Good .308 barrel Length?

[spencerhenry]

sight zero at 400 yds? going to be quite high at 100 to 200yds, too high to shoot at something deer size or smaller without holding under. shooting game at 400yds with a 308, especiallly a 16" barrel is not something i would feel good about doing unless you are talking about coyotes or other varmints. 308 is a great caliber, but it is not a "flat shooter", nor is it a long range powerhouse. many studies have been done on how much performance you lose on short barrels, but a good guess is about 100fps per inch. you will certainly be down a few hundred fps from a 24". look in a reloading manual for downrange ballistics with a few hundred fps shaved off the muzzle velocity.

from my sierra manual: 165gr hpbt, max velocity from a 26" barrel is 2700 fps, just assume that with a 16" barrel you are still at 2500fps (probably less). sighted zero a 400yds, the bullet will be about 10" high at 100, 16" high at 200, and 13" high at 300. but if the muzzle velocity is say 2400fps, the mid range trajectory is 12", 18", and 15". with a velocity remaining at 400yds of under 1600 fps and energy is under 900ftlbs. i doubt any 308 caliber bullet is intended to expand at that slow a velocity.

i have shot quite a few animals at long range, and it is amazing how little power a bullet has left at 400 yds or more. a bullet capable of smashing bone at 200yds or less will sometimes glance off a bone at 400 plus.
i just shot a coyote today at 583yds. shot him 3 times at that range(missed 4 times). he was going to die, but not right away. the bullets were going too slow to expand or impart much energy on the animal. i finally got to about 200yds and finished him off.

[ColoEnthusiast]

There was a guy selling some S. African ammo awhile back for $70 per 140rd. battle pack. Click .308 for his ad. It is brass with berdan priming, so not reloadable, but no worries for that rifle of yours.
Realistically, most people have no real need for extreme range shooting other than for targets and recreation. Totally preference, but IMO, I would love to have a .308 AR with either 16 or 18 inch barrel. I would put a red dot, like an Aimpoint or Eotech on it and co-witness it with flip rear sight.
Speaking of 18" barrels, HK91's are also 18" like the SWAT rifles mentioned above... Little longer than yours, but not by much.

[hawk1]

sight zero at 400 yds? going to be quite high at 100 to 200yds, too high to shoot at something deer size or smaller without holding under. shooting game at 400yds with a 308, especiallly a 16" barrel is not something i would feel good about doing unless you are talking about coyotes or other varmints. 308 is a great caliber, but it is not a "flat shooter", nor is it a long range powerhouse. many studies have been done on how much performance you lose on short barrels, but a good guess is about 100fps per inch. you will certainly be down a few hundred fps from a 24". look in a reloading manual for downrange ballistics with a few hundred fps shaved off the muzzle velocity.

from my sierra manual: 165gr hpbt, max velocity from a 26" barrel is 2700 fps, just assume that with a 16" barrel you are still at 2500fps (probably less). sighted zero a 400yds, the bullet will be about 10" high at 100, 16" high at 200, and 13" high at 300. but if the muzzle velocity is say 2400fps, the mid range trajectory is 12", 18", and 15". with a velocity remaining at 400yds of under 1600 fps and energy is under 900ftlbs. i doubt any 308 caliber bullet is intended to expand at that slow a velocity.

i have shot quite a few animals at long range, and it is amazing how little power a bullet has left at 400 yds or more. a bullet capable of smashing bone at 200yds or less will sometimes glance off a bone at 400 plus.
i just shot a coyote today at 583yds. shot him 3 times at that range(missed 4 times). he was going to die, but not right away. the bullets were going too slow to expand or impart much energy on the animal. i finally got to about 200yds and finished him off.

No this is the S#%@ I'm talking about!!! My research can't compare to good ol' fashion discussion!!!

So in your opinion, with a 16" barrel, 165gr hpbt, with a 1:10 RHtwist, what would be a good distance to sight in at?

[spencerhenry]

if i were using a 308 for hunting, it would be sighted zero at 200yds. with a 200yd zero, there is no need to aim low, or high out to about 250yds. puts you about 2.5" high at 100, about 11 low at 300. for deer or smaller animals the 308 even with short barrel velocities is plenty powerful out to 300, with proper placement it is enough for elk and moose too, though on the edge of underpowered. the key at the longer ranges is PLACEMENT.
my ar-10 is currently sighted at about 200yds, i bought it for long range coyote hunting and intend one of these days to actually use it for that. when you start to look at long range ballistics (over 500 yds), the 308 doesnt look so good. the drop of the bullet in the 500 to 600 yd range is dramatic. range estimation has got to be right on, equipment has to be top notch, and shooter skill has to be great. even with all that, a coyote size target is a very tough shot. a man size target at that range in my estimation is easy.
since i am a long range type shooter i want the most i can get out of a caliber for trajectory which is why i have a 24" barreled ar-10, and a 26" barreled bolt rifle. both shoot the same load into one ragged hole, if i really need to shoot something flatter, i will get out a different caliber.

[spencerhenry]

my 50 bmg is actually sighted zero at 800. but it only gets shot at targets over 600 yds. sometimes up to 2000yds. to hit at 100yds, i have to aim about 5 FEET low.
my point is, sight your rifle so that you dont have to think about aiming high or low in the ranges you are most likely to shoot. i used to sight my coyote rifle at 3 to 3.5" high at 100. with that zero i didnt need to hold over out to about 325 yds. unfortunately when a coyote or fox was at 100 to 150, i would occasionally shoot over. my calling skills got alot better, and now most of my shots are at 200yds and under. with my new lower zero, i rarely miss out to 300.

[ColoEnthusiast]

Good advice from spencerhenry. I was thinking a 200 yard zero would be the ideal range as well, especially for your barrel length.

[Marine24]

One option is sight in three inches high at 100 yards. With a 165 gr bullet, your maximum point blank range would run close to 300 yards.

Within that range, not a lot of dialing in your dope is needed, since you'll be within a six inch circle out to that range.

Very effective when the shooting is fast or the targets are moving.