What grain??

[DysfunctionalVet]

What's the best grain for precision plinking? It's not for competition but would be to challenge myself out to 800-1000 yards with .308

[laurelpark]

I'm sure there are much more knowledgeable people out there than me, but I think it really depends on the gun (barrel length and twist probably being the biggest factors). I have some guns that are fine with standard NATO 147 gr. rounds, and I have some that really like .308 168 or 175 gr. For varmint plinking, I generally just shoot the cheap stuff to give them a fighting chance.

[rmfool]

You'll need a little more info about your gun. Just to ask whats the best ammo for plinking out to 1000 yard is a little vague. Ant there is more to shooting 1000 yards than just plinking

[jeremyro]

Incredibly broad question. I 800 yrds starts to be the range when shooters start to miss pretty dramatically. Whenever I am doing the 1000yrd practice at Sac 800 is where people start to be pulled off the line for missing the target completely. This is not even necessarily with 308, but wind really becomes an issue past 600 or so.

If you want to shoot past 800 you are going to want it to be supersonic if possible so anything under 175gr is not going to do you favors. Even if your barrel "likes" 150gr pills, if your bullet is tumbling it will be difficult to get hits. Not impossible ming you, but really hard.

In summation 175.... and they will be expensive.

[NapalmCheese]

What's the best grain for precision plinking? It's not for competition but would be to challenge myself out to 800-1000 yards with .308

I'm a fan of rye personally. It's easy to grow darn near anywhere, makes tasty bread and good whiskey.

[RobG]

800-1k with 308 means 175/178's. You can run a 155 Lapua Scenar with the right barrel twist and pushing them fast enough.

[boomer135]

if you have a 1:10 twist on your 308. I would just develops a load for 175's. If you don't reload then just pick up a few boxes of Federal GMM 175. The 175 will also help with bucking a bit more wind.

[PaperPuncher]

If hand loading you can do well with 168s but 175s will make life slightly easier past 800.

I have 168 SMK HPBT on top of (IIRC) 46.5 grains of varget (slightly hot by the manual) seated at 2.91 OAL so it can be mag fed (AICS short action). This has been shooting extremely well in my sps (stock barrel 1:10) @ 800 yards.

[ar15barrels]

If shooting factory ammo, you want a 175gr Sierra matchking bullet.
If you are loading your own ammo, try 155 berger hybrids, 155 Sierra matchking or 155 scenars.
You can also shoot the 175gr variants that those same company's offer.

[DysfunctionalVet]

If shooting factory ammo, you want a 175gr Sierra matchking bullet.
If you are loading your own ammo, try 155 berger hybrids, 155 Sierra matchking or 155 scenars.
You can also shoot the 175gr variants that those same company's offer.

Thanks!

[Cowboy T]

My choice for .308 is the 178gr Hornady Match BTHP for those distances. Reasonably priced and does a good job.

Also works great in .30-06, by the way.

[icallshotgun88]

What's the best grain for precision plinking? It's not for competition but would be to challenge myself out to 800-1000 yards with .308

You will need to know the twist rate and barrel length to get a better answer...

you will also need to experiment a lottttt

even with ammo of the same grain, there are different velocity ratings which will effect accuracy as well

My 22" 1:10 twist .308 seemed to like 165 grain sierra match kings

[desert dog]

175 grainers in a fast twist barrel for distance work. I like a 1:10 for these.

155 grainers in a slower barrel.

[NorCalFocus]

Boy I'm glad I didn't ask anyone here for advice on what bullet to run in my 1:12 twist. From some of the replies here it sounds like y'all would tell me to run 150-168 bullets.

Twist rate vs bullet weight in a .308 is not as critical as it is in a .223. Most .308s run a 10-12 twist and all will handle the 175-178 grain bullets. Like Randal said, the 155's work too, but you have to really get them going to use them effectively. The 175-178 bullets buck the wind very well even with low speeds.

[desert dog]

Most .308s run a 10-12 twist and all will handle the 175-178 grain bullets.

They definitely will not stabilize well at 1000 yards out of a 20" barrel. That is why Rem went with a 1:10 in their shorter barrels. Out to 600 will not make a difference.