Cheapest .308 rounds in Ireland?

Free-2-Flow

Hi lads, now that hunting season is nearly over im looking for a cheap round for messing with during the downtime months for shooting paper, doesn't have to be accurate as it's not a target rifle but rather to keep a hand in.
Cheers

cookimonster

Maybe not the answer you want......but try this.

Find out what your rifle likes to shoot in a suitable deer round. Zero the the rifle in with these. Go through the box or two just for familiarizing and the craic, and at different ranges 100m out to 300m to know your trajectory.

Then hunt foxes during the off season to get not only your eye in but to know your set up in field conditions, all weather, all day / night states etc etc. It doesn't have to be a Mexican wedding, the odd fox will help the skills.

You can buy PPU (Serbian ammo) and some guys swear by it others swear at it. But it might not suit your rifle or hold the same POI and grouping so you'll always be secound guessing yours and the guns capability. And then again it may be perfect for you.

Just don't go using FMJ stuff especially if informal plinking as they do like to zing off into the distance if your back stop can't soak them up and are IMO and quite a few others not suitable for hunting anything. As I say leave them to the boys in the Geneva Convention.

clivej

Free-2-Flow wrote: »

Hi lads, now that hunting season is nearly over im looking for a cheap round for messing with during the downtime months for shooting paper, doesn't have to be accurate as it's not a target rifle but rather to keep a hand in.
Cheers

Not a good idea to just get ammo to go bang. It will only dishearten you to see the bad groups.

Get half as much quality ammo to get the best groups your rifle can shoot.

With good quality ammo my Sako 75 .308 will put them all well in a 2" shoot 'n see at 200y. PPU will group 4"/5" at the same distance, and just piss me off

leupold90

Hornady steel match isn't bad.
http://atlanticshootingandfishing.ie/product/hornady-steel-match-bthp-155gr-308/
If you just want some trigger time Mil surplus stuff can be ok too.

extremetaz

clivej wrote: »

Not a good idea to just get ammo to go bang. It will only dishearten you to see the bad groups.

Same as that - nothing like bad ammo to frustrate you when you're trying to shoot properly, and make it easy to miss the things that you're actually doing wrong.

Get something that runs well enough that you can spot when it's you that's the problem, so that you can still get some satisfaction from a nice group or a long shot that hits the mark - doesn't have to be match grade stuff, just enough to let you test yourself with some measure of confidence.

Free-2-Flow

leupold90 wrote:

Hornady steel match isn't bad.

You seem to have misread my headline, "Cheapest" not most "expensive lol

RossiFan08

Free-2-Flow wrote: »

leupold90 wrote:

Hornady steel match isn't bad.

You seem to have misread my headline, "Cheapest" not most "expensive lol

It is 65 for a box of 50 so works out as 26 for 20

clivej

leupold90 wrote: »

Hornady steel match isn't bad.
http://atlanticshootingandfishing.ie/product/hornady-steel-match-bthp-155gr-308/
If you just want some trigger time Mil surplus stuff can be ok too.

Went down and picked up a box today. Range test with them in the morning

Free-2-Flow

RossiFan08 wrote:

It is 65 for a box of 50 so works out as 26 for 20

Ah right, I thought that was a box of 20

tac foley

MEN milsurp is pretty good in both my .308s.

Dunno how much it costs where you are, but here it's the cheapest. Note that milsurp bullets are a deal lighter that most [please note that I wrote 'most', not all] commercial bullets, weighing in at, I think, 150gr, rather than the 168gr of commercial stuff, although at the Shooting Show today all I could find was Hornady 150gr for reloading.

The MEN shoots under 3/4MOA all day when I have to use it instead of my fancy stuff.

PPU is variable, and by that I mean variable within the same box, by as much as 200 fps - not that good for establishing any kind of quality target time.

tac

Grizzly 45

Not to mind case sizing. Could be sure of at least five stuck cases per 20 in my rifle once things get warm.

Free-2-Flow

clivej wrote:

Went down and picked up a box today. Range test with them in the morning

Let me know

Cass

The Midlands (range) were selling Fiocchi in 308, 150gr FMJ i think, for around €20 to €22 per 20 rounds. Good enough out to 600 yards that you could practice with confidence with them.

tac foley

Cass wrote: »

The Midlands (range) were selling Fiocchi in 308, 150gr FMJ i think, for around €20 to €22 per 20 rounds. Good enough out to 600 yards that you could practice with confidence with them.

:eek: x 100.

It's like tearing up 100eu notes - but at least you can reload them in your situation which makes it a little less painful, but Fiocchi is really down at the lower end of precision.

tac

Cass

As opposed to what?

