.308 bullet selection, 155, 175 or ??

[Redcrow]

Savage 12 F/TR rifle with a 30" barrel, 10 twist

I’m looking for input on bullet weight for the .308. After reading a lot of input on the forum, it seems the .308 bullet of choice is a 155grain in Lapua, Sierra, Berger, JLK, etc followed by the 175 grain. I’m new to long range shooting and have been looking over which bullets I may try. I plan on shooting F Class at whatever distances are available in the Houston area.

Is anyone using the 168 grain as a tweener between these two? If not, how come? I haven't seen too much on the 168.

How does the 155 hold up in a 10-15 plus winds as compared to the 175?

It seems the 175 is able to still maintain super sonic at 1000 yards, so is the only benefit over the 155 its ability to buck the wind a little better?

Savage 12 F/TR rifle with a 30" barrel.

Thanks for the help.

 

[280man]

The 155 scenar has A very high BC I think it will hard to beat with the added velocity you can get with the lighter weight just my opinion

 

[M700]

That 168 Sierra is a pretty good bullet with a long history. It's accurate from a wide variety of rifles and I've used a mess of 'em out to 600 yards.

Some shooters have found they work well at longer ranges, but others have found that they don't do well when they slow to subsonic speeds, sometimes going through the 1000 yard target sideways.

Palma shooters are restricted by rules to bullets of 155 grains or lighter, hence the popularity of the 155's, and they do indeed tend to shoot real well. I've had great results from 155 Sierras, Noslers, Hornady A-max bullets and Berger VLD's. From a 30" barrel, it's no great trick to boot 'em out at 2975 fps or more. That's all that's required to keep them comfortably supersonic at 1000 yards. Mostly I use 155 Noslers.

The 175 is a real workhorse in the .308, working well at shorter ranges, but it really shines at longer ranges, like out to 1000 yards. Great all-around bullet for the .308 Win cartridge.

Even the 190 is a good bullet for the .308 cartridge.

Hope this helps! Regards, Guy

 

[mysticplayer]

All the bullets you mention are very good IF the barrel and load work together. There really is no way to know what will shoot well until you start burning powder.

I shoot ALOT of savage/Stevens rifles and have not had a problem with Hornady Amax. Maybe a place to start so you can get a baseline for the performance this rifle will give you.

With 155gr Amax over Varget lit by either the CCI BR2 or Fed 210M in fireformed neck sized brass, I see no issue getting 1/2 MOA or better out to 200yds after proper bedding is done to the Savage.

I have a few Savage rifles that hover around the 3/8 MOA mark.

If you like, the 168gr and 178gr Amax are also superb bullets. The 168gr Amax has never given me any problems at extreme distances.

One thing to remember is how much recoil you want to deal with?

Some are shooting 210gr VLD bullets. Personally, that is way more fun then my shoulder wants to have over a 20shot relay.

The 155gr Lapua is a superb bullet but a bit different sizing then most domestic bullets so a bit of a crap shoot if your barrel will like it. If they do, I would lean towards this bullets as the BC is the highest in class and the LR accuracy is simply outstanding. I have seen this bullet shoot 1/2 MOA at 1000m with a good driver.

Jerry

 

[CharlieBrown]

Hi. I have done lots of long range work upto and beyond 1000yds useing Sierras 155 hpmatch kings driven by 46 grains of varget out of a 28 barrel this load over a crono was clocked at 2900 fps try it it realy will work.:thumb:

 

[chicotwo]

Try the berger 175gr vld and rl-15 powder and lapua brass and cci benchrest primers.This is the bomb in my sako trg-22.Berger has never failed me in f-class

 

[ROSSCOE67]

On 4/19/08 at the Iowa 1000 yard benchrest I used Hornady 168 grain AMAXs, 45.0 gr of Varget, Hornady .308 Match brass and a box stock Remington VSSF with over 2500 rounds through it's barrel. I was able to shoot scores of 46/50 and 40/50 in the varmint matches, and set a personal best of a 9.922" group. I was beat by ALF,shooting a 25-06) but that is typical since he is a VERY good shooter.

With .308 168s, you need a muzzle velocity of 2800 FPS to keep the bullets supersonic at 1000 yards. With the load listed above I get an average velocity of 2805, no pressure signs and the bullets are still over 1200 FPS at 1000 yards. Both groups were pretty well centered with 12-15 mph winds.

Go with what your rifle likes.

Tracy

 

[deecee]

I'm not sure if the 155's are suitable in a 1/10 twist barrel. I was always of the opinion that a 1/12 or 1/13 twist is optimal for 155's. I could be wrong, maybe someone can shed some light on it. At worst, give them a go and see what happens in your rifle.

deecee

 

[FroggyOne2]

Palma shooters are restricted by rules to bullets of 155 grains or lighter, hence the popularity of the 155's, and they do indeed tend to shoot real well. I've had great results from 155 Sierras, Noslers, Hornady A-max bullets and Berger VLD's. From a 30" barrel, it's no great trick to boot 'em out at 2975 fps or more. That's all that's required to keep them comfortably supersonic at 1000 yards. Mostly I use 155 Noslers.

