.308 bullet for whitetail

[Who Dey William]

Most commercial 150 grain .308 loads will put down a whitetail, but I am wondering what the best round for me would be. I'll be hunting with a Remington 700 and shooting from 150 yards and under. The $45/ box Barnes, for example, don't seem to be worth it for my purposes. I've been looking at Hornady's American Whitetail interlocks and I've heard good things, but my pops swears by Remington's Core Lokt offering. Any experience with these (and possibly other) more wallet-friendly deer rounds? God bless.

[reynolds357]

Best? Wallet friendly? The two terms are usually mutually exclusive.
You pretty much cant go wrong with any .308 bullet for whitetail. My favorite is the Federal Fusion.

[jmr40]

Premium bullets have their place. If the cartridge you are using is considered borderline too small for the game hunted or in some cases for work at extreme ranges a better bullet can make a difference.

But whitetail at under 200 yards ain't hard to kill and a 308 with any bullet is more than enough. I bought a box of the Hornady ammo just to shoot some at the range and it was very accurate in my rifle and the price is right. Nothing wrong with the Remington ammo either. Basically anything in 308 that shoots well in your rifle will suffice.

That said, I usually use a more expensive bullet. But I hand load and can load up the expensive bullets for less than I can buy cheap factory loads. For what you want to do they wouldn't make a bit of difference. But there is something to be said for using the same load for everything. A better bullet wouldn't help most of the time. But I don't always hunt whitetails, and I'm not always limited to 200 yard shots.

[kenny53]

With 308 I would pick any expending ammo that shoots well in the rifle. It will put meat in the freezer.

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

Remington core lokt have been putting brown on the ground long before any of today specialty bullet and ammo makers.

Don't see a problem using those core lokt at the distance your shooting. 150 gr. SP is a dandy 308 cartridge for the taking of any deer out to 150 yards. The only difference between a Remington 150 Gr. Core Lokt and a Hornady Interlock . "Their price."

[oldscot3]

Your title said "bullet" so if you ever load your own, I would recommend Sierra 150 gr. Pro Hunters. They work well with RL 15 and several other "medium" powders.

[Stats Shooter]

You can put down a white tail deer with any hunting type bullet, at just about any weight at 200 yards.

If you just want to put meat in the freezer, go 150 gr because it will have a good maximum point blank range, and with a proper shot will drop a deer no problem.

The Remington core lokt though is the most hard hitting non-premium bullet I have ever used....closely followed by Speer hot cores.
To improve on them you need something like the partition or Barnes bullets. Then the Woodleigh's etc. etc.

[PatientWolf]

I'd expect at that range you'd be hard pressed to find a .308 caliber bullet that wouldn't take a deer if you choose one that shoots accurately from your gun and you do your part.

[shootbrownelk]

I'd say the Federal fusion offering over the Remington Core lokt. For whitetails the Remington bullets may work OK, but I've seen numerous failures on elk with them. The Federal fusions would be my choice.

[Jack O'Conner]

I'm a huge fan of 180 grain round nose core-lokt ammo. It delivers rapid expansion upon impact just like the faster 150's but with the weight and related momentum of the 180.

Jack

[zipspyder]

I have to agree with Jack on this one. I'd rather shoot with a round nose bullet if you want a better chance of good expansion and clean quick kills. Core-lokt just do the job perfectly for that. Either way any good 150 gr. hunting bullet will do the job perfectly fine as well. Just as important is make sure it shoots well and accurately out of whatever rifle you use.

[Who Dey William]

I appreciate the input!

[VoodooMountain]

Anything with a regular cup and core bullet that shoots 2moa or better from your rifle will meet your criteria.

Pro hunter, game king, sst, interlock, speer btsp, hot core, cor lokt, or Winchester powerpoint all come to mind.

[taylorce1]

This is where I'd start for ammunition any Winchester, Remington, Hornady, or Federal for around $20 or less a box.

