Thread: Realistically how far can i push my 12.5 inch 308

It’s all in the bullet. Gotta be a soft bullet, so the two you’ve suggested @matto1234 would be at the top of my list to definitely not use.

A thin skinned, soft lead alloy cup & core design with a thin jacket on the ogive. Definitely go with a heavy bullet, to maximise retained energy. At 300m, a 190gr ELD-M is going to hit with ~30% more energy than a 125gr Accubond. A soft heavy bullet makes a big bloody hole even at low velocities.

The weakness is loopy trajectory. As MD says, at longer ranges, you’ll want to dial, or have a well understood BDC reticle as a minimum. Either way, you require a thorough drop test to validate ballistics. Once you know your drops, loopy trajectory doesn’t matter so long as you can range accurately. My slow and heavy load’s range card that I carry in the field is in 10m increments, the angle at which the bullet is falling at 300m+ is very steep, so ranging and calculations need to be precise.

Deer I’ve shot with my .308 at sub- 2,000fps impact velocity, with either the 165gr GameKing or Speer BTSP, or 168gr A-Max, and have had dirty great big bleeds and the deer passed very quickly. 2,000fps equates to ~350m in my rifle.

I shot two mature red hinds in quick succession at a bit lower speed - 1,900fps or so - in front of @Wingman once and I’m sure he’ll remember the claret fountain out of the one as it fell over. The other died instantly I think. That was Speer BTSP. Soft and heavy bullets work well down to quite low velocities, so your max effective range will be governed by when your bullet passes below a certain velocity, say 1750fps or even lower.

Several good sources of info on which bullets to use. You need one that fits the classic “long range” description for it’s terminal ballistics at low speeds. Higher BC means higher retained velocity and energy, so even if you’re only shooting 300m, every bit counts.

This guy has got it worked out. Check out the wounding.

https://youtu.be/8di1L9NBR0U