Got a new Savage Axis .308 and am taking different 165-168 loads to the range to see which shoots best out of it.Anyone have experience with the Fedral 165 grain Deer Thugs load. This will be my new deer rifle along with my Core 15 M4.

I have had great luck with Deer Thugs in both 30-06 (165gr, exact same bullet as the .308 load) and the .243 90gr load.  The bullets also perform very well.  Nice fully expanded entry/exit at 320 yards on a javelina with my .243. No fragmentation in the meat, but the .243 made holes about the size of a quarter-half dollar.  Entry on the right, exit on the left.



Keep in mind your gun might not prefer them... But these shoot hands above Remington Core-lokt, Fusion, and Winchester powermax bonded for me.

I know these are not 10 shot groups, but around here the Deer Thugs is hard to find and I don't want to burn up more than I have to in order to make sure it shoots well in my gun.  

My .243





at 400 yards the Deer Thugs shoots better in my gun than Remington does at 300.



My 30-06 ( don't pay attention to the other holes I reuse targets until I can no longer tell what's new, I was also shooting several different loads to check which one the gun preferred).

Thanks for reply. I'll get a box of Deer Thugs 165 grain .308 and shoot 5 rounds of each. I also havea box of 165grain Fusion,168 grain winchester Supreme and a box of Winchester 150 grain Power Max. I'll try each and see which is best. Its 5 months to Fusion.

My gun didn't like them.  Groups weren't anywhere near as tight.  I'm staying with my Nosler Ballistic Tips @ 150 grains. Tight groups, and every deer I've shot in the past 5 years has gone down.

Same here. My Rem 700 5R didn't like them.

so did you ever try it?  How'd it do for you?  FYI I was shooting mine out of a Marlin XS7 and a Remington 700

If your gun does not like these try the Hornady loads . I have had excellent results with the loads in both accuracy and dead deer .

Yes I did shoot them last week.Shot ok got best groups with Winchester Supreme .308 168 grain.But that was at 30 yds.Next time I'll be using the 100 yard range.Where I hunt in the Northern Michigan woods 30 yard is about the max.