.308 win LR deer hunting

[WildRose]

After a certain point it seems like more magnification, just makes the blurs bigger.

Yep, at these ranges and for this application 10x is plenty.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Just mixing a little dime store humor in to lighten up a conversation.

 

[MudRunner2005]

After a certain point it seems like more magnification, just makes the blurs bigger.

I was just making a joke with Flip about his "old eyes not being able to see that far", so I told him to grab some serious magnification...

I shoot a 32x scope for my .308 @ 100 yards...Then again, I like to see my groups happen for load development purposes. If I can see the 1" dot as if it's 3' in front of my face, then I can shoot some excellent groups to see if that load really will hold consistancy.

I also use 32x because then I don't have to use a spotting scope.

 

[roninflag]

Gernest- what rifle?scope? how far have you shot it??

 

[Gernest2]

Gernest- what rifle?scope? how far have you shot it??

Remington 700 adl varmit contour barrel, choate stock, timney trigger, Nikon 6-18x40 buckmaster scope. Have shot to 600ish yds at groundhogs with success

 

[sbhooper]

If you consistently kill ground hogs, then you should do OK on deer. I would not shoot that far on deer, but that is your decision to make.

A buddy of mine has shot a number of white-tails past 500 yards with the longest being 750. He uses Amax 168s, which I do not agree with, but there again, not my choice. I would never shoot a big game animal with a target bullet. There are too many good bullets out there to use a target bullet.

 

[roninflag]

Gernest- the 168 berger, 168 cbt and others work great on deer. with your rifle and scope you may be comfortable out to 500 or 600 yards on deer. certainly if you can hit a ground hog you can hit the virtal area of a deer. probably have more practice than most too.

 

[Michael Eichele]

IMHO, the amax's are one of the best deer size critter bullets available regardless of the 'type' they are labeled. In the edition of hornady's reloading manual that 1st featured the Amax, they recommended them for medium game such as deer. SMKs IMHO are unpredictable. Maybe they'll open maybe they won't....amax's are very predictable. They expand and at very low velocities which is great for a long range 308 win hunting load. Expansion is more important than mathematical energy. I would have no 2nd thought about taking a deer to a grand with a 308 fired 208 Amax. 1000'# of energy and expansion is attainable at 1k.

As far as the 168 VLD, that's the weak link here regarding longrange hunting. My comfort zone with this bullet at said velocity is 600 yards. I'd go 700 with the 168 amax and 800 with the 178 Amax.

 

[farmer0317]

3 deer last year all past 500 yards with 308 178 grain amax . shot placement ........and again shot placement.......

 

[DropDead]

3 deer last year all past 500 yards with 308 178 grain amax . shot placement ........and again shot placement.......

May I ask the velocity your getting with your rifle? I just finished a 308 build and my load so far is a 178 amax at 2635 fps in 35 degree temp. All though my primary long range hunting rifle is my 7RM with 180hvld I am interested in opinions on 178 amax for 308 at about 2635 fps. 738lbs energy at 750 yards.

 

[Scrubbit]

What barrel length on the 308? I had some overpressure just past 2600 fps (26 in barrel) shooting Hornady 180 gr SSTs. Lap brass, Varget. Now shoot them comfortably at 2330 fps from a 15 in barrel. Switched to 300 Win Mag for my longer range work. My max range on moose with my 308 is now 300m, and max for the 300 Win Mag shooting 210 gr Berger VLDs is 900m. Switching to the 215 Berger hybrids, so should get 1000m.

 

[Michael Eichele]

You said 35 degrees. What's your elevation? I know Litz uses a really low BC for the 178. He uses an average out to 1k. That said out to 700 it's a bit higher. For the velocities and temps you're running 750 is pretty much as far as I would care to go. I run my 178s quite a bit faster and most critters I'm after are at a fair altitude so I feel comfortable going a bit farther with my set up. When the 190 ALR finally gets released, it may be a game changer for the 308. Decent BC, good weight and LOW velocity for expansion requirements all equal a perfect storm for the lower velocity cartridges such as the 308. If it has a BC close to the 190 VLD, the 308s effective deer range will increase a good amount. I don't have any trouble getting to 2650 with 190s in 26" barrels. At 5000' in 60 degree air, it'll offer 1000 foot pounds at 1k yards.

 

[DropDead]

I'm only at 1140 alt or less. And was using litz on shooter app. Data looked good out to 690 as tested so far. I ran out of testing time due to deer season coming, I don't think I'm going to get them much faster than that comfortably in winter hunting conditions. I have a 30" barrel which should help, but I had light ejector marks just abit hotter load so I backed back down. I surely appreciate your insight and will definaty do more expierimenting with loads after deer season. I'd like to see what the 190 bergers can do but not sure I'll get the fps to have any advantage.
Thanks again.

 

[Michael Eichele]

What powder are you using?