soon I will have a new F TR Savage 308 - Bullet recommendations?

[Linko]

Hi, until now I have been shooting a .223 savage F TR model 110. Getting ready for a 308 now. I would like to settle on a bullet and just work it. Never shot 308 before.

I have had good results with Sierra MK bullets and see many folks shoot their bullets. I thought I would pick one of those.

Gee there are 8 weights. 168, 175, 180, 190, 200, 210, 220, and 240

I have a 200/500 yd Range I shoot at. Winchester brass, Varget.

Could use a little in the line of bullet recommendations.

 

[rjtfroggy]

If it is a Savage F/TR it is a 1:12 twist so I would try the 150 or 155 gr. SMK's before I tried anything else.

 

[watercam]

While Sierra 168 SMKs will stabilize in a 12" twist they were designed as a Mid-Range bullet for the M-1/M1A rifles. Their preformance past 800 yds. is questionable. The recommendation of 155s is a good one, 175s will work as well, not sure about the 190s.

 

[Comrade Terry]

I feed my .308 a diet of the 168s. Excellent to 600 yards, but I've not tried a longer distance. This in a 11.25 twist barrel.

 

[Alexander-M]

Another vote for the 168s, either SMK or TMK worked great on my Savage 308 F-T/R.

Alex

 

[Linko]

Yes 12 twist. I have been following 308 post awhile. 168 seems to be a go to SMK.

168 SMK, Winchester brass and Varget will be my starting load.

This will be my first cartridge using a LR primer. So I don't have any to experiement with. I will try more than one eventually. However is there one that is the go to primer? Like to order a carton at a time (at least) because of the hazmat and shipping.

 

[XTR]

For mid range get the [2156] 155SMK Palma bullet or the Berger 155 offerings. You can load them to about 3000FPS give or take where ever they shoot well and light it up.

This is mid range, precision is way more important that velocity. Find a spot that they shoot tiny groups.

When you get serious about mid range get a 1:7 223 barrel and talk to me a about 90VLD loads

 

[Dos XX]

The factory Savage F/TR .308 has a shortish freebore. It will match the 155 class bullets very will, Like Wade stated. I ran 185 Juggernauts in mine at first, but the bullet was really too far down in the case, robbing powder capacity. Bed that action into the stock for better accuracy.

 

[Rsadams]

My 10 T-SR shoots the 168 smk very nice but it is 1/10 twist.... As suggested try them and see if they will stabilize.. maybe start with the 155s see how it works.. Then bump it up..

 

[Richard Coody]

try the lapua scenar 155's for targets if you are going long range. see if your gun likes them. much lighter recoil than the 175 or 200's

i shoot berger 168 berger hybrid hunters but my .308 is a hunting rifle. 168's are great out to 600 yrds.

if you want to join the party for 1000 yrd and more the 175 mk works very well and the newest magic bullet is the berger 200.20X but you need a 1 in 10 or at least 1 in 11 to get the best out of them. recoil is substantial

 

[Linko]

155 gr Palma sounds like what I should try first. Really don't want to try too many bullets. Just like to make this a little simple and not waste powder and bullets.

 

[Linko]

The factory Savage F/TR .308 has a shortish freebore. It will match the 155 class bullets very will, Like Wade stated. I ran 185 Juggernauts in mine at first, but the bullet was really too far down in the case, robbing powder capacity. Bed that action into the stock for better accuracy.

I have other savage model 12's and they have shortish freebore also. I will get a box of the Palmas.

Thanks everyone. You guys are great.

 

[Barlow]

I tried 168 and 175 SMK's, some Nosler's and Hornady's of various weights, and settled on the 175 SMK. We shot to 1K and the 175 did not seem to recoil anymore than the 168's and were as accurate at the shorter ranges so I just made it simple and used them for all ranges. I used H4895. ymmv Barlow

 

[savageshooter86]

If you want to shoot to 1000 with slight advantage then get the Berger 168 hybrids. They stabilize at 1000 unlike Sierra 168. Easy to tune. It worked well for me in my first savage barrel

 

[Linko]

If you want to shoot to 1000 with slight advantage then get the Berger 168 hybrids. They stabilize at 1000 unlike Sierra 168. Easy to tune. It worked well for me in my first savage barrel

Well my plans have changed, I am going to break the bank and have a rifle built. So it's a clean slate so to say.

