Magnifico!

Con Kapralos hails two cracking .308 loads from Italy

It would be fair to say the .223 Remington and .308 Winchester are the calibre kings of the Australian hunting landscape. Having those two in your armoury, you’re pretty well covered for most of our game and pest species with the exception of some of the bigger ones up north.  One real plus point of the .308 Winchester is the availability of factory ammunition. Walk into any premises licensed to sell it and you can be pretty sure you’ll find something suitable for your application in .308.

Fiocchi Munizioni in Italy make some fine centrefire ammunition and are represented in Australia by TSA Outdoors. Australian Shooter was sent two samples of Fiocchi hunting ammo in .308 Winchester, both with 150-grain projectiles, the EPN load having an Expansive Polymer Nose (EPN) while the Classic line has a soft-point. Both are supplied in a 20-round pack and livery on the carton of a majestic fallow buck is indicative of their use.

Classic 150-grain Soft-Point (SP)

The Classic line in .308 Winchester is an excellent all-round hunting load, characterized by the soft-point projectile, high-quality brass casing, selected smokeless powder and Fiocchi’s leadless primer. Each box contains 20 rounds in a sturdy plastic cradle and examining individual rounds closely, all were consistent in overall length with projectiles neatly seated into the cases.

The cup-and-core soft-point projectile contains a lead core and copper jacket with the tip being lead. The projectile has a G1 ballistic coefficient (BC) of 0.349, muzzle velocity of 850 m/sec and energy of 3511 joules. For most thin-skinned game in Australia a decent, well-constructed soft-point projectile is just the ticket and the 150-grain offering on the Fiocchi Classic line certainly fits the bill.

Expansive Polymer Nose 150-grain

The EPN in .308 Winchester is a superb hunting round, facilitated by polymer-tipped projectiles mated to a high-quality brass case, smokeless powder and lead-free primer. As with the Classic line, each carton contains 20 rounds with excellent quality control and all showing consistent overall length and superbly finished.

The EPN projectile is of a lead-core construction in copper jacket, with a red polymer tip inserted into a frontal cavity to aid ballistics. Its G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.415 reflects the projectile’s construction and flat-shooting performance, while muzzle velocity of 850 m/sec and energy of 3511 joules make for another excellent hunting load for those who prefer higher BC bullets.

Out and about

Having only 20 rounds of each load to assess, range testing consisted of determining point-of-impact in my Tikka T3x Sporter in .308 Winchester and firing a couple of three-shot groups to check accuracy. Pleasingly, both the Classic and EPN loads produced groups between 1-1.5 Minute-of Angle (MOA), indicating an excellent hunting load suitable for ethical shots out to 300m.

Sure, you could stretch both further out but 300m is as long a shot as I’d want to attempt on any animal – I’ll leave the long-range hunting bravado to YouTubers and genuine experts. Both loads had an identical point of impact and once dialled in to the Tikka T3x I could confidently use both without having to adjust.

Out in the field, finding suitable deer in the current South Australian hunting climate is easier said than done and several hunts in early spring were exceptionally tough, with deer being very skittish and hunkered down in thick scrub. Opportunities were limited, though a couple of meat animals were taken on consecutive trips with both the Classic and EPN loads. Ranges were from 50-200m with both animals dropped on the spot through precise bullet placement. In both cases the projectile right passed through, performance which is appreciated if deer tend to bolt a short distance once shot and you need to follow a blood trail.

In summary

These Fiocchi  loads in .308 Winchester performed admirably on the range and in the field. Even though my current .308 hunting ammo is hand-loaded, I’d be more than happy to use either of these two if required. Having used Fiocchi shotgun ammunition extensively during three decades of clay target shooting, their centrefire rifle offerings in .308 Winchester carry on the legacy of this great Italian manufacturer. For more on Fiocchi centrefire ammunition, ask your firearms retailer or visit the TSA Outdoors website.

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