Lighter bullet in a 308?
- Thread starter gtbroi7
- Start date
Do you just wanna kill coyotes or do you want the pelts? What sort of ranges do you expect to shoot them at?
Light bullets is certainly an option. Depending on the ranges you might find a mid- weight bullet with a decent BC is a better option though, the light 30cal bullets tend to have garbage BCs and lose velocity fast, so at longer ranges they don't really offer much of an advantage.
Federal's lightest offer is a 130gr, but as you can see below the 150 fusion and 165 trophy copper both eclipse the 130 by 200yds despite slower initial velocities.
Light bullets is certainly an option. Depending on the ranges you might find a mid- weight bullet with a decent BC is a better option though, the light 30cal bullets tend to have garbage BCs and lose velocity fast, so at longer ranges they don't really offer much of an advantage.
Federal's lightest offer is a 130gr, but as you can see below the 150 fusion and 165 trophy copper both eclipse the 130 by 200yds despite slower initial velocities.
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I don't see why not. You can buy lighter grained .308 ammunition specifically for varmint hunting. A quick Google search showed Federal .308 with 110 grain Vmax.
Are you reloading or buying factory? What distances are you planning/comfortable shooting at?
I would suggested going to a dedicated predator hunting forum and doing some research like predatormasters.com
Are you reloading or buying factory? What distances are you planning/comfortable shooting at?
I would suggested going to a dedicated predator hunting forum and doing some research like predatormasters.com
I load up 125 grainers for bad dogs...Both Sierra TMK and TGK...Mostly for wolves for the extra thump over the 22-250 but have shot coyotes as well...The 125's leave big holes in anything they hit which is OK with me cause I just want them dogs dead and don't care too much about the hides.
I would assume the 110's would make even bigger holes...Your 26" barrel is going to be much faster and more devastating than what I am getting as I am using only 20" and shorter barrels.
I would assume the 110's would make even bigger holes...Your 26" barrel is going to be much faster and more devastating than what I am getting as I am using only 20" and shorter barrels.
My favourite .308 load is a 130gr Barnes TTSX over 49.7gr of Varget. It's spicy, but gives me 3000fps out of a 16" barrel. Enough to have reliable expansion out to approx. 500m. Giving me a reliable and repeatable 3/4 MOA from my Sig Cross. With a longer barrel like 24 or 26, I'd imagine it would be closer to 3200fps.
That bullet will reliably expand at 1750fps? (That's what you're down to at 500yds, at least at sea level) Feels kinda low for a monometal bullet but I've never used that particular one.
Barnes is saying 1800fps is the bottom end for this projectile. So like I said, approx 500m. Reality is, I've got a 300 Win Mag for those distances (assuming I could find a place to take that shot), but really trying to drive home the potential of this load, even from a 16" barrel.
In a 10 twist 300WM the 110gr Nosler Varmageddon's started to come apart at ~3650.
They are devastating.
for Coyotes with a 30 cal I would use 110-150gr and enjoy the higher speed and flatter trajectory. Where I hunt .270 is the limit for coyote, so I used 22 250, and am moving towards 22 ARC and 6CM.
They are devastating.
for Coyotes with a 30 cal I would use 110-150gr and enjoy the higher speed and flatter trajectory. Where I hunt .270 is the limit for coyote, so I used 22 250, and am moving towards 22 ARC and 6CM.