My plan based on available ranges where I live is mid range out to 600. Maybe some chances later to shoot longer if I can hit the target.

I would like to make this as simple as possible and not be all over the board trying loads.
There are 155's 168's and the heavies 200's . I know 155 is the Palma weight. Would the Berger 155.5 or sierra 155 Palma bullets be a good choice Or should i be thinking 168 or 200's. I have zero experience shooting 308.

Can I shoot 155, 168, 185 and 200 from the sme chamber?

 

[XTR]

If you are going to shoot mid range, that is out to 600 yards, the 155 class bullets are great choices. Any of the Berger 155 or 155.5s, or the 155SMK Palma bullet [2156].

• They are commonly loaded up to to ~2950 to 3000 FPS. At 600 yards they don't give up anything ballistically to the heavier bullets.
• They will stabilize in any barrel you have.
• They are generally less expensive than the heavier offerings
  
• They are easy to get shooting well
• They have less recoil, most people can shoot smaller groups with them than they can with the heavier bullets
• They don't require a longer freebore to get them up out of the case and get the bearing surface away from the doughnut area.
• You can buy the 155SMK Palma bullet in 500 count boxes

Lots of people may chime in and tell you about bullets for shooting to 1000 yards. If you are not going to do that then that isn't particularly helpful to you. If you are going to shoot long range I would recommend another bullet.

You will shoot out your barrel somewhere around 3500 to 4500 rounds. When you get to that point you will have some experience, will have some idea of how to read wind, and you can look forward to what you want to do next.

If you want to shoot something heavier that will give you more options later then I'd get set up to shoot the Berger 185 Juggernaut. There are a lot of reamers out there that are optimized for it with about a .170 freebore. It is an ridiculously easy bullet to get to shoot well, and the chamber is functional with a number of other bullets if you decide to go with something else, and if you decide to sell it it's a more desirable setup.

 

[Berger.Fan222]

Recoil management is much harder with 200+ grain bullets than with 155s and lighter bullets. Wind drift is much smaller with 200+ grain bullets. The wind drift with 155s will be comparable with 80 grain bullets in .223. Usually the reason people move from .223 Rem to .308 Win is to shoot the heavier bullets with reduced wind drift.

These considerations lead me to two points for new .308 builds for F-TR:

1. Plan your build to fall near the upper limit of the allowed weight (18 lbs) to reduce recoil and thus the penalties (dropped points) when your recoil management is imperfect.
2. Build with a 1 turn in 10" twist rate to shoot a wide range of bullet weights accurately (135-200 grains). If recoil management becomes a problem, you can go to the lighter bullets (135 SMK is a good choice) that can work very, very well to 600 yards on calm days. As you master recoil management, you can move to 185 grain bullets which move much less in the wind at 600 yards and do OK at 1000. You can also try 200 grain bullets, but that is somewhat advanced both in terms of reloading and recoil management. 200 grain bullets also tend to shorten brass and barrel life at the preferred velocities.

 

[Highpower-FClass]

My recommendation would be to get a 10 twist barrel chambered with .170 freebore and shoot the Berger 200 hybrids or the Berger 200.20X. With the .170 freebore you can also shoot the Berger 185 Juggernauts and the low node for the Berger 215s.

Wind drift @ 600 given a 10 mph cross wind (using JBM):

155 Sierra Palmas @ 3000 fps - 4.4 MOA
155.5 Bergers @ 3000 fps - 4.1 MOA
185 Berger Juggernauts @ 2780 fps - 3.8 MOA
200.20X Bergers @ 2660 fps - 3.4 MOA

The difference of 1 MOA will push a center-placed X for the 200.20X to almost an 8 with the 155 Sierra Palmas. Shooting the heavier projectiles will not save you from bad wind calls (I know this all too well from personal experience), but it will provide some cushion compared to shooting lighter bullets.

 

[savageshooter86]

If only 600 yards, set rifle up for the 185s. Just my opinion. 1-10 twist and minimum 28” barrel. Learn to reload it and learn your rifle and read wind. Next barrel after you shoot this one, you can look into the 200 gr

All good info given here so far