308 load for blackies?

rishu_pepper

rishu_pepper

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Just got myself a Savage 99E in 308 (tax return gift for yours truly :D), hope to get a black bear with it. Can anyone give me a good recipe? I know 165gr's are probably ideal, but what kind of bullets, Accubond, Partition, TSX, other? What of powder? Probably will keep the shots to 100 yards or below (scope-less), accuracy is nice but minute of orange is probably a minimum? Your help is appreciated :)
 
165 grain Hornady Interlocks, push em to about 2700FPS, and give er. If the bear don't die after you shoot 'em with that rig, you didn't shoot him straight.

Premium bullets are designed so they'll hold together when they hit something after you pound em out of a magnum at 3000+FPS. At 308 velocities, you really don't need that kind of toughness in a bullet (of course, I say that, and I shoot 150 grain accubonds out of mine these days - LOL)...
 
Personally i like the Barnes bullets for penetration and toughness , but if you want semi premium bullets hornady has always worked well at moderate velocity.
As it is a 308 the velocity will not be over taxing the bullets. 165 G bullets are more then capeable especially the barnes bullets but if you want more thump the 180 grain is a good choice also .

Flip a coin

you could always go the 200 grain:eek: if they will stabilize:cool:
 
At 100 yds or less, why not load up some 180gr bullets? They've always worked well for me at shorter ranges. For longer shots I prefer the 165gr SST or IB's.
 
I would choose a 180 gr bullet for your .308. The 180 just might create a larger wound cavity, and due to the lower velocity, it is less likely to fail if you choose a traditional copper cup/lead core bullet. The difference in trajectory between the 180 and 165 grain bullets of the same style is not something you can benefit from at normal hunting ranges and black bears are for the most part killed at short range.
 
A 165 standard will give a greater primary wound channel out of a 308 due to the slightly higher velocity as compared to a similar 180g bullet going slower. If you want the best of both worlds go with a rapid opening bullet like a 180g SST or for greater penetration yet a 180g ballistic tip.

A fantastic bullet at around 2600fps for dear and bear sized game is the 165g Hornady interlock boat tail. I have used this with great success out of my 308's. Expect full penetration of vitals on any reasonable shot angle as well as good wound diameter.
 
I would personally prefer a bullet that is likely to exit when shooting a bear. Bears can be difficult to track, and their fur tends to soak up blood that would otherwise be helpful when tracking, so I like bullets that can break bones and make two holes. That said, a "too tough" bullet may not kill quickly. If it was me, I'd use a Hornady 180 gr. roundnose - nice big hole on both sides and plenty of expansion. Long range capability is an over rated attribute for most black ber hunting I'd say.
 
Republic of Alberta said:
A 165 standard will give a greater primary wound channel out of a 308 due to the slightly higher velocity as compared to a similar 180g bullet going slower. If you want the best of both worlds go with a rapid opening bullet like a 180g SST or for greater penetration yet a 180g ballistic tip.

A fantastic bullet at around 2600fps for dear and bear sized game is the 165g Hornady interlock boat tail. I have used this with great success out of my 308's. Expect full penetration of vitals on any reasonable shot angle as well as good wound diameter.
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Provided we a taling about maximum loads in each case, the 180 gr bullet produces a larger wound cavity than does the 165, and a 200 gr bullet produces a larger wound cavity yet. Because the longer core of the heavier bullet upsets to a greater frontal area and because there is additional momentum created by the heavier bullet weight, the heavier bullet equals the pentration of the higher velocity lighter bullet despite it's larger frontal area, resulting in a larger wound cavity of equal depth. The lower velocity of the heavier bullets insures the intergrity of the bullet, resulting in straight line penetration, and a large wound cavity. If the lighter bullets begins to break up due to excessive velocity, momentum is lost due to the rduction of bullet weight, and although a larger volume of cavity might be produced at a particular point along the tract, wound volume as a whole is reduced.

A 165 out of a .308 will kill the bear, and so will a 150, but the heavier bullets for the reasons I suggest above are my preference. The light bullets just aren't as good as they could be.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I'm getting a better idea of what I want to do.

To be very specific, the following will be my hunting situation:

road hunting on BC/Van. Island logging roads, clear cuts and such
shots will most likely be 100 yards or under
not looking for a trophy bear, but more of a meat bear

So far it looks like 50/50 between the 165gr and 180gr, bullet choices are still varied but many seems to like the Hornady stuff? I've never tried it.

