308 penetration?

I use Hornadays or Remington Corloks, soft points, they blow right through, and pretty much stay together. Thats through the M1A.

Long ago I settled on those, not only for accuracy, but also because bullets that disintegrate ruin way more meats.
Thats why FMJ's are very acceptable for hunting.

Now the exception I must throw in is that ,Brown Bear can take a 30-06 with an FMJ and have no exit wound. I have seen this, from straight on shots, but side shots always exit, even in a large , dense Bear.

If you cant kill it with a 30-06 you should hide.

I had a similar experience a few years ago with some Hornady Superformance ammo in my '06. 150gr SST went in, but didn't exit. Range was about 100 yards, similar to the OP. Looked to me like the bullet just exploded in the deer. I chalked it up to a bad bullet jacket, but I went back to my old stand-by Core-lokts anyway. Having said that, I've used the Accu-bond 180's out of the same '06 and have had zero issues with them. So I'll go out on a limb and say, your bullet was probably "bad". I'd shoot another one and see what happened. If history repeated itself, I'd make a change. Otherwise, happy hunting.

Mac

Years ago I harvested a very large mule deer in the mountais of Colorado with my western auto/revelations .308 bolt gun. It was about 100 to 125 yards, straight on shot. It entered her chest and went completely through her, stem to stern & exited the rear area, turned her heart to liquid. I was using cheap Winchester white box 180 grain jsp.

MacAR said:

I had a similar experience a few years ago with some Hornady Superformance ammo in my '06. 150gr SST went in, but didn't exit. Range was about 100 yards, similar to the OP. Looked to me like the bullet just exploded in the deer. I chalked it up to a bad bullet jacket, but I went back to my old stand-by Core-lokts anyway. Having said that, I've used the Accu-bond 180's out of the same '06 and have had zero issues with them. So I'll go out on a limb and say, your bullet was probably "bad". I'd shoot another one and see what happened. If history repeated itself, I'd make a change. Otherwise, happy hunting.

Mac

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I experimented with the SST some 18 or so years ago when they were relatively new. The literature indicated they would perform like the SP Interlock but with a higher BC and corresponding flatter trajectory. They don't. The standard IL is a great bullet for deer. I've driven them through a lot of deer with various calibers. I put 3 154s from my .280 Rem...all good hits, which should be right in the wheelhouse for this bullet, into a large MN buck at relatively close range. None exited. They left a lot of shrapnel in edible parts, and bloodshot a lot of meat. From the wife's .308, 2 different deer impacted clean broadside heart/lung with no heavy bone hit also failed to exit. I did get one from the .280 to punch through, but it was a 100ish pound meat pole doe shot clean broadside double lung. This one also had fragments in the meat well off the impact vector. No SSTs for me (except on targets, where I find them exceptional.)

Random 8 said:

I experimented with the SST some 18 or so years ago when they were relatively new. The literature indicated they would perform like the SP Interlock but with a higher BC and corresponding flatter trajectory. They don't. The standard IL is a great bullet for deer. I've driven them through a lot of deer with various calibers. I put 3 154s from my .280 Rem...all good hits, which should be right in the wheelhouse for this bullet, into a large MN buck at relatively close range. None exited. They left a lot of shrapnel in edible parts, and bloodshot a lot of meat. From the wife's .308, 2 different deer impacted clean broadside heart/lung with no heavy bone hit also failed to exit. I did get one from the .280 to punch through, but it was a 100ish pound meat pole doe shot clean broadside double lung. This one also had fragments in the meat well off the impact vector. No SSTs for me (except on targets, where I find them exceptional.)

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Very interesting. The deer I shot weren't huge by any means, but the wounds were just as you described. Glad I'm not the only one who had issues with the SST's; a lot of hornady fan boys roasted my ass over my claims that these bullets wouldn't perform. I'm currently using a 150gr Remington Bronze Point in my '06, but haven't shot enough game with them to know how they'll perform yet.

Mac

@hdtramp I was surprised to read your post. I have had excellent results with.308 win on whitetails always with exit holes on broad side shots. I have used 180 Accubonds in my 300 WSM. My choice for the 308 win is Federal Premium 165 grain Sierra boat tails.

