Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 308 180 grain RN

Pretty much most of the game I have taken has been 250 yds or less...I prefer plain old Round Noses... if Hornady still made the 129 and 140 grain RN in 6.5 mm, those would be my bullets of choice in 6.5 mm...

in the 7 x 57 Mauser, my two bullets of choice for game would be the 154 and 175 grain RN Hornadys... the 250 grain RN is my choice for my 338/06...

in 30 caliber, I wouldn't own a 308, but certainly am no stranger to the old 30/06.... my top bullet choices are the old 220 grain RN followed by the 180 grain RN... same to handload in the 300 Win Mag...

love to use the few SMP partitions still made by Nosler...160 in 270 and 220 in 30 cal...

a lot of the discontinued RNs and SMP, would still be the bullets I'd reach for if they were available on the shelves...

I have always liked them, because they just plain worked, and generally I am not shooting at distances past 300 yds, and most of those ( 99%+) are under 200 yds...

I have been using the 180 gr. round nose core lokt in my 308 forever. No particular reason other than habit, and works fine in the Maine woods.

I just picked up some recently discontinued hornady .375 270 RN.
it's a shame that bullet makers lack common sense and tend to favor popularity and mathematical differences ( even minute ones) over real world functionality.
Consider this...
Bullet a, Spitzer, from your rifle shoots 1" groups.
Bullet B , round nose does the same.
the bc if they've spitzer gives it X " of elevation advantage of 3" @ 400 yards.
who would ever be able to tell the difference?
How is that small amount if benefit from the spitzer going to be realized in any hunting situation?

Granted, from a bench you could conceivably benefit but why use soft points for target work?
It's silly.
Im stocking up on the soft points and round nose.
Let everyone else buy plastic tip and protected points

Of course bullet makers favor more popular bullets. They make money by producing what sells. Can you blame them for producing a bullet that makes them more money? If you want to bemoan the declining use of round nose bullets, look to the other side of the gun store counter.

And your example of difference in drop between a spitzer and round nose at 400 yards doesn't quite mesh with reality. You'll have 3+" of difference at 300 yards and close to 12" at 400. And drop isn't the only consideration. If you have any sort of moderate to strong wind, that's where the much improved B.C. is going to help you.

However, if knew I'd be hunting in an area that would present a shot at 200 to 250 yards max, I'd happily load up a round nose bullet and hunt with it. With a chance at a shot beyond that? Give me a spitzer of some type...

Good for you! And I'm serious. Most people hunt at ranges of less than 300 yd. There isn't a bit of difference between RNs and spitzers for the majority of hunters at those ranges, unless you're after small varmints.

The bullet companies are out to make a buck, and I don't blame them for that. That said, you can often get what you want at a discount.

Most hunters and shooters are like cats - they're always after new and shiny things. Let that work to your advantage. You can often find bargain priced RNs or semi-spitzers at gun shops or at a gun show table because hunters and shooters are chasing the latest craze. For whatever reason, they think RNs or semi-spitzers are no good or too old fashioned. Let them!

In the 1990s, I got fed up with shortages, or not being able to find the designs that worked for me, so I started making my own jacketed bullets in .224, 6mm, .308, and .311 to .314. That covered almost every rifle cartridge I used. It still does. Although I make my own, I continue to scour the gun shows and clearance tables at gun shops for bargains.

For certain cartridges - the 30-30, 44 Magnum and 45-70 - I decided to go with cast. It works for me, just as the RNs work for you.

Let the big manufacturers make their money. Use what makes you happy and to heck with the rest! It's fun to search for deals.

I've never used a round nose (although I wouldn't be opposed to it), but I have used other "ancient","outdated", "obselete" designs on whitetail such as Speer Hot-Cor .308 180 gr Mag-Tips, and a ton of Hornady Interlock 165 gr SP and BTSP, more of the BTSP, out of a .308, .30-06', and .300 SAUM with quick one-shot kills, and complete pass-throughs being the norm.

I've also killed deer with the .30 caliber 130 gr TTSX out of the .308 and the 168 gr TTSX out of the .300 SAUM.

Deer shot with the "copper cup and knob of lead" bullets have ran shorter distances, died faster/suffered less, some even die in their tracks, such as the 8-pointer I did the high shoulder shot on at around 150 yds this year.

Oh yeah, and that cheap-ass 165 gr Interlock BTSP leaving my SAUM at 2,850 fps broke it's spine, both shoulders, destroyed both lungs, and exited the far shoulder, the buck fell over on it's side and died in about 20 seconds.

Monos work, (not as well IMO) on deer, but if you wanna be down with the hipsters, you should spend the extra money and keep using them, lords knows you don't want to be out of style.

180 gr. round nose core lokt's are all I use in my 308.

I bet they work pretty damn good too, or you'd switch to something else, am I right?

Last year I bought 600 7mm 154 gr Hornady RN's, started using them this year. Wow, what a blood trail!!

I'll be using them for a long while.

This is a 200 grain bullet that I make in several diameters - .308, 311, and .313. It's a semi-spitzer PP. (They are not for sale!) It has been used with great success by myself and others for deer, bear and moose. It is a basic cup and core bullet. It's not some kind of nifziffic, homogelatinous spheroid. It does cause effective external fistulas with resulting leakage.

The only thing that can be said of it is that it works.

Bet you can't wait to use a phaser. They shoot flat.

Phasers do tend to render a lot of meat unusable.

But they obviate the need for cooking (around the wound site).

Not if you set it to stun, then kill the deer while it can't move.

Good idea. Set it on stun and then run up to 25yds and pop it with a RN. Anything over 25yds and the RN would be sorely ineffective.

Deer have gotten much tougher since the 1940's.
Global warming has fathered the growth of kevlar hide and steel bones.
The have also learned to plug their wounds with mud covered chipmunks so that they don't leave a blood trail.
As hunters we're playing catchup every year.
Hopefully kimber will work out the kinks in that rail gunand the New Leopold/ Microsoft laser emitter will allow us to get back into the game.

!

! I think I just peed a little. TFF!

I've found Remington 180 gr factory rn to provide both fine accuaracy and quite respectable velocity in the .308, 2600 fps from a 20" barrel.

While I generally prefer handloading, I'd say just pick up a couple green and yellow boxes of the 180 gr rn and be done with it. With a 200 yd zero that makes them a solid 250 yd aim, shoot and skin combination.