hook me up with free bullets and ammo to test!
Doing load development can drive you into the poor house

The 80g TTSX vor-tx ammo shoots great out of my old Sako 243 that my son is using