I would say that it was a fluke or the bullet hit something in the field expanding the bullet before hitting the doe.

Give that 308 another try. I'm sure that you will find the results that you expect

Go Brewers,
WisBorn

I've used a .308 for hunting for the best part of 50 years and shot deer from moose to muntjac size. For years I shot the Nosler 165 grain ballistic tip and never had a problem. For the last 18+ years I use home loaded Norma 165grn Oryx. This is because I'm now likely to shoot moose and we have plenty of wild boar. You can't judge the performance of one shot on a single deer. Once the bullet leaves the barrel there are so many other factors that come into play. The shot placement can be good but the bullet may deflect off a bone, the deer was not quite as broad side on as you thought or the bullet hits a unseen object on the way to the deer or a dozen other imponderables. I've shot big boar where the bullet has passed through and young fallow bucks, shot at no great range where the bullet was lodged under the skin on the other side of the chest. Books, your mates and the interweb will tell you what should happen but real life experience can show you something else. I'll not be giving up my .308 anytime soon

I used 139 sst's out of my 7mm08 a couple years ago.

Random 8 said:

I experimented with the SST some 18 or so years ago when they were relatively new. The literature indicated they would perform like the SP Interlock but with a higher BC and corresponding flatter trajector

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Took a head on shot at 15 to 20 yds, my only shot was the throat patch. Neck split from base of skull to shoulder juncture, found that those would be better at longer ranges. Last season, shot a buck with hornandy 139 interlock spbt. Much better bullet especially at close range, bc is only. 001 or. 002 lower for the interlock and just as accurate.

Iirc hornandy did a redesign on the sst to reduce the explosiveness on game. Haven't used any if the newer ones on game yet though.

I shot a buck with no exit with a 165gr Accubond at 150yds but that was when he was facing me at an angle and I believe the bullet his the vertebrae when they were stacked. I aimed to hit him at the middle of his neck and where the bullet would pass through the chest vertebrae and shoulders. When a 150+lb pig is angled away where . If you hit enough bone to not have a passthrough with a 165gr Accubond (broadside) I think you will do so much damage it won't go far and will probably drop within a few feet.

Remember that the Accubond is designed to lose 30-40% of its weight and it's a premium bullet with a bonded base but it will dump a lot of energy as well, it just gives better penetration that a softer bullet will. From my personal observations it seems to make about 1/2 as wide of a wound channel as a Winchester 150gr PowerPoint which is a soft cup/core bullet...

I shot a 170lb or so boar with a 180gr Accubond at about 125yds out of a 16in barrel while he was angling away.. I hit him directly in his right front leg bone which is broke through, and it went through the chest cavity dumping a lot of energy and ultimately came to rest flat against the upper base of his skull. I attached the pics of the bullet ... good expansion, uneven due to it hitting bone. It went through a lot of flesh and did a good amount of damage but I'd say the penetration was good but maybe less than I'd have thought.

I've hunted a wide variety of game with my .308 and have found that my shots are always less than 225 yards or so. I'm convinced that the old fashioned 180 grain round nose bullet is BEST. It opens up fast into a mushroom shape like the 150's but has the momentum to penetrate deep like a 180 grain should. In my opinion, pointed bullets are best for truly long distance shooting.

TR

T.R. said:

I've hunted a wide variety of game with my .308 and have found that my shots are always less than 225 yards or so.

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It's not just the "variety of game" that you've hunted that demonstrates how experienced you are. The "variety" of terrain on which you've hunted also figures into that equation.
Your shots are "always" less than 225 yards or so??? Wow! I can't even imagine what that would be like. It's over 200 yards to the fence (which I can clearly see from our rear deck) that is the property line at the back of our place. I sight my big game rifles in to hit dead on at 250 yards. AND, I've been successfully hunting big game in the widely varied terrain out here in Idaho for close to 60 years.
On the other hand, I agree with you about round nose bullets probably working well for big game hunting at the distances you're talking about. It's just that your definition and my definition of "truly long distance shooting" are a "long distance" apart.

