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| One of Us |
Any recommendations on what would work well. Than in advance. | ||
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One of Us |
Have a good long hard look at the 125 BT from Nosler /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill | |||
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One of Us |
Just about any 150-165 grain bullet would work well. I typically use whatever is loaded for elk. This year that was a 165 Accubond.  | |||
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| One of Us |
Take vapodog's advice and add Varget near max. GOOD LUCK and GOOD SHOOTING!!! IF YOU'RE GONNA GET OLD,YOU BETTER BE TOUGH!! GETTIN' OLD AIN'T FOR SISSIES!! | |||
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| One of Us |
Why not work up a good load with a 165 and use it for everything??? Aim for the exit hole | |||
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| one of us |
I second that thought. I've gotten great results with the 165 gr. Speer Hot-Core from my .308. Now that they've been discontinued,I still have quite a few) I'll be trying the Sierra 165 gr. Game King hollowpoints. Paul B. | |||
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| one of us |
There is no "best", but I would tend toward the 150 B.Tip. While you can certainly drive the 125 a bit faster (and its impact performance will be plenty good), the 150's superior ballistic coefficient will allow it to catch up to and surpass the 125 out at ranges you sometimes encounter pronghorns. The 165 is needlessly heavy for pronghorns, and won't be quite as good on trajectory, but like the 125, it will take a pronghorn nicely. In the end, one of those weights will probably shoot better in your rifle than the others, and whatever weight that is will be your best bet. The same weights in Sierras are also worth exploring. | |||
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| One of Us |
I'd like to know how many antelope Vapodog has downed with a 308 and anything in it... | |||
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| one of us |
I have shot several antelope with a 308. My load was a 165 Sierra HPBT Gameking over 39.5gr of IMR 3031. Antelope are not tough, most any 150 or 165 grain bullet is perfect. Antelope are very good to eat. DOUBLE RIFLE SHOOTERS SOCIETY | |||
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| one of us |
Funny. | |||
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| One of Us |
In the '70s and 80s I hunted Wyoming on their doe-fawn herd management licenses around Gillette. One could buy five deer and five pronghorn tags per hunter for $25 each and many Ranchers allowed toll free hunting for herd management tags as they wanted the herds thinned. It was a ball as I often took several rifles including a M-99 in .308 but I always soft loaded it because it's not a real strong action. That's why I used the 125 grain bullets so often. I never kept track but I'd wager between the three of us that did that for several years we shot nine pronghorns every year for maybe eight years during that time....maybe 72 pronghorns for the three of us and as many smaller deer. We boned meat and stuffed it into coolers and packed it in ice every day. One of the other two hunters used a Browning A-bolt as his only rifle and that also was a .308 Win. and he also used the "soft" loads I made for the lever gun. Not only is the pronghorn good table fare but the hides are marvelously thin and make fine gloves....great for Christmas gifts! Pronghorns are fun to hunt and it don't take a lot to stop them. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill | |||
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| One of Us |
I did the same thing but near Lusk. From the time we bought out tags until the time we pulled into the ranchers yard about 35 miles away we had seen over 300 pronghorns. One of the guys said we should hunt them with shotguns as they were like rabbits. Well not quite.  | |||
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| One of Us |
. I think I just heard brad whimpering over in the corner... | |||
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| One of Us |
I wouldn't know....I put him on ignore when it was clear he wasn't interested in contributing.....just maligning!  /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill | |||
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| One of Us |
Let's see, a fellow has gotten good accuracy with bullet xxx and powder yyy and with it, he has successfully kilt gophers, coyotes, mulies, and whitetail BUT no antelope. Does that mean his data doesn't count?? Aim for the exit hole | |||
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One of Us |
A couple of questions guys, how hard to kill are these antelope, compared to a similar sized deer? I have never even seen one, but from what I read about them they seem pretty comparable to fallow deer right? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronghorn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallow_Deer I ask as I have just acquired a 308 for culling and will be shooting fallow deer as the largest species for it. VD, what sort of 125 grain bullets were you using on those culls in the 70s? | |||
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One of Us |
The .308, good choice! A 125 Gr. bullet, a bad choice. There's a reason why snipers, match and palma shooters use bigger bullets and it's called downrange "ACCURACY". I'm assuming you are going to be lobbing rounds in the 300 to 600 yard range and nothing spells dead antelope better than a 165 Gr. Nosler accubond! | |||
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| One of Us |
At .308 velocities, you do not need an accubond for antelope. 125-150gr BT's will be good performer. I often take a .308 as my backup antelope rifle, and it's loaded with 150gr NBT's. | |||
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| one of us |
They aren't hard to kill at all. My wife thumped this one at just over 200 yds with the 243 and 55gr BT's. Hit him face on and he promptly tipped over backwards.  | |||
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one of us |
I've killed them with TSX, TTSX, Accubonds, Barnes muzzleloader bullets, and btips. They all just died on the spot. I have a 308 but have not loaded any 125 btips. I have a good load with Lapua brass and 150 btips that I would not hesitate to shoot at a pronghorn. I also have some 168 VLDs that I may consider but haven't load tested them yet. The reality is you can pick any decent bullet for pronghorn and it's going to work if you put it in the lungs. I'd gladly take a Speer, Sierra, Nosler, Hornady, Remington Accutip, Win power point, etc. They'll all do a satisfactory job. Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my guns | |||
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| one of us |
And I'm sorry for the detour, but what the heck is the beef b/w Vapo and Brad? This is the first thread I've seen where I detect unfriendly posts.  Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my guns | |||
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| One of Us |
I had the opportunity to go antelope hunting last year in what was called "extreme range" hunting. Shots were to be from 1200 to 1600 yards respectively. I jumped at the opportunity and went along with my AIAW .338 Lapua Magnum sporting a new U.S. optics M44 and sidewinder range finder. North Eastern CA, has plains that reach to the curve in the earth and when I saw that lonely antelope staring into space some 1350 yards away, I knew this was going to be fun. I doped my scope and glanced over my data several times, read the wind in the "Roberts Triangle" and felt good to send a 250 Gr. Scenar down range. In a classic sniper/F-class position, I squeezed the 6 Oz. trigger and lobbed that Scenar right over his back at 12 O'clock about 1/2 minute out. The antelope didn't even move. I jacked another round into the chamber and held of 1/2 minute at 6 O'clock and threw another down-range. Splat went the bullet when it hit that steel antelope silhouette...  | |||
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| One of Us |
Pronghorns are easy to kill and so bullet arguments really don't mean much. A 125 grain bullet will do the job, but why load down so far when all you will do is lose out ballistically if you take a long shot? Premium bullets are a waste of money on pronghorns, but if that is what you shoot, then do it. A .243 or 6mm works extremely well for antelope. A .308 with a max load of Varget and a plain old Hornady 165 grain SP will work for deer, elk and antelope. Antelope are probably the easiest deer-sized critter there is to kill. A well-placed bullet at any range is a dead antelope. | |||
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| One of Us |
I agree the 125 bal. tip. is a great choice for antelope. Really any 125-150gr bullet will work. I think you don't need a 165.I use a 125 sierra in my 308 for eastern whitetails. Shot a 10pt buck @ 75yds or so,bullet went in right shoulder and lodged in left shoulder 2" from exiting.That deer never flinched,dropped like he was struck by lighting. | |||
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