.308 load suggestions

[Rocky Raab]

Those are all very good bullets indeed. If you go with the Barnes, drop back to a 150-grainer, though. As an all-copper bullet, they are VERY long for their weight and a 180 would be really tough to get into a .308 case with any powder space left at all. You needn't worry about performance - I bet you never recover a TSX from an animal, even if you shoot one lengthwise.

Use only Barnes data for Barnes bullets. That long bearing surface changes how loads react.

With any of those bullet choices, I'd look hard at Reloder 15 powder. It really shines in the .308. Varget is another great choice, and with the 180 grainers, so is W760.

Not to throw a wrench into it, but I have always found 150s or 165s to be optimum in the .308. Any of the bullets you mention are more than needed for black bears or whitetail, but you will certainly get premium performance from them. My favorite .308 deer bullet (whitetail or muley) has been the plain Jane Hornady #3031 150 softpoint. Hasn't failed me in over 30 years of hunting. I load it to a moderate 2700 fps and make one-shot DRT kills with it. If I wanted more than perfection, I'd just substitute a 150 Nosler Partition.