[GeauxTide]

Whatever 150gr persuasion that shoots the best in your rifle. In my VTR, reloads with 150 Corelokts shoot into a 1/2"

[T. O'Heir]

Try 165's instead of 150's. A 165 SP out of a .308 will kill any game you care to hunt in North America.
What brand doesn't matter much, but you have to try as many brands as you can to find the ammo your rifle shoots best. The price of said ammo means nothing.
Hornady's American Whitetail 165's runs $22.99 per 20 at Cabela's. Good place to start. And you do not need 1 MOA for deer. Two or 3 inches consistently at 100 is good enough. You do need to practice with that ammo though. Think off hand at 100 yards at a 9" pie plate. When you can hit it every time, you're ready.

[Kachok]

Find what your rifle shoots the best, but given acceptable accuracy the 150gr core-lokt is a good choice at normal ranges, other spectacular performers are the Ballistic Tip, Hornady SST (the red tips) and Sierra Game Kings (Federal Premium loads them) those last three will also give you longer range then the core-lokt should you ever need it. Most 150gr bullets are designed for rapid expansion so most any of them will perform on deer, but once you get to 180gr you have to really read up because many of those 180gr bullets are designed for much thicker bodied game and might not get adequate energy transfer on a cross body shot on a whitetail.

[Wyosmith]

Honestly, the Winchester 150 gr power point is probably as good as any load in the 308.
The idea that one bullet may (that MAY not necessarily will)retain more weight better than another is totally irrelevant if both bullets expand and exit.

Remember, it's not actually a bullet that kills a deer, but the bullet HOLE that kills the deer.

If the hole is large in diameter and it goes clear through and exits, nothing else can be done by that bullet (or any other bullet) and no other bullet can do any better.

Bullets that don't exit can be improved on, sometimes by a LOT, but Remington Core Lokt and WW power points nearly always go on through and both expand well.

On deer I have had about 50% of the Sierra bullets I have used over the last 50 years have blown up, and so far I have not seen even one Burger that didn't blow up on ANY animal ANY time at ANY distance, ----but other then those, it's hard to find a 150 grain 308 load that would not be excellent for any deer any where

[Sgt Pepper]

Any SP bullet from Winchester or Remington will do the job every time and they are relatively cheap.

[shootbrownelk]

There is a reason that they're relatively cheap. As usual, you get what you pay for. I reload, with premium bullets.

[Kachok]

Originally Posted by Wyosmith

On deer I have had about 50% of the Sierra bullets I have used over the last 50 years have blown up, and so far I have not seen even one Burger that didn't blow up on ANY animal ANY time at ANY distance, ----but other then those, it's hard to find a 150 grain 308 load that would not be excellent for any deer any where

I have used Sierra bullets for many years in several different calibers and have yet to have one "blow up" Sure they do fragment much of their weight going through the animal but I have had an exit wound 100% of the time even on hogs. If you have a 50% failure rate I would think you are doing something VERY wrong because they have held up to even close range shots with the 270 WSM at 3,000 fps impact speeds.
One thing to keep in mind with VLDs, SGKs or any bullet designed for controlled fragmentation is pick your shots, I have had a 100% success rate with them because in every case (with one exception) I waited for a clean broadside, the other thing to keep in mind is ideally you should use one size heavier bullet then is normally used on game that size to compensate for the bullet weight lost to fragmentation.

[Wyosmith]

Many shooters buy "premium" bullets to get the best performance, but its not always necessary.
I do the same many times, ( my favorite and most trusted "go to" is the Nosler Partitions in any caliber I can get them in. Sadly I have some rifles that use bullets Nosler doesn't make) But I am interested in the hole being through and through, and the wound being of good diameter. Other than those 2 things, there is nothing else to worry about. A bullet that retains 99% of it's weight doesn't kill anything better than one the retains 50% of it's weight if both make the same diameter hole and both exit.
I have a tendency to go toward Nosler Partitions the larger my quarry is, or the smaller my cartridge is. I LOVE premium bullets if I use my 25-06 for game over 200 pounds, but if I am hunting elk, a 30-06 or a 308 or 300 mag with a 180 grain to 220 grain bullet is usually going to be just fine, and with my 375H&H any bullet made to go in that cartridge is good on elk. Even the ones that come apart some sill kill elk like lightning.

