Thread: 308 Short Barrel Ammo Advice

Hi all, I am in need of some help. I have recently picked a 308 with a barrel length cut down to 18 inch. I have done a bit of shooting with some 150 grain federal fusion but seems to have preformed poorly at range so am looking to switch to some new ammo

Just wonder what factory ammo people are running for 0-400m out of a 18inch .308, I'm sure there have been many threads on this before but any help or advice would be much appreciated.
Cheers

Depends on what you meant by "performed poorly at range"

Hornady superformance 150gr or 165gr ssts good to 500yds.Buy some FMJ 147gr to waste at the range first.Practice shooting to get moa at 100yds then move to 200yds.Photo below at 100yds with FMJ 147gr,get a result like this befor you move out to 200yds.FJM 147GR only about $25 box.When you get good at 200yds,change over to Hornady 150ssts.Get somebody else to check rifle over first as Mimms suggests

double up thread LOL...... double tapped the enter key perhaps....
strangely the OP hasnt answered question on either thread....problems at "long range" or the riffly rangi type range


riffly rangi...two do gooders from we will say one news got all into their te reo pronouncing stuff..came to a road sign...it riffly rangi says one.....nah its a rifle range ya dork says the other...

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

double up thread LOL...... double tapped the enter key perhaps....
strangely the OP hasnt answered question on either thread....problems at "long range" or the riffly rangi type range


riffly rangi...two do gooders from we will say one news got all into their te reo pronouncing stuff..came to a road sign...it riffly rangi says one.....nah its a rifle range ya dork says the other...

Must be good wine down the Waitak.

Non bonded bullets are a better bet with the reduced velocity from the shortened barrel and extended range.

Frangible projectiles like the sst nbt eldm will do more damage at range but may require picking your shot at closer ranges to avoid excessive meat damage.

Its just a factory bergara extreme hunter rifle. Im not one to do a lot of paper shooting and get too into that sort of carry on. Just wanting to see what sort of ammo (mainly factory) people are running out of short barrels. When I say preformed poorly I am getting about 31 inchs drop at 300m. I don't have a chronograph but working fps out based on the bullet drop the muzzle fps goes form 2820 to just under 2000fps as a result of a 18inch barrel.

That aint right.
Zero at 200m
You will be 2-3inch high at 100m 6-12 inch low at 300.

I take it that is ZEROED at 100 yards????

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I take it that is ZEROED at 100 yards????

yep sure is

When my tika zeroed at a 100yds with its 18 inch barrel.Bullit drop at 300yds is 12 inchs with Hornady Superformance 150gr ssts.Flying at 2900ft/sec at the muzzel.When i had a 20 inch tika,ssts were flying at 2963ft/sec.I dont reload either.

I've punched the numbers into Strelok. With a 100m zero, the absolute drop in inches at 300m is right around 31 inches with an MV of about 2800. Or about 5.5 MOA. Sounds pretty normal so far. What does it group like at that distance? If it's dropped 31" from your 100m POI, yeah, that ain't right.

Factory ammo is always a bit of a gamble. You could get lucky and find the cheap stuff shoots amazingly. If not, you might have to try a selection premium stuff. Chances are at least one will shoot well. But still there's no guarantees.

16" 308 shooting 165 BTs at 2650
100 zero
200 -4.3"
300 -15.4"

I had a not to bad a run with the hornady whitetail out of a howa with a 16 inch barrel

Originally Posted by Jim356

Its just a factory bergara extreme hunter rifle. Im not one to do a lot of paper shooting and get too into that sort of carry on. Just wanting to see what sort of ammo (mainly factory) people are running out of short barrels. When I say preformed poorly I am getting about 31 inchs drop at 300m. I don't have a chronograph but working fps out based on the bullet drop the muzzle fps goes form 2820 to just under 2000fps as a result of a 18inch barrel.

s&b 150gr left target - 168gr sako powerhead barnes ttsx 3 shot group - 100m from my bergara 308 extreme hunter