150gr or 180gr .308 benefits of each?

[philhut]

I bought my first .308 rifle a CZ 557 ranger. Have been looking at .308 commercial ammo with Soft Point tips. They seem to come commonly in 150 grain and 180 grain varieties. Is it mostly a matter of rifles preference or is there more/less of better uses for each ammo type? I'd imagine the 180gr would drop faster than 150gr but would each carry power to the target?

I'd be using my rifle for Deer hunting pretty much with the occasional moose hunt. Would I be better off thinking about deer with the 150grain ammo? I am hesitant to give up using my 8mm mauser for moose hunting... Would the 180grain rounds work to similar effect?

I have yet to go to the range for test firimg but plan to try
Hornady 180gr customs and 150gr whitetail &
Federal 150gr &180gr power shock
Planned to fire some 150gr FMJ that I also picked up cheaply for the first few rounds for break in being less expensive.

I have not owned many new rifles and have hunted only with surplus but thought it would be time to try something new. At least for deer for longer shots and sits expert info accepted I am new to this calibre. Thanks

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

Phil

Hunting loads are always rifle dependent. Some rifles and twists will handle light bullets with ease; others are brutally all over the paper. You have to find what works, and ignore the ballistics tables.

On the open Prairies I found the light bullets in a .300 WM worked just fine on Whitetail, Mules and Antelope. I think I settled on 150s. It is all where you hit. But, you are wise to look at bullet composition. I punched a hole through a speed goat with a Berger bullet and the animal flocked off over the hill. Some coyote had supper. I liked Partitions and Ballistic Tips. Unless the FMJ has the same ballistic coefficient and shape as your preferred hunting load, shooting FMJs will only give you trigger time. Now that I think of it, when I tried 180s I went through a box of 20 before realizing the recoil had damaged the scope and it wasn't adjusting as it should!

 

[fiddler]

you've asked a really subjective question, much to the equivalent of asking the difference between a sports car and a 4x4. It really comes down to what you want to shoot at? 150 has more speed and less trajectory the other has more energy and bigger trajectory. Whatever you decide its my opinion to stick to the one that works. The POI can change quite a bit from one to the other , and it can be to the left or right, not just higher and lower. One single bullet that a guy is used to shooting does better than multiple bullets especially for hunting. With a good scope in the open fields a 150 grain should do well way past 300 yards with a good ballistic boat tail bullet. For bush hunting 180 does great up to 300, much the same as your 8mm with velocities and energy. Bullets react very different with combinations of barrel length and twist vs bullet weight, flat vs boat tail, and bullet length. Your 8mm mauser will often do better with a flat base, longer bullet in the 195-200gr range.

I typically hunt with a 180gr in semi-bush areas and almost never get a shot past 200 yards, usually less than 100 yards. I zero to 200 yards and aim for the heart. My 8mm I shoot 195gr bullets.

 

[Potashminer]

I've loaded for 308 for 40+ years. Used to use Sierra 165 SPBT and IMR 4064. Now use Speer 165 HotCor and Reloader 15. For everything!! Whitetail and mule deer, coyotes, targets, etc. I splurged and bought a box Federal Premium 165 and took a cow elk. My son has taken many deer and a spiker elk with my HotCor loads. Max load out of Speer manual - shows up right at 2,800 fps on my Shooting Crony from push-feed Model 70 Winchester 22" barrel.

 

[jmichelin84]

My rifles like the 168, 175 and 180s, odd i know but my hunting is usually 180 grains, one shot you can hear the TWACK on the moose, and down they go

 

[philhut]

My rifles like the 168, 175 and 180s, odd i know but my hunting is usually 180 grains, one shot you can hear the TWACK on the moose, and down they go

Good info I am hoping my rifle likes the 180gr Hornady as i picked up a whole box of those. Wouldn't mind if it shot the Federal well either as it is generally cheaper to buy. Most of my hunting will be in the bush or with sits where shots go at most to 300m with most being 150m or much less.
I'm just excited to get out shooting a new rifle that I have been waiting for a while. According to wolverine it should be there tonoick up when Unger home from my most recent business trip.... just enough time to practise and have it ready for the fall.

 

[Ganderite]

There are two issues:

What shoots well out of the rifle?

What works well on deer & moose?

A 308 is a lot of caliber for a deer. Especially Ontario deer, which tend to be shot at less than 100 yards. Mine have mostly been at less than 50 yards. So power adequacy is not an issue.

A 150 grain bullet is fast and will probably open up and dump most of its energy in the deer. I stopped using 150s in my 308 because of meat damage.

I suggest you start with 180s. These will work very well on deer and moose. Buy one or two brands and see which works best. Each rifle is different. It might cloverleaf with one and spray with another.

 

[Longwalker]

Listen to Ganderite. Wisdom based on experience. Here in Saskatchewan, I have used the .308 for more than 40 years for deer and moose, at somewhat longer ranges than is typical in Ontario. I have mostly used 150's for deer, 180's for moose. A very basic rule of thumb for beginners is heavy bullet = heavy game, light bullet = lighter game. Of course your rifle may have perferences for accuracy, but what happens IN game is at least as important as tiny groups off the bench. I have settled on 165-168 grain loads at about 2700 fps for all my .308's in all situations some time ago. It is a weight that seems very well suited to this cartridge. I vary bullet construction to match the game. Deep penetrators for moose, quick openers for deer. However, I could happily use something like the 165 Nosler accubond for everything.