Palma shooters are only restricted to 156gr bullet or lighter under international rules. In the US.. any bullet weight it allowed.

Frog

 

[M700]

Yup. Good point. I didn't want to get into all the Palma rules - just wanted to point out that the 155's were designed to comply with a set of rules, rather than to be the ultimate long-range .30 cal bullet. They do shoot well though.

 

[Travelor]

There is a saying that, "Friends don't let friends shoot 168 gr SMK's at 1000 yards." The ballistic coefficient is such that unles you drive them really hard, the go sub sonic around 850 yards.

Your Savage F T/R will tell you what it likes, but it is hard to beat the 175 grain SMK for a great all around bullet out past 1000 yards in a 308. It does not take a very stout load of Varget or RL 15 to get good accuracy out past 1000 yards.

No wonder why the military has gone to that bullet for their M117 LR sniper rounds.

 

[FroggyOne2]

True! True!

 

[Asa_Yam]

...but it is hard to beat the 175 grain SMK for a great all around bullet out past 1000 yards in a 308. It does not take a very stout load of Varget or RL 15 to get good accuracy out past 1000 yards.

No wonder why the military has gone to that bullet for their M117 LR sniper rounds.

Not quite correct.

The Sierra 175 was originally developed,starting ~1994) as a higher quality replacement to the projectile originally loaded in M118 Special Ball ammunition. The Sierra retains about the same BC as the older design, but improved construction,more uniform weight, balance, and shape) results in more uniform ballistics at longer range. As in smaller groups downrange.

US 7.62 NATO ammunition loaded with the Sierra 175 is designated M118LR.

 

[BolloX]

Hi,

After plenty testing in my Blaser R93 matchrifle,1/11 twist) at 500 meters I settled for the Sierra 190 MK and Lapua 185 Scenar. Also the berger 185 VLD does very well but is hard to get in Europe these days.

The Sierra 168 does well at 500 meters but drifts more and for some reason I have not been able to get the Lapua 155 to group spectacular yet. tried 100 175 MK's at 500 and they seem to do ok but I ran out of them to test further.

Cheers,
BolloX

 

[k6ctw]

In my Palma gun,1 in 12 twist, 28 in, 95 Palma reamer) the Berger 155 VLD works the best. It does real well,2960 fps) with an SD of 7 and an ES of 18 using Varget and a Fed 210M in Lapua brass. This load has performed exceptionally well for me in Palma competition where the only issue was the shooter and not the bullet/cartridge.

In my heavy barrel 308,NATO 7.62x51 chamber, 1 in 10 twist, 24 inch) the 175 SMK works best using Lapua brass, VV N-550 and Fed 210M at a velocity of 2605 fps,SD 6 ES 16). I shot this for 2 years in 1000 yd any/any matches with reasonable results.

In your rifle I think I would start with the new Berger 155.5 gr Palma bullet as it is load length tolerant,you don't need to jam it into the rifling like you really need to with the VLDs), has a fine BC, and can be launched at a really good velocity,Varget/N-150/N-540). It will also be a little easier on the shoulder than the 175 or heavier class of bullet.

Good luck and good shooting!

 

[BulletShooter]

I have a Savage ST/R 1-12 308 30" barrel for F class with tri-pod
I use 155gr Berger vld's and have shot 2.125" groups at 600 yards and 4.75 groups at 800 yards. I have used varget but changed to N-133 for tighter groups.
I have tried Hornaday bullets soft nose interlock, I have a melpet unformer and I used that on these bullets, I weighed the bullets and shot them at 600 yards, group were 4.350 to 5.128 not a bad bullet for hunting for the money, and when weighing these bullets 500 there was only a 1 tenth difference and only 5 groups. I have weigh them all Berger, speer, ect. and they all have 9-13 different groups at 1 tenth difference. and I use a very high class beam scale.It will be interasting to see if hornaday keeps this going or slacks off with there quality control.

 

[DL1979]

I have a Savage ST/R 1-12 308 30" barrel for F class with tri-pod
I use 155gr Berger vld's and have shot 2.125" groups at 600 yards and 4.75 groups at 800 yards. I have used varget but changed to N-133 for tighter groups.
I have tried Hornaday bullets soft nose interlock, I have a melpet unformer and I used that on these bullets, I weighed the bullets and shot them at 600 yards, group were 4.350 to 5.128 not a bad bullet for hunting for the money, and when weighing these bullets 500 there was only a 1 tenth difference and only 5 groups. I have weigh them all Berger, speer, ect. and they all have 9-13 different groups at 1 tenth difference. and I use a very high class beam scale.It will be interasting to see if hornaday keeps this going or slacks off with there quality control.

Can I ask you what.type of meplat trimmer/uniformer you use? I’ve. Been looking into them but don’t know enough to purchase one yet.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[XTR]

This one is 11 yrs dead...

BulletShooter was last seen:
Mar 28, 2011