The steel match is more expensive at €65 per 50 (€1.30 per round) and cannot be reloaded. Every other round is €35 per 20 (€1.75 per round) all the way up to €45 per 20 (€2.25 per round).

The PPU is absolute muck. Mis fires, 4" groups at 100 yards, and frankly not good enough to even us to break in a barrel. Had a lad use them at the HCAP one year and he failed three times in a row. Switched him to another round and he passed with ease. That is shooting from 40 to 100 yards and the PPU could not keep a consistent 6" group.

Also i've used and seen the Fiocchi used at 1000 yards (for sh*ts and giggles). Groups sizes were between 24" down to 11" depending on the rifle and shooter. For a factory round at the low end of the cost scale that is pretty good.

tac foley

Cass wrote: »

For a factory round at the low end of the cost scale that is pretty good.

'spose so. For sure target rifle shooting is not a poor man's sport. However, it's all relative, having noted that our next door neighbours are off to Zermatt next week, and have coughed up around 3000eu for their new season skiing clothing - none of 'en have ever stood on a ski before in their lives, either.

tac

Cass

I'm not singing their praises as a "go to" target round. For that they're terible, but then so are the top end Hornady stuff. just not designed for long range.

However for short range (under 500 yards), informal plinking they're something you could use with some degree of confidence that won't break the bank.

However reloading is the only way to go for accuracy and consistency. Price is not an issue in this case and anyone who loads for long range and does it to save money is missing the point of reloading.

tac foley

Agreed. All I do is shoot way more than I would otherwise have been able to do.

I'm doing my best to wear out a whole bunch of barrels before I hang up my earplugs for ever.

tac

clivej

clivej wrote: »

Went down and picked up a box today. Range test with them in the morning

Free-2-Flow wrote: »

Let me know

Same POI as the Hornady rounds I'm using now.

So I stopped on the way back from Harbour House range today and bought another box.. Perfect rounds for the STAGGS shoot at Midlands

ejg

The 155 Hornady steelmatch shoot quite well but are very slow. From two CTR's (20") and a my 20" Bartlein barrel they are around 2470 fps. Hornady Match 168bthp do 2600 from the same barrels. From my remmy I have 50% misfire with the steelmatch. They mostly fire at the second attempt. The firing pin spring might be a bit slack. No problems with my Mauser, she almost knocks the cartridge out the front...
edi

Grizzly 45

Cass wrote: »

The Midlands (range) were selling Fiocchi in 308, 150gr FMJ i think, for around €20 to €22 per 20 rounds. Good enough out to 600 yards that you could practice with confidence with them.

Pity they cant get anymore of them:(
Have a look at the US prices for POLISH made 308 milspec in the link,60 CENTS per round.Would sicken your shte!:(

http://r.email-dsarms.com/4a4av7tpsz0ff.html

Cass

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Pity they cant get anymore of them:(

Piss off!

there goes my plans to nip over and get some tomorrow.

Free-2-Flow

clivej wrote:

So I stopped on the way back from Harbour House range today and bought another box.. Perfect rounds for the STAGGS shoot at Midlands

Anywhere in Leinster to buy? Only seen them over West way

tac foley

Cass, you're right about the price of factory ammunition. Went to the Great British Shooting Show yesterday with a car-load of pals, and had to sit down after seeing some of the prices on the so-called 'CHEAP AMMO!!!' stand.

A guy on the .50cal association stand told me that HIS ammunition was 'just under' £17 a shot, and he found that he would be losing his edge if he shot less than 1400 rounds a year................................. :O. Even the cheapest bullets worth shooting were £63.50 for twenty. Reloading is the only way to go there, of course.

It was the price of ordinary stuff like .338LM that totally floored me. I don't shoot the stuff, but I'd be wanting to be already lying down after cranking off half a dozen shots at 4.50eu a bang.

tac

Capt Blackadder

Any updates on cheap .308 that shoots well?

Been using the Sellier and Bellot 147gr fmj with some surprising results. Expected nothing from it, and was grouping a 3in group at 300yds, and managed one group of well under 2in at 200yds. It comes in at just a touch over a euro a pop. I'm looking to pick up more and take it out further to see how it behaves.

Does anyone know of Mil surplus ammo for sale anywhere?

Damoeire33

My 308 loved the fiocchi 150gr sst. Shot sub moa when I did my bit. My 243 on the other hand wouldn't hit the broad side of a barn with fiocchi 95 sst. Both are tikka. ...

Hunter456

i hear ppu are back in stock try irishshootingsports he got some in 308 the other day.