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I see the .308 as a ‘modern’ .303 as long as the .308 has a quick twist barrel and 200-220 grain bullets. Its funny that NATO picked a rimless .303 of sorts. Much is made of the US pressure on NATO to accept a short .30-06, but really the .308 is a ‘light bullet .303, ballisticaly speaking!


For some time I have used a method to test hunting bullets/loads and 1 recently decided to test some .303 loads. My ballistic media starts with a piece of 1/2 inch plywood followed by a water-filled USA 1 Gallon plastic milk jug. This combination is then repeated, with all boards and jugs set snugly together. A USA 1 gallon milk jug is about 51/2 inches wide. For those of you who have followed the French into the metric system, the boards are 1.27 cm thick and a gallon jug takes about 3.78 litres and sits about 14 cm wide


Weather was 320 Fahrenheit (00C) and snowy and muddy. Clammy. New snow stayed away long enough for me to get the loads chronographed before the jug-shooting started.


All shooting was done at 20 meters.

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Winchester Super Speed 180 Pointed Soft Point Factory Load @ 2356 fps.
Old stock.
- Fully penetrated 3 boards and 2 jugs. Bullet was found in 3rd jug.
- Recovered weight 148 grains, 82%, .68" diameter.

Remington-Peters 215 grain Round Nose Factory Load @ 2004 fps.
1950s-1960s stock
- Full penetration of 4 boards and 3 jugs. Bullet was found in 4th jug.
- Recovered weight 179 grains, 83%, 73" diameter.

"U" 1943 MKVII Ball bullet @ 2287 fps.
Ball bullet from 1985 HXP L1A1 was removed and replaced with this MKVII bullet
- Full penetration of 4 boards and 3 jugs. Bullet entered the 3rd jug dead centre then veered off to exit the 3rd jug at the bottom of the jug, then unzipped the 4th jug and ploughed into the heavy wood table where it wedged tightly.
- Recovered weight 173 grains, 99%, no expansion but it did bend and flatten some.
I have read reports of this dual core (aluminium front, lead rear) bullet acting as a soft point but I cannot verify this. Bullet changed course in the media with a slightly oblong exit hole where it left the first jug. First jug showed some splitting but stayed mostly intact. Second jug did blow up.

Greek HXP 1985 L1A1 175 grain Factory Military Ball Load @ 2363 fps.
Solid lead one-piece core
- Full penetration of 3 jugs and 3 boards, then fully penetrated 11/4 inches of plywood and came to rest inside the laminations of an additional piece of 3/4 inch plywood.
- Bullet lost about 1 grain of weight but otherwise stayed intact and maintained its shape and could be shot again.
I only had three jugs left when I shot this bullet so I piled up plywood to catch the thing if/when it exited the third jug. This bullet did little damage to the first jug except for the .311 calibre entry and exit holes, then turned sideways in the second jug and spent the rest of its trip flying sideways.

Greek HXP 1985 L1A1 170 grain "DUM-DUM SPECIAL" @ 2327 fps.
Factory Military Ball Load with tip ground off
- Bullet fully penetrated 3 boards and 2 jugs, then carried on through the 3rd jug and dented the board behind it.
- Core did slip up the jacket but recovered weight was 156 grains, 92%, .67" diameter.
I twisted a 5/32 inch wrench socket around the bullet tip to score it then ground off the tip to the line and polished the tip on a buffing wheel. PLEASE NOTE: Due to the possibility of shooting the core out of the bullet and leaving the jacket stuck in the bore I cannot recommend this practise. I did it but I am telling you not to! I checked the bore between shots.

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A few comments:
The explosive hydraulic effect of bullet impact cannot be described adequately. The soft point loads are quite destructive of the jugs they penetrated, the FMJ's less so. Even the first jug shot by a SP will typically rupture in various places and fly off yonder. Not so when shot with the FMJ's.


My own personal goal for bullets I use on deer, elk and bear is to find them in the 3rd jug with recovered diameter in excess of .50" and weight in excess of 60%. From anecdotal reports I expected something different from the MKVII bullet. I guess I expected it to break up or otherwise do something really interesting. As it turned out, it acted essentially as a regular FMJ. I’d like to shoot this one extensively but I do not have a source for those bullets now. The real sleeper in the group was the Home Brewed HXP L1A1 ‘DUM-DUM SPECIAL’. With the tip ground off it looks for all the world like a Norma Vulkan bullet and for cryin'-out-loud gave excellent ‘soft point’ performance. In fact, for deer or elk shooting its performance appeared superb. Were it not for the theoretical loss of core in the bore I'd opt for this bullet over any shot in today’s test for such game!

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