Model 11 Hog Hunter .308 Win, Ammo Test

[jonbearman]

One of the cheaper federal lines is the hi-shok 150 grain soft points and the stuff shoots great out of every brand of rifle I have fired it through.If you want to plink,then plink. But if you really are serious about accuracy,get into reloading and then you will wonder why you didnt in the first place.It will save money over time and the true satisfaction of knowing your homemade ammo will out shoot anything commercially made.Keep in mond that ammo made to sammi specs has to fit every rifle and be safe in every rifle ever made in .308.Basically the jump the bullet takes to get to the riflings can be significant.By reloading you control the quality and the components of each and every round that gets shot from that rifle.

[Rifleshooter308]

Yes it is exactly because of your barrel. Most ballistic charts are created from 24-26" barrels not 20". So if the box say's 2650 FPS then it's probably 2400 out of your 20". That is why factory ammo sucks for anything other than plinking. My first thought was wow your groups are terrible. I would not be happy with 3 MOA at all. But then again for cheap factory ammo it does the job intended. It is Minute of Deer...or Man which is what you should expect for the price.

Hand loading offers so much more in the way of accuracy. Not just in picking the bullet but also in tweaking the charge for your rifle. The factory will always be conservative and on the low side of the charge ladder for liability reasons. Every factory round I have chronoed has been well below their stated speed. For example I load my 175g SMK round to 2620 in a 20" barrel and 2850 in a 26" barrel a full 200+ FPS more than any factory load and much more consistent. My 150's run 3000 FPS!. You can't even compare it to factory. Once you shoot hand loads you only see factory ammo as a source of brass. :p

[SUB MOA]

Sorry to revive an old thread but now that I've been shooting a bit longer I keep getting better and growing from my own mistakes. Over the last couple months I've improved my shooting style and now it is more consistent. My ammo choice is still the Hornady American Whitetail 150g Interlock SP. Today I went out to the range and printed a 5/8" 108 yard 3 round group. Then at 208 yards I put 9/9 rounds into a 3" group. It was windy out and I'm not very good at adjusting for wind yet, but within the 9 shots, there was a 3 shot group of 5/8"! At 208 yards! I was pretty excited. This Hornady American Whitetail for the .308 is amazing stuff. My Hog Hunter loves it.

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii240/PPPluschakov/securedownload_zpsca83b1ba.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii240/PPPluschakov/securedownload1_zps2c942d65.jpg

[DanSavage]

That is great! It's very satisfying when you can see improvements. Shooting style can make a big difference. Good Job!

[TheBorderReiver]

Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but I couldn't help but notice how your groups look awfully similar a friend's that has the same model gun. No matter what ammunition he shot out of it, it always shot the same 3" group. We shot some 150gr. Soft point Winchester stuff, 168gr. Hornady match, 147gr. FMJ surplus stuff, and some 165gr. Nosler Accu-Bond propelled by 44gr. of Varget. Nothing seemed to make a difference. Then I had the idea to screw off the thread protector on the muzzle. The groups shrunk to under an inch center to center. Have you tried taking off that and re-testing?

[gvance]

I don't reload, but when I got my hog hunter in .308 I tried lots of different ammo and mine shoots the Hornady interloc whitetail bullet the best also.

[Bimmer]

Now I am on a mission to find an affordable bulk round to stock up on. I based my option off of what I consistently see to be the top 3 most widely available and affordable rounds recently.

MFS 140gr SP
PPU 145gr FMJBT
PMC 147gr FMJBT

I have an FCP-SR (.308), and I also have an M14-type, so I have a lot of 7.62 surplus ammo laying around.

In my experience, PPU is OK, but I've had really astonishingly good results with Lithuanian surplus (GGG). It's not widely available or really cheap anymore, but it's worth it.

As somebody else said, you're going to want to try match ammo. MilSurp/Bulk ammo is OK, but the components and performance are inconsistent. Those "flyers" are a sign of this.



Then at 208 yards I put 9/9 rounds into a 3" group. It was windy out and I'm not very good at adjusting for wind yet, but within the 9 shots, there was a 3 shot group of 5/8"!

WTH?

This makes me think you don't know how to measure groups... A 9-shot 3" group is a 3" group. A subset of the 9 rounds is NOT a "group."

[robtattoo]

Late reply to an older thread, but those li'l Hog Hunters really can shoot. Especially when you work up a reload that it likes.
I had the same issue of not being able to find a single factory round that I was happy with. Most were 'hunting accurate' but I get picky about that....

This was a shot a while back, but here's a 3 round group at 500yds.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/robtattoo/Mobile%20Uploads/20150325_135334_zpskgcpqbbx.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/robtattoo/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20150325_135334_zpskgcpqbbx.jpg.html)