.308 hunting load?

[odsixer]

I just bought a savage .308 10fp le2 with a choate stock 26" barrel and I'm wondering about a load for practice as well as hunting. I'm thinking of using a 165gr barnes tsx for hunting (whitetail deer and possibly moose). What is a good bullet to practice with which is not as costly as barnes, and will two different but equal weights offer the same POI?

thanks

[pjn003]

Isn't a .308 cartridge that can take down moose little big for whitetail? I think you should look into different hunting loads for whitetail vs moose.

[odsixer]

OK forget the moose, does anyone who hunts with a 308 use cheaper bullets for shooting paper, then go to a more premium round for hunting?
Thanks

[rwilson452]

I think highly of the Sierra 150 gr Spitzer boat tail bullets. There is also a Hornaday that is about the same thing. If you change bullets even in the same weight it can and usually does give you a different POI. Then again my loads give me 1 MOA groups. If your loads are not that accurate you might not notice any difference. but yes if you go to a bullet with a different weight you will get a different POI

[cdrt]

You might check out Remington's Core-lokt bullet. I switched to them in my .243 for whitetail since I was getting a lot of bullet failures with anything that had a boattail. Even though they're a flat base bullet, most of the deer I took were well within 100 yards and they were all one shot kills. And I've used their 7mm bullet in my .280 Remington to shoot the wild hogs here in Texas.

[HankL]

I have found that in 30 caliber, Nosler 165 grain Partitions and Ballistic Tips shoot close enough together using the same powder charge that sight changes are not needed at reasonable hunting ranges.

[Jim Watson]

I don't think you need a dollar a pop premium bullet for deer. Plain softpoints have been killing them cleanly for a hundred years or more. I dunno about moose, but I bet there have been plenty shot with .303 and ordinary bullets.

[odsixer]

Thanks for the info guy's, and yeah I've heard they like even 6.5mm for moose over in sweden, shot placement IS key.

[Wild Bill Bucks]

My favorite rifle is my .308 Ruger 77. I shoot 110 grains for varmints, 150 grain for whitetails, and 180 grain for Sasquatch. I load premium loads for hunting, and the cheapest thing I can find for the range. I wouldn't feel bad about taking anything I load hunting though. Shot placement is not just important, it is the only important thing about the shot you take. Without good shot placement, it really doesn't matter what you paid for the shells.

[Dave R]

For cheap plinking bullets, I use milsurp 147gr. FMJ from www.hi-techammo.com. They're out of stock right now.

Then I use either a Sierra or Speer 150gr. bullet for hunting. There's about a 2" difference in POI at 200 yards, in my rifle.

[Paul B.]

OK, point one; you don't need a premium bullet to shoot a Whitetail deer. The ain't wearing body armor. I've never shot any Whiteails as they never were any in my neck of the woods, but when I can drop a Mule Deer at 427 paces, witnesed with a .308 and a 150 gr. Sierra Pro-hunter that dressed out at 195 pounds in the quarters, why would I want a premium bullet? In fact, my go to bullet these days for Mule Deer is the 165 gr. Speer Hot-core. Doesn't quite mess up as much eating meat. If I were to hunt moose with my .308, then I'd probably use a decent 180 gr. spitzer bullet and never look back, probably another Speer Hot-core. The one and only time I ever used a premium bullet on deer, it was almost a disaster on the heaviest Mule Deer I have ever taken. (295 pounds in the quarters) This however was with a 30-06and 180 gr. Nosler Partitions.
My point is this, any cartridge that 2800 FPS or less at the muzzle doesn't need an overpriced premium bullet unless the animal being hunted might fight back, like one of the great bears. Even then, depending on what cartridge I'm shooting, I might not use a premium bullet. Just way too much hype from some of the "egg-spurts" in the gun rags. Just get some RL-15, H or IMR-4895,or IMR-4064, load up s good load with the 165 gr. Speer Hot-core and go hunting. Every deer I've shot with that bullet has be a bang/flop/DRT. The only bullet I've ever recovers was from a Mule deer facing me at 250 yards laser measured. The Speer bullet hit him in the chest facing me and darn near came out his rear end. I can't see needing any more penertration that that.
Paul B.