Long Range Hunting Bullets

400 yards is not that far for a .308. Anything in the 150g-180g would perform adequately. Do you have a place where you can practice at 400 yards? If you intend to hunt out to that distance my suggestion is pick a bullet, work up a load at 100 that will hold 1 MOA or better, then gain confidence by consistently placing a shot in the kill zone from 400 yards in

You would be better served with a 7mm-08...or 6.5 Creedmore.

Ridgerunner665 said:

You would be better served with a 7mm-08...or 6.5 Creedmore.

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What? That's just pure nonsense and has no bearing on the OP's question

He implied he hasn't bought a rifle yet... so no, it isn't nonsense.

Its the truth.

For about the same purpose in .30/06, I am using Hornady 150 SST's. I have shot a bit at 200, once so far at 350 just to prove I could do it, and the accuracy is more than adequate. As far as performance on game, I have yet to experience it, but the interwebs have generally favorable reviews.

Ridgerunner665 said:

He implied he hasn't bought a rifle yet... so no, it isn't nonsense.

Its the truth.

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He also implied he's decided on a .308, is asking about .308 loads, NOT about what caliber rifle he should buy

So yeah, still nonsense and off topic.

What barrel length?

I would look to a 150/165 Accubond, Interlock, or if your wanting all copper a 130gr Barnes TTSX.

308 Win is a fine choice and has been performing for a long time. But as was said earlier, make sure your skills are up to the task. I would be finding a comparable bullet that is cheaper to mimic your LR premium hunting round to really hone your skills at distance and fine tune yourself with the LR hunting rounds.

He also implied limited experience...

So is it such a bad thing to offer him solid advice?

I've said what I had to say... if the OP comes back determined to move forward with 308, then I'll answer his question.

I use nosler partitions in 3006. Same thing would work well in 308. But this is a premium hunting bullet that I use exclusively for big game hunting. If you are shooting paper, you might be happier with one of the competition bullets out there.

I started this thread last month on a .308 load for hunting. You might find it useful.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/308-hunting-load-work-up.857238/

I had several loads that would be adequate but settled on the 150g Nosler Accubond with 42.5g of Varget, 2,660 fps, which held a sub 1/2 MOA 5 shot group out to 200 yards (my self imposed limit, because I hate trailing a wounded deer)

I sill emphasize that practice at the distances you want to hunt is more important than the bullet you select.

rondaxe said:

What bullets do you reload with? By long range I mean under 400 yds. I am going to purchase a 308. for this purpose and have no idea about long range bullets, or shooting for that matter but will study it and practice it. Thanks in advance.

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It will also depend on what you think will be the range most of your shots will be taken.

This is my thoughts for deer. I use primarily 150-175 grain pills. Somewhat overkill.

Out to 200 yards I would stay with a bonded bullet. If you hit bone you will appreciate the fact the bullet did not explode.

250 to 400 I would lean more towards some form of ballistic tip. Somewhat slower speeds should not cause a ballistic tip to lose too much weight from fragmentation.

JMHO

I am with Nature Boy on this. Although I haven't hunted with a 308, I have used Accubonds in calibers: 243, 257 Weatherby, 6.5 CM, 270, and 300 WSM. The 150 gr should work good at 308 velocity but they are messy out of the WSM that is cranking over 3100 fps. The 165gr Nosler BT, Accubond or Sierras is what I use to test 30 caliber guns. Normally a 30 caliber will shoot well with a 165.

At 400 yards you don't really need a special bullet in a 308. My Family and I have taken over 100 Whitetail deer with a 150 grain Sierra Pro Hunter. Our load is going a little over 2800fps. And they are very accurate!

But if you want something else Berger makes a nice VLD hunting bullet.

I'll 2nd the suggestion to develop the necessary skills for those ranges. Regardless of what caliber that you choose.

lightman said:

At 400 yards you don't really need a special bullet in a 308. My Family and I have taken over 100 Whitetail deer with a 150 grain Sierra Pro Hunter. Our load is going a little over 2800fps. And they are very accurate!

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I use Sierra Pro Hunters in 3 different calibers including .308. They are accurate in every rifle I use them, and perform well in my hunting application. There are supposed "better" performing bullets, but not sure you need anything else for deer.

-jeff

I don't hunt with a 308 (straightwall state) but I do load 168gr SMK for my accuracy load, and 165gr SGK for general purpose shooting to save a little money and to have on hand for any out of state hunting I might have a chance to do.

I wouldn't use the more lightly constructed Match Kings, but how do you all feel about the Game Kings? I know they're not the latest and greatest, but I'm sure they'd be fine for deer/hogs and probably black bear.

Like Nature Boy has written, anything in the 150-180gr range will work very well.

Where my experience with specific bullets in .308win is concerned, I only have experience with Hornady SST and Sierra Game King bullets. Both have anchored hogs and deer without fail. For consistent accuracy out of my primary hunting rifle (Kimber 84M) I prefer the SST in 165gr over IMR 8208 XBR, but I don’t think Hornady offers that weight anymore.

As with anything, your mileage may vary. Have fun and enjoy the journey.

