Ammo Selection

[Andre Beswick]

Hi guys, I'm fairly new to hunting and never fired a shot at an animal as of yet, I have a .308 rifle which I'm using so I know it'll do the job. My question is do I really need to be getting the best and most expensive ammo out there, I've been looking at the Hornady precision hunter and others like that. But now I'm wondering if those are really just marketing hype, Federal makes some ammo that are almost half the price and I know they make good reliable ammo. I'll mostly be hunting hogs and maybe some deer and I think that a soft point round like Federal power shock 180gr should be more than sufficient to take down any hog, plus as thick as the woods are in the area I'm hunting (Palm Beach, Fl) the longest shot would be around 150 yards. So to you guys who have more experience than me, what are your thoughts about these expensive ammo, are they really worth the price. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[scrmblr1982cj8]

I try for head shots, and if I hit them in the right spot, any bullet will do. I’ve hit hogs too far back with expensive ammo to just have them run off. Using expensive bullets is no guarantee of a dead hog.

 

[slim_shady]

More then anything find one that shoots accurately out of your 308. As he said shot placement is key. Head neck and spine shots drop em in there tracks. Any other hits and they run most of the time. I used to use the hornady hp match in my 308 which isn’t a “hunting” round but had great results.

 

[der Teufel]

I have a couple of .308s, and my uninformed opinion is that virtually any soft point bullet works fine.
Remington Core-Lokt, Winchester Power Points, etc.
I reload and use Hornady SP bullets 'cuz they're fairly inexpensive.
With a small caliber rifle bullet choice might be more critical, but since you're using a .308 just go with whatever you like or can readily find.

 

[Bacon8tor]

I use the Tula 165 soft points they seem to do the job well. Super cheap too. Don’t feel as guilty blasting away with it.

 

[robtattoo]

Hard to beat the federal blue box, 150gn soft points in a .308 for anything smaller than elk.
By far and away the most accurate, common factory round I've tried in any caliber (I always buy a box to try in any new gun I buy & I've found that if it won't shoot those well, it won't shoot anything well)
They're incredibly consistent, & bullet construction is uniformly superb.

 

[theblakester]

Buy 5 different types of ammo and see which ones group well from your rifle. Each box may have a different point of impact than the others, but you can adjust your zero for that. Focus on the group sizes.

 

[Andre Beswick]

Thanks guys for the responses, I finally got a scope for the rifle so I 'll zero it and see how well those soft points group with it.

 

[Robert H]

Federal fusion