I bought 15,000 150 grain Winchester Power Point bullets some time ago (1985) for use in my M-14, M1 Garand, FAL, and 1903 Springfield rifles because they were as accurate as I could hold them, and they were cheap back then.
Well in the last 3 years I started using the few I have left in my scoped 30-06 Mauser, and my scoped Mossberg 308.
I have now killed 4 deer, loaned the Mossberg to 2 hunters who have killed 3 more deer with it, 6 antelope and also 2 elk. As a rule I like 180 or heavier 30 cal bullets on elk, but the circumstances worked out that the Mossberg was available in a moment of need, and that was what it was loaded with and zeroed for. So 150 grain WW Power Points were what was used for those elk.

These bullets passed clear through every deer and every antelope including a few shots that were not broadside, and broke bones in several. I have no idea what the retained weight is because I was not able to recover any of them. (Exactly what I want in a big game bullet)
On the elk, both were shot 2 times each. Both had one exit and one bullet stayed in each animal. One weights 131 grains and one weight 129 grains after they were recovered. That's as good as I have seen from 150 gr 30 cal Nosler Partitions over the last 50 years of hunting and guiding.

These days they cost about what most other standard 150 grain 30 cal bullets cost, but in 1985 when I got them they were about 70% of the cost of most of their competition. So they were a "cheap bullet" but they sure don't act like it.

I have killed antelope, deer, elk, bear, and moose with Nosler Partitions, Speer Grand Slams, Barnes X, and various other bullets. I have to say these Winchesters 150s do as well as any 30 caliber bullet I have used of 150grains, regardless of brand. That is not to take anything away from the premium bullets I have used and seen used, but these Power Points are just a "plain vanilla" bullet, but they seem to think they are an ultra-premium bullet.

In my Mossberg with my best load, I can keep 5 of them touching at 100 yards and at 200 yards I have shot 2 groups that were 1.18 " and 1.2" so they lack nothing for accuracy. You get what you pay for most times, but I got a lot more then I paid for.

And that accuracy from a rifle that has only a Weaver K4. They could be even more accurate, but with a 308 with a 4X there is no way for me to know that for sure.
But I also don't care it they could be more accurate.
Just over 1" at 200 yards is plenty good enough for me.

[Don Fischer]

Overwhelming vote for 150 gr bullet's. They didn't work for me because I could never get them to shoot with 165 and 180 gr bullet's. Having never shoot any animal with a 150gr bullet, I still think there is something to consider about them. That would be how much damage to the deer will they do? Light bullet's at higher velocity usually have a bad habit of creating to much damage. The idea IMO, is to kill the animal quickly and preserve as much meat as possible. That pretty much rule's out any shot with any bullet that will go through meat. The lighter and faster the bullet, the more damage I've seen. If the only consideration was killing the deer, 150's will certainly get the job done. If you try you'll find that the lightest 30 cal bullet you can get will take out a deer quickly if you place it right. The only jacketed bullet's I've ever hunted with in 30 cal have been 165 and 180 gr bullet's. I have seen the difference in light vrs heavy bullet's in my 25-06, it taught me not to use 100 gr bullet's and that seem to be people's favorite. I shot a porcupine once with a 100gr 25 cal bullet, pretty ugly but it was dead and got dead really fast.

[Worc]

A 150 gr expanding bullet out of a .308 win is just about perfect for whitetails. I prefer 150 gr SST's from a factory Hornady and they have worked great on the pile of deer I've shot. Zero tracking and clean exit holes. They tend to shoot very tight groups out of my gun and have good trajectory for longer shots if required. I used this same bullet in the Superformance on a Pronghorn last year with the same results.

Whitetails are thin skinned animals and don't require a super tough bullet with a ton of weight and super high energy to be killed effectively.

[Rangerrich99]

Used Core-Lokts in either 150 gr. or 165 gr. for nearly twenty years on whitetail from 37 yards out to 240 yards. Always performed well, usually through and through. In all but one rifle they shot right around 1 MOA; that one rifle (Savage M10, 150 gr.) shot about 3-inch groups at 200, which at the time I thought was pretty good, just not as good as my other rifles.

Now I reload, so I'm using Nosler Accubonds, but if I had to buy a box of bullets tomorrow to go hunting, I'd have no problem picking up a box of Core-Lokts.

Pretty much any huntingcartridge you pick will probably do the job well at the distance and on the game you're asking about.

Core-lokts are a decent low-cost option.