The 308 and 150gr bullets

[H.MINNAAR]

I bumped into fellow hunter at safari outdoor not too long ago and started talking reloading. He only uses 150gr bullets in his 308. For impala and smaller he uses 150gr interlocks. For bigger game like wildebeest, he uses 150gr partitions or bonded what ever is freely available. So I asked him why not 180gr for bigger? He responded by saying bonded 150 grainers pass through most of his animals shot, so a pass through is sufficient penetration for him.
My question is, apart from meat damage at higher speeds, is there any other disadvantage to using a well constructed 150gr bullet if you getting sufficient penetration.

[Jurgen Visser]

In my 308 i have used and reloaded only 150gr , this is now for more than 20 years , never had any problem , in my 7mm i use only 160gr and so on down to all my other calibers , i think it depends on the twist your specific barrel have , that twist is going to determine witch weight bullet will work best in it

[Knoffel]

The best bullet weight for your rifle is heavily dependent on the twist rate and also the barrel length.
I get amazing groupings out of a ~150gr bullet (0.25 MOA), but load 180gr and it groups at 2 MOA on 100m. I haven't bothered further with 180gr but at shorter ranges (say bushveld hunting of 50m) it will be perfectly acceptable.

Placement is a very important component of a successful kill, and 150gr on most game up to whatever is the ethical limit for it is perfectly sufficient.

[Ds J]

My question is, apart from meat damage at higher speeds, is there any other disadvantage to using a well constructed 150gr bullet if you getting sufficient penetration?

No. If it is accurate out of your rifle and you can live with the damaged meat it gives a slightly better trajectory for longer shots. If my shooting ability allowed for head shots at 300m I would have used 110gr or similar. Heavier bullets are generally less deflected by wind.

[A-R]

Some 308 rifles were made with very slow barrel twist rates. 1:14" is not uncommon. These barrels might not shoot 180gn bullets well. So a 150gn it will have to be.

Shot placement is still more important than bullet type, so if you can place a 150gn correctly, it will work better than a heavier bullet in the butt.

A 308 Win will push a 150gn bullet to around 2800fps max (depending on barrel lenth etc). The 270 Win does just about the same. And that is often regarded as a suitable combination for lots of medium sized game. How will the animal know the difference?

Also, a quality bonded 150gn bullet will generally retain more weight than an unbonded 180gn bullet. The retained weight matters more in terms of terminal performance than the initial weight.

[SBB]

Most east cape chaps I know run 150 grainers in a 308. Our terrain varies a lot however these guys hunt a lot as well and if it didn't work in sure they would have changed their medicine. Between 150 and 180 grainers bullet depending I thing performance on larger game is close enough to warrant not getting over technical. Place your shot correctly.

[Messor]

Just remember one thing, what some person endorses have absolutely nothing to do with anything. That person can quote whatever he wants, data or physics for that matter is not determined by personal preference.

I’ve shot several kudu where a 150gr Accubond in 308 did not exit, so where is this magical 150gr bonded theory now?

It’s always fascinated me how someone can hear an opinion and form an opinion based on that. The truth is you cannot form any opinion without empirical data. What we do know about hunting is that bullet drop on PRACTICAL hunting distances is basically irrelevant. What you are left with is meat damage and weight retention in the form of bullet momentum.

You can shoot your 150 gr bullet and kill stuff all day long, your 180gr bullet will kill the same stuff with better bullet integrity and less meat damage, you CANNOT get past that fact. So you are bluffing yourself if you believe your 150gr bonded is better than a heavier bullet.

And that is just about that.
If it wasn’t then I would have to convince you guys a 222 with 55gr bullets is all you need on all antelope, because that is what we mostly use. Since I am not stupid I will not try and convince you guys, and neither will the 150gr theory float.

[kayaker]

All of the bruhaha and blowhard-ing aside, a good 150gr bullet in a .308 works very well. I am very happy with 150gr TTSX's.

[MyLani]

For the 20 years I have only used 150gr bullets out my 308.
As SBB mentioned, the terrain varies in the Eastern Cape.
I have used PMP Brown box for 80% of the time with only 1 bullet failure. Otherwise Rhino's or Pro Amm was used.
I started to overthink things a little, and bought some 150gr Barnes TTSX to try this year. After going through the sums with some gents who know far more than me and are reloading geniuses, I realized that the chances of the 150gr TTSX stabalising in my barrel were slim.
The options were the 130gr TTSX or another 150gr Bonded bullet.
Ended up buying 150gr Pro Amm to load. Why? PMP Brown box has worked for me for 20 years and the Pro Amm is a better Bullet, so why change it if it isn't broken.
That being said, if we need to shoot an Eland with it we take a head shot. If hunting Eland we have a 375 minimum rule due to all the Eland wounded over the years from the once a year hunter who doesnt know his rifle or his capabilities, and bad shot placement.

[driepootx]

I experienced the following as a co-hunter. The person involved was a first time hunter and wished to shoot an eland cow. Rifle a 308 with 150gr brown box PMP. He took a shot at 10h00 and wounded the young cow. Due to an old knee injury he could not help with the tracking.

An excellent tracker and I took the spoor. No blood and only lots of saliva where she stood still. We only caught up with her just before dark and by then she was lying down. The post mortem revealed a shot too far back which clipped the liver and the internal bleeding eventually weakened her. The bullet was found between the ribs on the opposite side and was a text book mushroom shape.

Better shot placement would have meant a quick kill.