Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum 308 Shooters

Federal Fusion is a good round.

Solid copper is a "different animal " in the bullet world. Knowing the properties and classes of copper due to being a tool & die maker, when I saw my first copper bullet I thought makes perfect sense , why didn't I think of that.

As far as accuracy my Sako shoots them MOA , and my son's Tikka even better. Both plenty good enough for hunting in timber.

He actually posted “go to MidwayUSA and read the reviews.”

If you handload, 165 grain Sierra GameKings work well on deer as well as African Plainsgame like Gemsbok, Springbok and Baboons

Been lookin for a good baboon round

Guess I am the only one here who uses them, but I've been using 150g NBTs in my . 308 for about 25 years now. My hand loads average 2920 fps out of a model 700 with a 22" barrel. I've never lost a deer with it, and better than that, I've never had to chase one. Most of them drop on the spot, and I've never had one go over 50 yds.

I don't like the NBT in a dinky caliber, but with a 30 caliber bullet at 308 velocity I think they are hard to beat.

Good info guys - thanks

Thanks PCP

Here's a couple of pictures of what a 30 caliber NBT at 308 speed does to a deer. Both of these were about 180 yards and DRT. The first one was crossing a cutover and I wasn't sure whether I had hit him or not. He dropped so quickly that I lost sight of him and never saw him kick. I found out why when I found him with a massive hole in him. This is the entrance; the exit is about half this size:




This one was across a field and I hit him a little higher than I intended. You can see both the entrance and exit.





The only one I can remember that had no exit was shot straight on. It turned his insides into jelly and he did manage to run about 40 yards before dropping dead. So my thinking has been that I can shoot one with a hard bullet and drill a small hole through him and then have the fun of tracking him, or shoot him with one of these and go load him up.

I've had some bad experiences tracking deer shot by other hunters with a 243 and NBT and would not use one in a caliber smaller than . 30. I've also been told about a friend who lost a deer that he shot with a NBT in a 300 magnum. I don't doubt his experience; they weren't designed for that sort of speed. Good luck choosing the right bullet for you. If you have a tracking dog and want to get him some work, this is the wrong bullet.

120 grain Nosler BT in a 7-08 is deer killing magic.

Goatkiller are you saying a light for caliber mono bullet like a Barnes is a crappy bullet? The 139g Barnes LRX in 7mm has a .470BC and can be pushed at 3200+ in the 7mag. I’ve shot a pile of deer with Barnes bullets in 25-06, 6.5-284 and 7mag. I’ve only “caught” one bullet. It was a 150g 7mm. Deer was hard quartering to me at 200 yards. It broke the on-side shoulder and the offside hip and we found the bullet just under the skin. Light for caliber Barnes bullets are not magic but they damn sure work really well!

I load BTs for my sons 7-08. BTs work well under 3000fps. I’m a speed junkie so I don’t trust them for MY intended use. I like to hunt cutovers so I want something at 3200fps or higher to increase maximum point blank range.

What’s your normal shot distance in the cutovers?

My tikka loves 150 gr hornady American whitetail. Shoots the 150gr federal blue box good to. Killed 2 bucks over 200lb that each didn't go 30 yards,both with great bloodtrails

An ideal setup would be 500 yards maximum shot distance with most opportunities between 200-350 yards. My 7mag has a maximum pbr of a shade over 300 yards and 12” drop at 400. I can dial for distance on several of my rifles but the 7mag is set up strictly for hunting.

They are clear cutting one of my leases now. It would be entirely feasible to have a 1k yard shot opportunity. I love long range but I limit myself to about 400-450. Too much can go wrong at those distances.

My 308 with 165 grain Accubonds out of a 20” barrel gets me to roughly 400 yards without dialing. It ain’t no speed demon, either.

Thanks guys - good info - nice pics PCP - impressive damage

Hey PCP - hav you ever used factory loads w the 150 nbt’s r u always do your own reloading? The factory boxes I see get 2820 and your gets 2920. I would think performance would b similar

My short 308 likes 150gr and my long 308 likes 165gr

I used factory loads for 20 years or so before I got into rifle loading. I got my first 308 in 1970 and used whatever ammo the store had. I started using Federal premium sometime in the late 70s or maybe the 80s. It was loaded with a 165g Sierra bullet and it worked very well. I remember 3 deer that I hit and failed to recover, but all 3 were no doubt poor hits.

I didn't pay much attention to MV until I started loading my own, and I bought a Chrony and started checking everything. What I found was that most factory ammo back then would not reach advertised velocity out of my guns. They must have been using longer barrels and tighter chambers to get those numbers. Of course, it didn't make any real difference in killing a deer.

I found that it isn't very hard to get factory 30-06 velocity in a 308 using 150g bullets in hand loads. I use W748, which was a popular 308 powder back then, but I don't see many using it today. There are probably better choices, but I just stick with my old loads. I have one source that says I am . 5 grains below the max load, but another one says I am 1.5g over. When I worked up the load, I actually got tighter groups with the higher velocity load, and that is sort of unusual.

So I am getting 30-06 velocity in a 308, but it isn't hard to do and it doesn't really make any difference. I think the 308 is one of the best deer loads for hunting in AL. I don't have anywhere I can see 500 yards, and couldn't reliably kill a deer that far if I could. Good luck in choosing what you want!