Very interesting post as I am going through the exact same thing right now. I've trimmed down my rifle collection and basically come to the decision that my .308 bolt gun will be my defacto do-all rifle. I mostly use it for deer, hogs, and coyotes as well, but I would also like to one day take it on an elk hunt or possibly an antelope/mule deer hunt. The goal is to develop one load with the best compromise of accuracy, bullet weight, and performance on game. With that one load, shoot it all the time to create my data book under as many environmental conditions as possible for historical data and basically be intimately familiar with its performance. Right now focus is on performance out to 300 (coyotes only), and will eventually like to stretch that out to 600 (punching paper). Bottom line is that it is a hunting rifle first, and target rifle second in order to become better skilled at hunting.
Based upon my desire to shoot longer ranges and possibly hunt larger game, I've settled on the heavier bullet weights (180 grain) due to their better ballistic coefficients. This is a problem because the rifle absolutely loves sierra 165 game king HPBTs at 2250 fps out to 100 yds, and at 2520 fps out to 300 yds. This bullet has been an awesome performer for me on deer and hogs. It's low BC, however, does not give me confidence in shooting at coyotes out to 300 yds because it has the potential to drift so much in a 10mph wind. I acknowledge my lack of skill in judging wind, and doubt I'll have time to set up my anemometer in a real world hunting situation. So, I've recently started all over again with load development focused on bullets with a .500 or better BC and a computed drift of no more than 6 inches at 300.
All of the Match Kings are off the table because they are not recommended for shooting game. Also, years before I knew better, I used 190 match kings on two deer and was not impressed with the results.
The biggest problem encountered to date, and I think this will apply to you as well, is that "optimal" (not trying to start a debate on jump vs. jam here) bullet seating depth of .02" off the lands is not feasible in my rifle because OAL is too long to fit in the magazine of the rifle. Although great for target shooting, I don't want to limit my bolt gun to a single shot while out on a hunt.
So, all of that background out of the way, here's what I'm in the process of trying out:
180 Nosler Ballistic Tips
180 Sierra SBT
180 Speer SBT
I'm considering some of the Swift and Barnes bullets, but they seem a bit pricey to me and they haven't had any in stock at the stores I frequent (also hate paying shipping if possible and cash leaves no evidence of the $$$ spent on my hobby for the wife
) I prefer neck shots and therefore I like faster expanding bullets and don't see a need for partitions or other super-duper titanium bonded bullets. I also readily admit that I am a bit partial to sierra products based upon my experiences to date.
Goal is 2600 fps which I am steadily in the process of working up to and varying bullet seating depth. I have a 20" barrel on my rifle so the 2600fps mark is not the easiest to get to.
A few decent performers so far, but nothing at MOA yet. Best results have been with H4895 and Varget. I've run out of case capacity with IMR 4064 even though I'm still less than published sierra maximums, and groups (patterns) were not impressive in my rifle. I have no experience reloading compressed loads so I have shied away from them.
Those powders were selected based upon their published temperature in-sensitivity, previous good results, and recommendations from other users.
Bottom line, YMMV, but hope this disseration helps somewhat. Send me a PM if you're interested in updates. Good luck.
LH3