Factory .308 Rounds....

[Sled]

So I'm trying to get a few boxes of .308 for my 110 Tactical. I have a box of Federal Gold Medal 175gr Sierra HPBT, and figure on picking up a couple of boxes in the 168gr up into the 180 gr. loads to see what the rifle likes to shoot, once the weather warms up. The problem I had today at Cabela's, is that they had a lot of different bullet weights on the shelf, but none in the same configuration. Some were solid paper punchers, some hollow points, some with tips. For 100 yard grouping, do you think this even matters? I realize that reaching way out there it most likely would, but right now I am just trying to get it sighted in and see what groups the best.

[SageRat Shooter]

Sled,

Which type of bullet do you want to shoot for hunting? That's what I would start with first. If you can get it sighted in and has acceptable groups at that range, then you know you have something to hunt with at least. For the long range work, you may want to play around a little with different VLD type bullets. Ultimately, for precision work and hunting, you'll probably want to start handloading. There's no substitute for loading your own rounds to exactly what your rifle likes.

Just my .02,

[celltech]

If you don't want to mess with handloading it can be hard to beat 168gr Federal Gold Medal Match for a "cheap" and easy to find round. Black Hills is also excellent but 50% more expensive. For plinking and blasting through my AR10 I like the Magtech HPBT Sniper 168...even with the stupid name.

For tipped rounds my guns have tended to like 168gr A-Max rounds like the Hornady Black series...

[darkker]

For 100 yard work, there isn't a reason(short of easy availability) to use boattails.

[CFJunkie]

The 168 and 175 grain Federal Premium Gold Match with the Sierra Match King bullets shoot great in all of my .308s.
The 168 and 175 Sierra Tipped Match Kings with higher BCs shoot even better, but I've never seen TMK bullets in factory ammo.

Almost any factory ammos with 168 or 175 HPBT match bullets will shoot well - Nosler, Black Hills, etc. - since all of the match HPBTs with 168 and 175 grains have about the same specs.
Berger bullets are a bit different so if you find any factory ammos with Berger bullets, try a box before you buy a lot of them. Some of my .308 rifles like them and some don't.

Don't assume that if your rifle shoots Federal Gold Premium 175 HPBTs (Sierra Match Kings) that it will also shoot 180 grain SMKs as well.
The 180 SMK has a lot less bullet body touching the rifling (an older bullet design) and in my .308s that shoot 175 and 190 SMKs great, the 180 SMKs shoot terrible.
I have concluded that the bullet body length is the difference because the 175 and 190 grain SMKs are almost identical in bullet body length and have more bullet touching the rifling than the 180s.


I had had some good results with Hornady factory ammo as well.
Hornady has some pretty great hunting bullets in the ELD-X series and the new Sierra Tipped Game Kings (Game Changers) are also very accurate but they are brand new and probably haven't appeared in factory ammo yet. Both have high BCs.

Finding factory ammo with hunting bullets takes a bit more testing.
Just a bit of caution. There are a lot of different bullet types available in hunting factory ammo - not all of them shoot the same, even in identical weights.
You have to pay attention to the amount of bullet body in the rifling with them too before you can make any comparisons among bullets of the same weight.

[Sled]

I would most likely use one of the Federal Fusion rounds for hunting. Right now I'm just trying to get different weight bullets together to see which the barrel prefers. I figure for the distances hunted around here, usually 300 and in, any would do for hunting...

[Sled]

The 168 and 175 grain Federal Premium Gold Match with the Sierra Match King bullets shoot great in all of my .308s.
The 168 and 175 Sierra Tipped Match Kings with higher BCs shoot even better, but I've never seen TMK bullets in factory ammo.

Almost any factory ammos with 168 or 175 HPBT match bullets will shoot well - Nosler, Black Hills, etc. - since all of the match HPBTs with 168 and 175 grains have about the same specs.
Berger bullets are a bit different so if you find any factory ammos with Berger bullets, try a box before you buy a lot of them. Some of my .308 rifles like them and some don't.

Don't assume that if your rifle shoots Federal Gold Premium 175 HPBTs (Sierra Match Kings) that it will also shoot 180 grain SMKs as well.
The 180 SMK has a lot less bullet body touching the rifling (an older bullet design) and in my .308s that shoot 175 and 190 SMKs great, the 180 SMKs shoot terrible.
I have concluded that the bullet body length is the difference because the 175 and 190 grain SMKs are almost identical in bullet body length and have more bullet touching the rifling than the 180s.


I had had some good results with Hornady factory ammo as well.

Hornady has some pretty great hunting bullets in the ELD-X series and the new Sierra Tipped Game Kings (Game Changers) are also very accurate but they are brand new and probably haven't appeared in factory ammo yet. Both have high BCs.

Finding factory ammo with hunting bullets takes a bit more testing.
Just a bit of caution. There are a lot of different bullet types available in hunting factory ammo - not all of them shoot the same, even in identical weights.
You have to pay attention to the amount of bullet body in the rifling with them too before you can make any comparisons among bullets of the same weight.
They had Federal Gold with both the Sierra and the Berger. I picked up the Sierra. May go back and get the Berger to compare...