re: 308 Bullets

Barnes ttsx

Black butterfly or maker bullets. they are nasty!

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I shoot Norma 150g with the elk on the

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These are the ones I have for him. I’ve shot almost every round mentioned and these group the best by far.

All four deer were vital shots, lung/heart. Smallest was a 90ish # deer at 75 yards. Biggest was 190#s at 55-60. Not a single pass through, very little blood. Recovered all the bullets and they mushroomed nicely. Im sure there was bone hit, would’ve been ribs not scapula. Just looking for something to produce more info to track with. All the deer were inside of 50 yards. We just hunt in a swampy palmetto jungle.

PL,
I've never shot a Norma bullet so I don't have any experience w/ your bullet. Having said that, given your scenario, I'd expect a 150-165 gr 30 cal bullet shot from a 308 to provide a decent entrance/exit hole and blood trail. I won't use a bullet that can't do that. I hunt w/ long barreled handguns chambered in rifle rounds. I've used just about everything from 6X50 R to 375 JDJ. The last time I didn't have a "pass through" was prolly 20 years ago. That was using a 225 gr bullet in a 375 JDJ at an odd angle. As far as specific bullets, one of my hunting buddies has killed >50 deer w/ 150 gr Sierra GameKing and never been disappointed. When my son was young, I loaded 125 gr Nosler BT's for him at reduced velocity. All exited. When I moved him to full power loads, I loaded Sierra 150 gr Pro-Hunter w/ good results. Any proven 308 Win 150 gr cup and core bullet bullet should meet your needs. There's been >60 years of bullet development for the 308 Win. Other bullets will usually work fine, but aren't really needed. If looking at a non cup and core bullet, I'd start w/ 130 gr TTSX (it should penetrate like a 150 copper/lead bullet) and 150 gr Nosler AccuBond, Nosler Partition, Sierra PH/GK, Hornady and Speer. If you want factory loads, the Core-Lokt is hard to beat. The Fusion got a lot of votes here, but the only experience I've had w/ a Fusion bullet is 140 gr in a 284 Win handgun. Deer died quickly, but I thought the bullets didn't expand as much as it should have. I need to shoot it some more. Keep us updated.

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I shoot 130gr Barnes TTSX and have for the last 3-4 years. Absolutely love them for deer and pigs. If they run I’ve never had an issue with a blood trail on deer and all but one runner fell within 35 yards. Pigs I’ve only shot in the head so of course they were DRT.

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This right here. Love it. Use it for my kids youth rifle.

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All four deer were vital shots, lung/heart

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That’s surprising. This was a 200 yd shot on a South TX buck last season.

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That’s surprising. This was a 200 yd shot on a South TX buck last season.

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Under 100 yard shots are tougher on a bullet than you’d think.

I think we’re all mixing up a few things. If the bullet is coming apart and not exiting, the velocity is too much for the bullet and you need a tougher bullet or to send your current bullet slower.

If the bullet is remaining round like an accubond or a perfect flower like a mono metal, it needs to go faster to get through.

If you are shooting Norma 150 soft points, it’s probably coming apart, the same thing happens with 150 core lokts often on closer shots.

You should try a much heavier soft point like a 180 core lokt or one of the 165 tougher options like a accubond, fusion, or oryx and see how that works.

The problem with these threads is nobody knows the velocity of the bullet. The optimal bullet at 2700 fps and 2100 fps not the same one.

Mosley Accubond 165 gr