.308 reloading material

[fishinjosh98]

I am looking to start reloading my deer rifle which is a .308. I primarily hunt deer with it at about 10 yards to 300 yards. Does anyone have any brand recommendations for bullets?

[mwal]

At what distance have you shot the majority of your deer? Do not load for the extreme range what if scenario. Knowing what range will help with bullet advice. 10 to 300 is to vague

Mwal

[fishinjosh98]

probably nothing more than 150 yards

[mwal]

The reason I asked about yardage of actual kills where you hunt is that many people become infatuated with bullets designed for long range accuracy and expansion. Say something boat tail in nature ballistic tipped works great at 250 300 yards very accurate bullet expands as advertized dead animal minimal meat damage wonderful. The reality of MN and WI is most shots are under 100 yards usually if you got a tape out 50 yards would be more realistic. At least where I have hunted in Northern MN and NW WI. Take that same load that works so well at 250 yards and hit a deer at 35 to 50 yards and you may get variable results. The bullet will probably not hold together at the very least it will cause massive tissue damage if it hits rib or shoulder you may or may not get full penetration. Two holes are always better than one in a game animal. I learned the hard way in 38 years of deer hunting. I started using 30/06 with core lokt and never lost a deer or had one really run more than a couple yards. Then I got into guns a thought I needed more power so 7mm mag and hand loads could punch paper way out there with ballistic tips and boat tails at high velocities. Still shooting my deer at 35 to 50 yards with result from bullet making fist sized hole 4 inches deep to turning a whole qtr to jello. Started liver shooting on purpose to quit wrecking meat and it still wrecked meat. So I went the other way and tried partition bullets they penciled right through at close range without proper expansion. Then settled on just run of the mill soft nose bullet expanded but not explosively and full penetration. Well as you age you get sick of getting beat up by recoil so I switched to 7mm-08 with plain old core lokt reloads and 30/30 with core lokt . Both rifles kill quickly without to much damage. The 7mm-08 is accurate to 300 with my hand loads although I still have not shot at a deer that far with it. The .308 is a very accurate big game round I bet at the ranges you mentioned any soft point design that gives you accuracy will perform nicely. I tried several brands and my 7mm-08 likes the Remington core lokt bullet. every gun is different so experiment some with brands and weights. Plus the .308 is still a fun gun to shoot. Save the Premium pointy bullets for out west where you will actually use them for what they are designed for controlled expansion at long range. In the end use what is accurate as this is what worked for me and may not be what works for you.

Mwal

[Gordie]

Look at a spear boat tail in 150 or 165 grain and you will not be disappointed in the outcome.