.308 Winchester ballistics chart
The .308 Winchester trajectory with a 168-grain match bullet: drop, wind drift and retained velocity from a 100-yard zero out to 1,000 yards.
What is the .308 Winchester?
The .308 Winchester is the reference short-action target and hunting cartridge and the benchmark other cartridges are measured against. A 168-175 grain match bullet around 2,600-2,700 fps is accurate, mild-recoiling, and well understood, with match ammunition available from every maker.
Its limitation at distance is velocity: the .308 goes transonic somewhere around 900-1,000 yards, so shooters who regularly stretch past that have mostly moved to the 6.5 Creedmoor and 6mm cartridges. Inside 800 yards it remains an excellent, forgiving choice.
Typical uses: Service rifle, F-TR and tactical competition inside 1,000 yards, deer and hog hunting, and general-purpose precision.
Sample load
The trajectory below is calculated for this representative factory load in a standard ICAO atmosphere. The bullet is an entry from the app’s bullet library, so the calculator opens with it already selected. Your rifle will differ — enter your own chronographed velocity and verified BC in the calculator for numbers you can dial.
- Bullet
- Hornady 168 gr ELD Match
- Muzzle velocity
- 2,700 fps
- Ballistic coefficient
- 0.263 (G7)
- Zero
- 100 yd
.308 Winchester key figures
- Muzzle energy
- 2,720 ft⋅lb
- Supersonic to
- About 1,110 yd
- Point-blank range, 6 in zone
- 270 yd (230 yd zero)
- Point-blank range, 3 in zone
- 209 yd (180 yd zero)
- Drop at 300 yd, 100 yd zero
- 14.2 in
Point-blank range is how far you can hold dead on and still hit a target zone of that height, using the zero shown. Work it out for your own load with the maximum point-blank range calculator , or see how the .308 Winchester stacks up in the cartridge comparison chart .
.308 Winchester trajectory table
| Range (yd) | Velocity (fps) | Energy (ft⋅lb) | Drop (in) | Elevation (MIL) | Elevation (MOA) | Wind 10 mph (MIL) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 2,527 | 2,383 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| 200 | 2,360 | 2,078 | -4.0 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 0.4 |
| 300 | 2,200 | 1,806 | -14.2 | 1.3 | 4.5 | 0.7 |
| 400 | 2,046 | 1,562 | -31.6 | 2.2 | 7.5 | 0.9 |
| 500 | 1,899 | 1,345 | -57.3 | 3.2 | 10.9 | 1.2 |
| 600 | 1,756 | 1,151 | -92.6 | 4.4 | 14.7 | 1.5 |
| 700 | 1,619 | 978 | -139.3 | 5.6 | 19.0 | 1.8 |
| 800 | 1,486 | 824 | -199.3 | 7.0 | 23.8 | 2.1 |
| 900 | 1,359 | 689 | -275.1 | 8.6 | 29.2 | 2.5 |
| 1,000 | 1,237 | 571 | -369.7 | 10.5 | 35.3 | 2.9 |
Learn more
New to reading a table like this? These guides explain the numbers: