I am new to reloading. I have spent a lot of time reading the reloading manuals. I will start reloading for 308. I am wondering what applications for light and heavy bullets.

I load up several and try them all to see what shoots well in my rifle. I don't actually shoot at anything that moves, so if you do that would also decide what bullet you want. The light bullets are not normally for anything bigger than varmints.
My target rifle shoots 130 grain bullets really well at 100 yards but horribly at 200 yards and beyond. For all around use, I use the 180 grain Sierra Matchking bullets and Reloader 15 powder to get extremely small groups out to 600 yards.
The heavier bullets shoot flatter and buck the wind better than the light bullets. This translates to better long range accuracy unless you are a whiz at reading the wind.
The lighter bullets have considerably less recoil and are much nicer to shoot for that reason.

[This message has been edited by Bruce Gordon (edited 10-02-2001).]

I have probably shot more .308 win, in 7.62 NATO flavor, than anything (other than .22 LR) yet I have hunted with this cartridge very little. I did use the 165's and found those to be just right for deer and antelope. If elk or moose were on the menu I would look at 180's. The light bullets are IMHO for practice and varmints, not for larger game.
FN

Like all cartridges the .308 seems to have a happy medium when it comes to bullets. For hunting medium game any of the bullet weights in the 150-165 grain range seem to perform well. AT the light end of the spectrum one can shoot the 110 grain offerings or on the other end the 220 grain offerings but these are the extremes and unless your gun is set up with the proper twist rates etc it will probably not perform well. However, each gun is an individual and you may be surprised. I shoot my .308 for HP competition at 200-1,000 yards and tend towards the heavy bullets. My barrel is a 1-11 twist. At 600-1,000 yards I really like the 190 grain Sierra Match Kings. They retain velocity much better than the 168s which are in fact usually subsonic at 900 yards or so. It all really depends on how you intend to use the gun. But in my experience most commercial rifles are set up and prefer 150-165 grain offerings.

wengv.
Welcome to the no.1 site on the net !!
As the other have said, the .308 is an easy caliber to reaload. Lots of good bullets both for hunting and target shooting.
The rifles I have had, and have seen used, are at their best with bullet weights around the 7,62 NATO standard = 147 gr.
For varmint and plinking many use the 130 gr. bullets, for deer and antelope you cant go wrong with the 150 and 165 grainers, and for bigger game, the 180 gr.

My experience is that over 180 grain, the .308 is a bit cramped. If one like to use heavier bullets in the 30 caliber range for hunting, one should go for the .30-06 or one of the 300 magnums.

My present 308 win. rifle is a CZ 601, used for roe deer hunting and general practicing.
For hunting I use 165 gr. Hornady, and for plinking and training, the 7,62 nato cartridge. POI are nearly the same at 100 meters, ant the rifle and the cartridge are a nice combo wich I like wery much.
Precicion are also exellent, wich is another .308 virtue.
Good luck with your reloading, and use good reloading manuals, and think safety !!

Best regards Arild

the reason I asked was..

I have a 308 striker, which is a bolt action pistol from Savage. The barrel length is 14-inch. Twist rate is 1 in 10. I plan to use light bullet for it to eliminate some recoil and still maintain good velocity because it is a pistol anyway. I don't know if that is ok using light bullets?

Wengv:

There is one aspect of ballisics that you should learn and undrstand well when selecting bullets for hunting.

The heavier bullets retain their velocity better than lighter bullets. The lighter may have a greater muzzle velocity but when comparing the foot pounds of energy out at 200 to 300 yards or meters, it will be found that the lighter bullets slow down significantly faster than the heavier bullets.

Taking into consideration that any bullet loses speed and striking force with distance, it is important to deliver the MAXIMUM "punch" possible out where the animal is. It will be found that heavier bullets do it better.

Bullets also "drop" as they slow down. It will also be found that heavier bullets actually drop less than lighter bullets because they lose velocity more slowly. Thus heavier bullts will actually shoot "flatter" than lighter ones.

This will become readily apparent if you begin to feed your information into "ballistics programs". There are many "free" programs on the internet. Thus you would be well advised to begin planning your loads and selecting powders and bullets using such programs in addition to following the recommendations in loading manuals.

Kendall

Wengv,

First, welcome to the forum here! This is truly a massive collection of knowledge here!

I can not figure out if you are planning t hunt with your pistol, or just target shoot, and what range are you planning to do most of your shooting at? My personal experience is more with 30-06 rifles in this caliber, and like some others I have had excellent results with matchking bullets, my gun seems to like the 190 grain ones the best. I think you would like to go with something on the lighter end of the scale, like maybe 150 grains, but then it would help to have an idea of whether you are shooting paper or animals, and at what range you plan on doing most of it.

wengv,
i also have a savage striker in .308 and it will shoot 3/4 inch groups at 100 yds. with 150g bullets with 41.6g 4064. had to fiddle with the seating depth to get it to do this.
i have tried the 130 grain (pistol) bullets but couldn't get the accurracy i wanted. i did use the 150's to take a nice doe during hunting season last winter with a one shot kill. best thing to do is to try a couple of different bullets and see what yours will like and try some different loads to find the one that is most accurate for you.

A shorter barrel will dictate using powder that is at the faster end of the normal 308 Win. loads in order to get more complete and consistent burning. IMR 4895 or Winchester W-748 would both be good starting points.
The twist and velocity will pretty much determine the optimum weight to load. However, the fact that it is a pistol leads me to think that you will be shooting at 200 yards and less which opens up the bullet selection quite a lot. At 200 yards and less the potential wind drift is minimal compared to longer ranges so bullet selection comes down to what shoots in your pistol. Also, being a single shot means that you can seat the bullets as needed for best accuracy rather than some arbitrary overall length.
You might buy a box of the 130's and see how they do. If they don't do well you are only out about $10.

If you plan on shooting anything bigger than varmits you should look at 150 grs. and up. The jacket on most bullets lighter than 150 are thinner and will blow up on impact and not penetrate deep enough for large game. The 308 is a great round, I have had several, and still have one, all good shooters. Good luck and good shooting

For 130 grain bullets for game (especially at short range) you could try a flat point bullet designed for the 30-30. The Speer 130 grain FP is designed for deer size targets at ~2400-2600 fps. It should work from a pistol too.

I have killed 4 whitetails with 125 grain Barnes-X bullets, but they are the ONLY bullets lighter than 150 grains that I'd recommend for deer-size game.

Me thinks that the word deer is too broad here. If you'll never shoot a deer more than 200lb it's a bit uneccessary to have the through and through penetration capability for a 400lb mule deer buck. In a rifle we'd stick to 150/165gr all the time if we had any sense but in a pistol I imagine recoil reduction is a very good thing.

I see people talking of deer as an all encompassing term and for the spread of weights we have it just doesn't make sense.

Anyhow 150gr is not heavy in 308 it's standard. 165 is on the heavier side of standard (and who's not to say the best) and 180 up heavy.

I used a 130gr speer flat point which worked very well at 2400fps on small deer. It probably falls out the sky past 150 yards but will you shoot past that? 125gr ballistic tips are proven in the UK including for Red Stags and if you can get an accurate load at these reduced velocities will work very well.