If I am going to go through the fuss of load development I hoped to get one bullet for targets and hunting. What would you pick to accurately shoot at 800 yards and hunt out to 300?

No question- A-max. 155 or 178 grain.

is the BC of the 155 better? Shooting in a 1 in 12 rifle.

BC will be higher for heavier bullets

I have been shooting SM 150hpbt at everything I have no problem pulling the trigger on any good sized game. will be taking a red stag sometime with them. or my contender pistol

EVERY 30 cal I have ever had liked 165-168 grain bullets. 30 cabine excluded! Some liked 170-180 better, some shot 150 just as good. 300-800 yards depending on twist,165 Boat tail or longer. Fast becoming a fan of the A-Max,in the past it was Match Kings,Game Kings,Pro hunters (flat base), and Nosler BT.

Personal favorite 308 bullet is the 165gr accubond. But then I do not stretch them past 400 yards very often and hunt more with it than target shoot. Primarally use other calibers for target shooting

Berger is another that's a do all. Like Chad said the Amax is said to be a good medium game bullet (Hornady manual says it is at least as well as many hunters), like Kmon1 said the Accubond is flat deadly but kinda expensive to target shoot with.

Lot's will hunt to 300y, it's the 800y part that's hard.
I went with the two bullet solution
150gr Speer for deer, 168gr SMK for longer range target practice.

It depends what you are hunting. The 168gr Berger VLD would be hard to beat. They are absolutely devistating on deer and hogs.

Although this is generaly true...

Lapua Scenar 155gr has a .508 BC while the Sierra MK 168gr has a .450. Bullet design and velocity has influence on any BC number

When I was shooting .308 I had outstanding results with the Hornady 178 A-Max. Both in predictability out to 1000 yards and performance on impact in animals. It destroyed two coyotes one morning at 180 yards, with exit wounds that were grapefruit sized. The next morning it dropped a 350 pound boar dead in his tracks at 110 yards. There was no exit wound on him but that's a whole bunch of tough tissue to get through.

I ran them in a 24", 1:10" twist on top of 44.8 gr of H-Varget and got 2730 fps routinely. It perfomed the same to 500 yards no matter what the temp, baro, humidity, density altitude, moon phase or day of the week it was.

The A-max is cheaper than the 175 Match King and will out shoot it! It also happens to be a very good killing bullet.

Thanks for the corrective. That is what I meant, but I did not say it very explicitly. When I made my comment the only bullet that had been mentioned was the A-max.

155 A-Max @ 2900+ fps is my do-all .308 in two of my rifles. The higher velocity makes up for the lack of BC.

Hornandy 150 gr SST Superperformance 3000 fps muzzle velocity, You have a 146 inch drop if you are zeroed at 300. It is all ballistic charts. I use their calculator all the time. Look for a higher muzzle velocity the Rem and Winchester loads are about 2820 fps and the bullet drops faster

i like the 168 grn amax.. great shooter all the way to 500 no prblms,, haven't tstd past that,, deer, hogs, coyotes,, all die to same pill

that drop I mentioned was at 800 yards

I shoot a Rem. 700 308 L/H w/Burris 312 XTR....I load everything
from 130 gr. X bullets to 165 grain Speer...Usually get less than
1 in . groups at 100yds...I cull shoot with the X bullets in 130
or 150 grain..and not loaded to max..the 130 chro at about 3100
and 150 over 2900...I've never had to shoot anything with it over
400yds...But I did use to shoot much father w/my 300 Mags...and 7mm Rem Mgs..still not always a good idea...But we all play some
when younger and sometimes in our dottering old age..Dirt

I shoot 168 and 178 grain Amax with excellent results punching paper or pigs.

Joe

130gr TTSX

I had incredible luck with the in my ar-10 but haven't found a bolt rifle that likes them. That was with the factory loads though.


Made my first batch with 165 Sierra game kings but the ballistic coefficient is pretty sad so I will probably build up a 175 Sierra match king for long range work.

165 gameking for hunting and 178 amax for long range shooting. My 1 in 12 does fine with the 178

Pay attention. 41 or 42 grains of IMR4895 with the 178.