T.R. said:

I've hunted a wide variety of game with my .308 and have found that my shots are always less than 225 yards or so. I'm convinced that the old fashioned 180 grain round nose bullet is BEST. It opens up fast into a mushroom shape like the 150's but has the momentum to penetrate deep like a 180 grain should. In my opinion, pointed bullets are best for truly long distance shooting.

TR

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For that my krag running the 180+ rn would truly shine! Every deer I've ever killed at sub 250 with either the krag or sav was absolutely hit like a hammer with rn type load vs sp, I even like them in my .243 at close range! That being said, sub 250 guaranteed shots are unheard of out here, yes they happen often but guaranteed is the deal breaker and that is the key, wind especially plays a big deal and wide open 300 us shots with only MAYBE a clump of sagebrush or brome grass for cover are equally as common. If I know it WILL be close, I LOVE a rn hammer, tis just not the case though and at this point, that's basically what the .41 is for

Mentioning the 180 grain round nose. My Dad and many other guys in our hunting group used them. For Dad it was a feeding issue. The round nose feed into his 308 Remington 742. Pointed soft points at time would not.
Most of our shots were inside of 100 yards. The only exceptions was a marsh or powerline.
He retired the 742 about 20 years ago switching to a Remington 700 in 30-06 shooting 150 grain PSP. (Still using it at 81)

I always thought that the round nose bullets did give you a good hammer effect.

hdtramp said:

I spent most of my hunting life taking whitetail's with a shotgun. ..., My problem was I put it right in the chest cavity but there was no exit wound. It was a good thing it was in a field and I saw it collapse because there wasn't much of a blood trail. Is that normal? ..., I have taken deer at 130 yards with 12 gauge sabots and always had pass throughs...., Kind of scared to use it because of the thick brush around I need a good blood trail to find them. Was it a fluke, ...,.

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Using foster or Brenneke slugs? So you've been used to an entry hole of nearly .72 with a bigger hole perhaps on the way out, and you went down to a .30 hole, and it was a chest cavity shot?
A lot of folks experience the lack of blood trail, especially in the black powder community, especially when they go to a modern rifle and cartridge, even with a broadside pass through. (btw I agree the bullet probably exited and you simply didn't see the exit)

IF you hit the deer just a tad high, that chest cavity becomes a large internal bucket, and the blood stays in the chest. So when you're looking for a blood trail... not only on the ground do you search but also one foot to two feet OFF the ground on the brush. As the deer moves with that wound, it will likely cough, and there is a good trail alright, BUT if your vision is centered on the ground you have a great chance of walking right past the actual trail which is up on the brush, not the ground. I know as I've done it..., and it's especially easy if the deer goes through brush where the foliage is reddish or maroon!

When it happened to me and I finally found the deer, I back tracked it and discovered where I'd crossed the deer's path twice, but never saw the blood as my vision was too centered. The bushes were doused with sign, but the ground wasn't It's a common enough mistake, and as I wrote, even for folks starting with a .50 or .54 entry wound, and an even bigger exit.

Another tip is to mark where you were standing when you shot. I carry an extra blaze orange knit hat, and mark the spot. What that does is give you a reference point when you look back, as you walk out to where you think the deer was standing when you shot. It helps you locate that proper spot to start tracking. Once you move a bit toward where you think that blood trail should start..., stuff looks different. Often folks don't go quite far enough. Confirm where the deer was standing when hit, and you will save a lot of time picking up any trail.

LD

2 seasons ago I killed 2 bucks with a 150 Accubonds in a 308 win. It was my first time to use them. They are very accurate.

2,657fps using 42.5g of Varget in Nosler brass



Sub 1/2 MOA 5 shot group at 200 yards



First deer was 140 yards. High Shoulder / Double Lung shot. Bullet didn't exit. Deer went 30 yards and expired.

Second deer was 100 yards. Quartering shot behind right shoulder. Bullet exited front of left shoulder. Deer ran 40 yards and expired.

I don't care much about whether they exited or not. My observation is that the Accubonds open up fast and kill fast. I'd use them again without reservation.