Varget okay for powder?
 
rishu_pepper said:
So far it looks like 50/50 between the 165gr and 180gr, bullet choices are still varied but many seems to like the Hornady stuff? I've never tried it.

Varget okay for powder?
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People use Hornady bullets because they work good, and are fairly cheap. I like them because the plastic tip prevents deformation of the bullet through loading and unloading.

I just worked up a load for one of my .308's with Hornady 180gr SST and 45gr of Varget, though I have not shot anything with them yet. Intended as a deer/bear load.

sst.jpg
 
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Boomer you are too stuck on bigbore thinking.

I would suggest you shoot a deer with any standard bullet at high velocity then do it again with the same bullet at low velocity. The reality is that you will get a much bigger permanent would channel with material removed at the higher velocity. The velocity must be high enough and the bullet constructed in a way it looses some weight in a rapid manner.


I can shoot deer with my 7mag and 162g sst and have a hole that is fist sized. I use the same bullet out of my 20" bbl 7x57 and get a 2" channel of removed material. Both velocities will penetrate out the far side from any reasonable angle. We aren't hunting cape buffalo here, we can use lightly constructed bullets with enough SD and velocity to create spectacular wound channels and still make it out the far side.


Is a 308 fast enough to get fist sized holes with an interlock? No, not if you don't hit bone, but you can still get a wound many times larger than the expanded diameter of the bullet simply due to the explosive nature of a soft point.
 
The point remains that when we are talking about traditional copper cup/lead core bullets, velocity much over 2500 can result in the bullet failing. If the bullet fails and the animal dies, there is little to complain about, and such failures can result in spectacular wounds as you describe. Bullet failures can also result in nasty flesh wounds without sufficient penetration to kill the animal, as we would prefer.

The last animal that I shot with a high velocity bullet (a seal) hit broad side on the shoulder, but the bullet went to pieces without penetrating into the chest. Another animal, in this case a stray dog, I shot with a high velocity small bore again created a huge but shallow wound, and the animal was in much distress until I was able to finish it.

I think I've shown that when a bullet is loaded to a velocity that is within it's design parameters, that’s a better way to go. Choosing the heaviest bullet that provides a trajectory suitable for our purposes gives us the best chance of success regardless of bore size.
 
Wow looks like I've generated a lot more discussion than I thought it would! Keep 'em coming guys, I'm learning and soaking up the knowledge :D

So I guess the be-all-end-all question here is, if you were in my shoes, which of the following bullet choice would you make (money is not the issue here)?

a) 165gr SST
b) 180gr SST
c) 165gr TSX
d) 180gr TSX
e) 180gr Speer MagTip (just coz bartell says so :cool:)
f) 165gr Accubond
g) 180gr Accubond
h) 165gr Partition
i) 180gr Partition
j) still other choices?

I'm going out to buy the boolits tomorrow so I'd like to know what to blow my budget on. :shotgun:
 
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If you have a load worked up for deer, it'll do nicely for black bear too. Otherwise, any 165 grain hunting bullet with IMR4064. You don't need premium bullets for anything.
 
My experience with Hornady 165 SST, devastating! The exit wound on a white tail deer with factory 30-06 light mag at 60 to 70yds created a good 6" exit wound. Shot details: quartering away entrance through the ribs, exit through upper leg bone. The bullet did its job, however there was far too much velocity behind that bullet (short distance shot) and it provided a very visible blood trail. I wouldnt use that load unless I knew the shot was going to be 150 yards or more, potential for too much wasted meat.
 
Any bullet for deer is suitable for black bear ,they aren't Panzer tanks.Iv'e used Hornady Interlocks on everything from antelope to grizzly and nobody complained about penetration or expansion.Harold
 
just picked up some 130 G hornady bullets for the 30-06 , other then haveing to do some load development they should work well .

I like R15 i know the bullets a bit light but anyone got a recipie?

I would also like to pick up a box of 190 G hornady BTSP .308 bullets if i can find some
 
Looks like the majority of the consensus is for 165gr providing it's not a long distance shot (I won't take anything 150+ yards for sure). It will have enough power to put down the blackie while keeping meat wastage to a minimum. Most people have mentioned SST so 165gr SST will be what I'm looking for tomorrow. If not available, then perhaps Partitions.
 
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