I hunted and shot with 308 for several years... wore out 4 barrels.

I shot the Nosler 168 grain Ballistic Tip almost exclusively, but I did mess around with a few others in the same weight class.

I've shot deer from 8 feet to a little over 800 yards with that 168 Ballistic Tip (and a couple a little further), it never let me down... only 5 or 6 times out of probably 20 or so deer that it didn't give complete penetration even through the shoulders (I'm a high shoulder shooter).

Even on close shots the 168 BT usually exits at 308 velocities.

I found 150's to be way too destructive... they'll kill deer, but they make a mess doing it.... violent expansion.

Didn't intend to start a fuss by suggesting a 6.5 or 7mm...I just know they're easier to shoot accurately at 300-400 yards.... they shoot flatter than a 308 but that's not the important part... the important part is they're a lot less affected by wind... and wind is the real challenge to shooting long... the more things you stack in your favor to deal with wind, the more successful you'll be.

Nature Boy said:

400 yards is not that far for a .308. Anything in the 150g-180g would perform adequately.

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... bears repeating.

For the simple task of hunting deer to 400, I typically grab a poly tipped bullet in one flavor or another: NAB’s, SST’s, Win/Nosler CT BST’s. Put it through soft stuff that makes life and life will stop.

Depends on exactly what the goal is, but I’m going to say this fully expecting to be questioned on it. Sierra is the king of bullets. Sierra Match King are a top notch accurate bullet. Sierra Game King are a top notch hunting bullet. Are there better, yes, but Sierra is consistently good and do it at a reasonable price, across the board. I shoot Sierra, Hornady, Nosler, Speer, and a host of cast products, but I’m always pleased with Sierra. Speer is a distant second on pistol, and hornady is a good second choice for rifle.

Not ready to ruffle any feathers at this point but what is it that you are wanting to hunt out to 400 yards?

You would be better served with a 7mm-08...or 6.5 Creedmore.

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It's Creedmoor. On paper yes, in the real world at 400 yards or less pick one. The 6.5, 7-08, or 308 will do the same thing. But in all honesty the 6.5 does everything 308 and 7-08 does at 400, plus a lot more at longer ranges. And with less recoil. I'm heavily invested in 308 and ain't changing at this point. But will advise a younger hunter to go 6.5 if they are considering 7-08 or 308.

But back to the original question. As long as the bullet will impact with at least 1800 fps at the max range you intend to shoot any of them will work. Even a 165 gr flat base bullet with the aerodynamics of a bus will still impact with nearly 1900 fps at 400 yards with about 33" of drop with a 100 yard zero. If you move up to some of the high BC 150-180 gr bullets impact speeds will be 2000-2100 fps at 400 yards. Bullet drop will only be 3-4" less. That is an elk load at 400 yards.

I'd be looking at the 178 gr Hornady ELD-X, the 168 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip or Accubond. I've not hunted with them, but I've seen too many hunters posing with dead animals to not be impressed with the 155 gr Lapua Scenar. It is sold as a match bullet, but has proven to kill stuff handily.

Maybe you mentioned it after the op...but do tell us which creature(s) is being hunted.

I don't have a lot of experience hunting but have shot two mule deer using a .308 Win. The first was three years ago and I shot a buck at 365 yards using the Federal 150gr Trophy Copper factory load. The bullet punched the heart and both lungs and the deer dropped dead less than 10 feet from where he was shot. Just over a week ago I used the same load to shoot a buck at 265 yards. He also dropped dead no more than 10 feet from where he was shot. The bullet destroyed part of the shoulder or humerus (if deer have those) and punched the heart and at least one lung.

I like the idea of 165gr to 180gr .30 cal bullets for the .308 Win. I used to shoot the 178gr A-MAX in F-Class and it was excellent out to 600 yards. I much prefer solid copper bullets over standard cup and core since I don't want to be eating lead. @Ridgerunner665 mentioned the 6.5 Creedmoor but when I ran the numbers recently comparing the heaviest solid copper 6.5mm bullet to a good monolithic .30 cal bullet I think the .30 cal wins. The 175gr LRX from Barnes is my idea of a good long range hunting bullet. The velocity out to 600 yards is enough to get decent expansion and the energy on target shows a nice bump over the 127gr. The wind drift numbers shown below assume a 10mph full value wind. I've always been able to work up good loads using Barnes bullets so when I build a new .308 Win "ultimate" hunting rifle this winter, I'll be using the 175gr LRX.

As far as the ELD-X bullets go, we're not seeing or hearing good things up here when used on elk or bigger dear inside 200 yards. I personally know of four very experienced hunters who will not use the ELD-X bullets due to issues with terminal performance.

http://www.barnesbullets.com/bullets/lrx/

Very very very hard to not start with 168 grs SMK and 42.5 grs IMR4064 or 43.5 grs Varget and work up in small increments to your rifle's sweet spot.

Edit: failure to comprehend on my part - was responding on shooting rather than hunting. I don't shoot animals beyond 300 yards at the outermost, so have no expertise. At 400 yards "tough" bullets are going to start having trouble with proper terminal expansion, so factor construction into your equation.