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Seeking opinions on what bullet style is most popular with 308 reloaders.
The picture shows pulled bullets in .308
the two bullets on the left are M118's 175 grain , the others are from left to right are what I am contemplating buying/re-selling (they aren't for my personal use) ... 168 grain HP and 168 grain Balistic Tip.
Between the two bullet styles on the right , HP or BT , which is most popular among the reloaders?


Thanks,
Doug

What are you going for on the load? Distance shooting? Hunting? Plinking? Anti-personnel? That would help. If you want the "popular" bullets... the 168gr HPBT is the standard and has been since the 1960's.

Thanks Drew. Yes, going for popular.

"the 168gr HPBT is the standard and has been since the 1960's."

That statement should be enough for me to make a decision... lol.

I'll also add that the most common plinking rounds are the 147gr FMJBT. Those are common in the manufactured rounds and also the common weight in mil-surp ammo. But, for reloading, the 168gr HPBT is the standard.

Actually, there are more than just the 168 gr that are "standard" for the .308. It depends on what you're using it for. Yes, 168 is popular and I buy them by the thousands, brand new. Some load lots of 155 gr bullets especially those competing in Palma Matches. My rifle is specifically made for the heavier 173gr military bullet but shoots the nuts off gnats with a 175 gr.

If you need a bullet to be supersonic at long ranges the lighter bullets will do a better job. If you want to knock something down inside of 800 yards, a 175 gr bullet is great. Anything heavier than 180gr in a .308 is impractical as the case is small and it's hard to get it up to any speed.

The best performing bullets in my rifle with a 11.28:1 twist, 24" barrel are the Nosler Custom Competition HPBT's both 168 gr and 175 gr. The 168's can be bought for as little as 21 cents each in boxes of 1,000 (Powder Valley). I also have great results with Nosler 165gr Ballistic Tips as well as the Hornady A-Max 68 gr. I use the A-Max bullet to duplicate Hornady's LE Tactical Round and the Nosler 175 gr Custom Comp's to duplicate their Tactical "Barrier Round". Even though I'm duplicating their rounds I find that mine give me far smaller groups.

I've found that Varget works great for these bullets. Also use H-4895 when I "get bored".