Hornady .308 Win 150 Gr Sst Light Mag

[The Annoyed Man]

Has anybody had any experience with this round?

I'm going on my first ever deer hunt in about 3 weeks, and I'll be taking along a Remington 700 VSF in .308. It's a little bit on the heavy side for carrying around, but it is a very accurate rifle, and it's the only left handed action I own. I figure that, if I'm going to shoot at an animal, I want to be sure that I can hit it at any reasonable hunting range for a .308 round.

I just bought my hunting license today - also a first. The gun shop I usually go to recommended the Hornady 150 Gr SST as good deer medicine for Texas white tails, and I bought a couple of boxes of them, but when I went to the Hornady website to see how high I need to be at 100 yards to have a 200 yard zero, I noticed the light magnum round. I've read a little bit about them, but have never actually tried shooting them. Both cartridges are shooting the same bullet, the 150 Gr SST which has a BC of .415 and a sectional density of .226, but the regular cartridge has a muzzle velocity/energy of 2820/2648, whereas the light magnum's is 3000/2997. Also, with a 200 yard zero, the regular load will be 1.8" high at 100 yards, compared to the light magnum's 1.5" high at 100 yards.

The light magnum's are a little bit more expensive, but I can afford either, so to buy a couple of boxes of either, the price difference would not be a factor.

We'll be hunting near Weatherford, Texas, and some of that is going to be out on the prairie - or so I'm told. My friend who's taking me says that he's taken deer there out as far as 500 yards (using a custom built .284 magnum), but I doubt that I would have the confidence to make that shot at that distance myself, on a living creature. He did say that it would be probable that I would have targets out past 200 yards, closer to 300. I've fired at a steel sillouette target of a deer at 750 yards before and hit it, but I understand that this not nearly the same thing, and I have a deep and abiding respect for wildlife, and I wouldn't want to take a shot that I wasn't absolutely certain would hit where I wanted it to.

I don't know, but maybe I'm obssessing a bit?

Anway, I was hoping somebody with personal knowledge of the performance of the Hornady light magnum .308 round will tell me if it gives the shooter enough of an advantage to bother with it inside of say 400 yards, or should I stick with the standard load?

 

[The Annoyed Man]

Bump...

 

[huntershooter]

I would be surprised if the "light magnum" load prints 2-3" higher than the standard load @ 400 yds.(don't have a reloading manual at hand). Have you ever shot at 3-400 yds. using "field expedient" rests/positions? It is a different game than bench resting. If this is your first deer hunt, my recommendation(s) are: shoot kneeling, sitting, prone at 300 and 400 yds. If you can keep 3 out of 3 shots on a 6" paper plate at each distance, in each position,consider yourself and equipment capable. If you drop a shot at 300/400 yds. from any position, don't allow yourself the use of that position at the yardage missed. Hitting @ 3 and 400 yds is pretty easy from prone-BUT, chances are great that prone will not be an option in a hunting scenario, due to brush/terrain. Oh, and yes, 8" is the "vital zone" of a deer-but these are my recommendations. Good luck.

 

[The Annoyed Man]

I've done a little bit of shooting from "field expedient" positions, namely standing and sitting, but not for many years, and not at a moving live target. I spent several afternoons busting small rocks at about 300 yards with a Ruger bolt rifle in .308, but that was easily 15 years ago, and this is a heavier rifle now. I'll be getting in some range time to re-zero for this round, so I'll also concentrate on shooting from different positions.