How much gun is too much?

R.K.

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I have one rifle- a Ruger American in .308. Barrel is 1:10 twist rate, and the 168gr copper solids group really well.

I tried some 150gr, but they didn't group nearly as well, and I'm pretty leery of trying lighter rounds because of it.

So- I have two tags to fill. Will the round I have be overkill, and waste too much meat? Or should I not worry about it, and just go hunt?
 
You'll be perfectly fine. I shot one with a .300 last year through the lungs with zero loss of meat.

I mean don't shoot one that's at a severe quartering away angle where you'll go through a hind quarter and offside front shoulder. Sure, then you'll have problems.
 
I have one rifle- a Ruger American in .308. Barrel is 1:10 twist rate, and the 168gr copper solids group really well.

I tried some 150gr, but they didn't group nearly as well, and I'm pretty leery of trying lighter rounds because of it.

So- I have two tags to fill. Will the round I have be overkill, and waste too much meat? Or should I not worry about it, and just go hunt?
I don't think any of the common hunting calibers are "too much gun" for any big game.

The real question is not is your bullet too heavy or your caliber too big, it is "can you shoot it accurately in the field". I recommend folks shoot towards the lower end of acceptable cartridges and bullet weights for a given game type, not because of a concern about "too big", but rather, the vast majority of shooters shoot less recoiling rifles more accurately. But gun weight, shooter perception of recoil, velocity, powder choice, break?, suppressor? all factor in to this. So, really for me "too much gun" is not my question, it is the encouragement to, "minimize recoil where you can". In your case the recoil difference between those two bullets is likely negligible.

Also, when running all copper the manufactures due tend to recommend lower bullet weight going faster as they typically like 2,000+ fps at point of impact for proper expansion.
 
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I hope you misspoke and are not shooting copper solids. I think they are illegal. The bullet (assuming you are talking about an expanding copper) will do fine and the .308 is not high-velocity, anyway. It always amazes me how many people get wrapped up around meat waste. Shoot them in the lungs, or neck and very little is wasted. Shoot them in the shoulder, drop them on the spot and waste part of the front end, which has very little meat on the deer, anyway. Pay more attention to getting the animal on the ground, than the bit of meat that may be wasted in the process. I am not a fan of all-copper bullets for deer, as they are not needed, but they also are a bit more meat friendly than c and c-type bullets.

There is no such thing as overkill. Dead is dead. Under-kill may be more of a problem in some instances, but also is mitigated by quality bullets. The .308 is one of the last rounds that I would ever worry about being overkill.
 
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