Unfortunately my tracking dog and close companion recently died so I find myself in the situation of hunting deer without a dog - something I really hate.

No more last light shots on the edge of thick woodland until my new dog is up and running in 8 months time.

My 243 is staying in the safe and the 308 is dusted off. I cast around for what I thought would be the fastest expanding bullet around and hit on the SST.

I've got accuracy at 2,700fps (47gr Varget, 19" barrel) and have so far shot 8 fallow prickets with it.

I was expecting massive expansion and huge holes but to my surprise I seem to have a controlled expansion bullet that expands well but not massively. In fact I'm starting to wonder if a 150gr ballistic tip would expand more.

So any experience of SSTs vs Ballistic Tips on 150gr for 308? Or any other fast expanding hunting bullets.

The fallow dropped well enough though as ever a well placed 243 through the top of the heart works quicker than a 308 through the lungs - no substitute for shot placement!

I've shot a few Mississippi and Oklahoma whitetail with a 180 grain BT out of a 300 Win Mag. Never again! Granted the deer didn't go far, but the damaged was too extensive!!! There were a few deer that I had to throw away the entire front half of the deer because of literally blowing up both front shoulders.

Good luck!

I have shot both in the 308, and the results are very similar. I shot the 150 BTs until the reloading supply scarcity started a number of years back and I couldn't find them, then switched to the 150 SST. I 46.2gr Varget gives me 2850 and half inch groups in a 20" tube. As to the explosiveness of the round, in a 308 I have had minimal damage, but frankly, I am not really concerned with it. Not having to chase deer is more important to me.

My old hunting partner had one rifle he used the last 25 years or so of his life. It was an '06 that absolutely was the most accurate home smithed rifle I've seen. He tried many different bullets but there was only one deer he shot with a BT and it cratered on the shoulder. I don't remember for sure now but I believe it was a 150gr. I don't remember him shooting anything heavier than 165's.

I tested the NBT & SST's out of my 7mm RM and thought the SST a better bullet. I broke my scope on that rifle right before leaving for a hunt and never went back to that round. But I tried NBT out of my Roberts and had mixed results from a small sample. Three deer, two quick deaths, one a neck shot, one in the lungs. One was really disappointing. The deer was quartering toward, so I put the bullet on the front of the onside shoulder and it didn't penetrate to the vitals. A piece of something, nicked the artery closest to the entry and it did bleed out. But it wasn't much. I quit using them at that point and have not used them since for anything but targets and coyotes.

I think if you were to use a stiff bullet and hit the shoulder it will drop. If it's a soft bullet & you hit the slats it may drop or may go a little ways and it doesn't seem to be consistant reactions one way or another.

So you have a bullet that has dropped 8 fallow deer.It has controlled expansion so if you shoot something right on the shoulder it will likely make it into the heart/lung cavity instead of blowing up on the shoulder. Seems to me you have the bullet you need.
I've got accuracy at 2,700fps (47gr Varget, 19" barrel) and have so far shot 8 fallow prickets with it.

I was expecting massive expansion and huge holes but to my surprise I seem to have a controlled expansion bullet that expands well but not massively. In fact I'm starting to wonder if a 150gr ballistic tip would expand more.

So any experience of SSTs vs Ballistic Tips on 150gr for 308? Or any other fast expanding hunting bullets.

The fallow dropped well enough though as ever a well placed 243 through the top of the heart works quicker than a 308 through the lungs - no substitute for shot placement![/QUOTE]

I never could get the ssts to group good enough to feel confident hunting with em. Tried them in 2 06s mod.70 and a cdl about 3 in. at 100. Tried 4064,4831,4350. Ive got 2 pages wrote down in my load book tryin 150s. Now 180s different story. Shoot .75 in my cdl. I guess it likes the longer bullet in 1-10 twist.

I'm amused at the observation by one poster that the Ballistic Tip "blew up BOTH front shoulders", while another claimed that it failed to even penetrate the shoulder. It's hard to do both, now isn't it?

I have loaded nothing but 150 grain Ballistic Tips for whitetails in my son's .30-06 since about 1990. I can't even start to count up the large West Texas bucks he has taken with that load, much less the large feral hogs up to 250 lbs.

Not only has there been no failure in this bullet's performance, it is on average significantly more accurate than the typical hunting bullet.

If you are primarily a meat hunter, you'll be shooting only ribcage shots in the body, and otherwise neck shots. Since I never attempt to salvage the modicum of meat from the ribcage, the potential loss of a two-inch diameter area of bloodshot rib meat is of no concern. At market prices in Britain this amounts to what? A few cents? I agree with model7LS that "Not having to chase deer is more important to me".

'Well enough' - well you judge.

#1 pricket - headshot - no conclusion

#2 buck - 20m, very aware, shoulder, low heart, broke brisket - went 25yards.

#3 pricket 80yards - high lung, went 80m rather erraticaly, looked not to be hit, dead out of sight on edge of wood. No real strike noise (strange) bullet hit between ribs and exited between ribs. High lung can go aways and the pricket was after a doe and had to be barked at to stop so not very relaxed.

#4 pricket 175yards - high lung after it had just run 200m across a field and only stopped at the hedge. It went 80m but was obviously hit with good strike and pretty good expansion

#5 pricket 25m - very aware, mid lung made 30m good expansion.

#6 pricket 210m - unaware, collapsed on shot, high heart/lung quite forward.

#7 pricket 150m - aware, lung, made 60m, good expansion.

#8 very large pricket 100m - chasing does, shot more quartering than realised so hit rear of lung, bit of liver, spleen and gut. Bullet doesn't exit, deer makes 30m into huge ditch just before thick cover. Very good performance/luck as placement poor but result very lucky.

I felt that performance I got with 150gr BTs in my other 308 last year was slightly better but it's early days yet.