Deer hunting with a 308 Winchester rifle

jmichelin84

jmichelin84

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Hello gang I have an opportunity to go deer hunting in Northern Manitoba if I'm allowed I'm a Newfoundland and Labrador metis member and I'm just looking to see what weight bullets you guys suggest I don't want to lose a lot of meat on the small animal.
When I got my moose two years ago I use 180 grain Winchester power point bullets and they hit like sledgehammer against a 4-foot thick oak wall this sounds beautiful a double lung pass and a liver shot and she was down.
Need advice only deer I took before was on a highway lol GTA style as the OPP officer said.
 
jmichelin84 said:
Hello gang I have an opportunity to go deer hunting in Northern Manitoba if I'm allowed I'm a Newfoundland and Labrador metis member and I'm just looking to see what weight bullets you guys suggest I don't want to lose a lot of meat on the small animal.
When I got my moose two years ago I use 180 grain Winchester power point bullets and they hit like sledgehammer against a 4-foot thick oak wall this sounds beautiful a double lung pass and a liver shot and she was down.
Need advice only deer I took before was on a highway lol GTA style as the OPP officer said.
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I suspect whatever metis tags you get in NL/Lab will be worthless in in MB. That's not saying DNR will stop you, but they have no legal standing there AFAIK.

My wife's family is all Metis-eligible in Alberta?? but that's useless here in the east. Even the different bands here in the east have been prosecuted for moving between provinces to hunt.
 
The last two times I used Winchester Power Points (two different rifles, both known to shoot) I was very dis-appointed with the grouping at 100 y. Federal worked much better.
 
Several of us used 150s on deer. We found them somewhat explosive and ruined a lot of meet.

We changed over to 180s, and prefer the results. Pass-thoughs with a fist sized exit hole. Advantage is same ammo for both deer and moose.
 
Nothing wrong with the 180 power point for deer. My favorite factory deer ammo is Federal Fusion, if the rifle shoots it well. I haven't found the .308 overly hard on meat regardless of load, breaking the shoulders can cost you a bit of meat but sometimes its worth loosing a little for a quicker recovery or its the best shot you have.
 
I've used 165gr Hornady Interlocks in my .308Win and they worked just as they should. As long as the particular bullet is accurate from the particular rifle, 150, 165, 180 gr are good weights for deer, something smaller may well be enough, too.
 
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We settled on Speer HotCor 165 grain over RL-15, many years ago, for the 308 Winchester. Max load out of the Speer manual gives +/- 2,800 fps on the Shooting Crony from the Model 70 Winchester, 22" barrel. Has taken many White Tail and Mule Deer; my son got a spike elk and I got a cow elk with it. I think it is about perfect combination for deer. So is 7x57 with 150 grains at similar speed, 30-06 with factory 165 or 180's, .303 British with 150 or 180 factory, and so on. Have seen some pretty mangled messes from higher speeds, like 130 grain 270 and 150 grain 7mm Magnum - I think those cartridges need premium "controlled expansion" bullets. We have rifles with bigger bores and bigger cartridges if we think we need more smack, for whatever reason.
 
cosmic said:
The last two times I used Winchester Power Points (two different rifles, both known to shoot) I was very dis-appointed with the grouping at 100 y. Federal worked much better.
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Rifles are often ammo-specific. My 300 WM doesn't like light bullets. To answer your question - buy a few boxes of different ammo with bullets from 150 gr to 180 gr, and start shooting. The intellectual exercise will teach you what you are asking us, and the trigger time will be good training. Deer are not like elephants. A well-placed shot in the heart-lung area, and they go down.
 
maple_leaf_eh said:
Rifles are often ammo-specific. My 300 WM doesn't like light bullets. To answer your question - buy a few boxes of different ammo with bullets from 150 gr to 180 gr, and start shooting. The intellectual exercise will teach you what you are asking us, and the trigger time will be good training. Deer are not like elephants. A well-placed shot in the heart-lung area, and they go down.
Click to expand...

You're preaching to the converted... I don't normally shoot factory ammo as I reload. When working up a load for a new rifle, the first thing I do is offer the rifle a range of bullet weights- you can see what it likes very quickly. In the case of the Winchester Power Points, this ammo was grossly inferior to anything I reloaded, even with the same bullet weight. That was enough evidence for me....
 
I used in the past old Winchester Silvertip and Remington Core Lokt both in 150 grain weight.
I always strived for heart-lung shot standing broadside.
With a steady hold it always resulted in bang-flop in 308 or 30-06. About thirty whitetails later.
The one and only time I lost some backstrap I took a shot at a running away deer using 165 Interlock handload. But that was a shooter fault not the bullet choice.

YMMV
 
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