I bought some 178 eld-x for a JP barreled Ar10. The rig should have accuracy potential but I'm getting the idea the 178's have to jump a mile to the lands and I'm not sure I should even try to work up a load. I don't plan to shoot at critters over 500yds so 150/155's should be flatter. What's a good deer and coyote bullet on the lighter side of 308 class?

I’ve had good luck with the usual suspects: TSX/TTSX, SSTs & Partitions or Accubonds.

Accubond or SST would be my pick if you don't like the ELD X.

178 ELDX has been sub-1/2 MOA out of my precision rifle and has killed three caribou and a black bear without issue. I wouldn't abandon the buklet without trying to resolve your OAL / jump issues.

125 BTs worked great in my bolt gun and M1A Scout. The AR10 hates them. Given sufficient opportunity, I will be trying 168s, which the AR10 loves.

Alternatively, I have some 110AB in 6.8 or 123ELD-Xs for my 6.5G or old fashion 123 BTs for my x39

Well, my barrels have ONLY tasted 168 gr FGGM... so SMK BTHP 168 gr for me.

Dozens of deer slayed at varied ranges with that round from 30 feet to 300 yards

Inside 600 yards, the ballistic curves are surprisingly similar (with respect to elevation) for most "common" 308 bullet weights so there is not much difference regarding "flatness" of trajectory.  The real differences show up on the windage side of the table...  at least in my experience.    A difference of 0.6 mils (heaviest to lightest) @ 600 yards translates to about 13 inches!

speer gold dot

I have been shooting Sierra Boat Tail Hollow points..not the match hollow points, actual hollow points in 165g.

My Rem700 loves them. I wound up buying 1000 and I reload them every year for me and a friend who shoots a Rem LTR.

CCI BR2, 45g Varget, Lapua brass.

A word of warning.  These bullets blow up inside a deer and do not all ways leave a good exit channel at distances of 200 yards and higher ( I hunt pipeline right of ways).

The deer will most definitely be within 80 yards and the insides look like a grenade went off, but be aware of that if you hunt with them.

And don't let the open end fool you, they are as accurate as accubonds.

I load the 178 ELD-X 2.810, which is in Hornady reload book. I do load mine a bit hot but these are a friggin laser out of my savage 308. Was at a 1000 yard range a year ago banging steel with my savage 338LM. Brought the 308 in case we had time to try the 308. Hit 4/10. Some rifles don’t like them but my rifle does. If your getting Sub moa @100 yards with them, use them. Mine are cloverleaf @100 yards.

Opps, just realized your shooting a AR 308. 168 A-Max. My 12 inch barreled 308 AR loves them.

155 Scenar has worked well for me. Accurate and kills antelope dead.

I see a lot of you are hunting with match bullets and I really had not thought of that. I have 1000 nosler 155 CC's as well as 155 & 168 eldm and 1000 125 gr 30-30 fmj.

I would not think the nosler Custom Competitions would perform on meat but should be accurate.

My hesitation on the 178 eldx is because i tried a box of factory hornady that grouped 4 moa with wild velocity variation.

I asked a similar question recently and got a myriad of replies. I think most of the big name hunting bullets will all do fine, I'd be more concerned about which one gives you the accuracy and ballistics you're looking for.

Seeing similar results with factory loaded 30-06, 178 ELD-X.  Several other reloads, of various bullet weights & powders are hovering around MOA.

COL on the factory 178 ELD-X is 3.250.  This seems very short, & i think the "jump" may be the culprit.  I loaded a ladder this evening with 178 ELD-X @ 3.330".  Max COL is 3.340" for the '06.

Also loaded a ladder for the .308 with these bullets & COL 2.825 for my 700P. These test loads are similar to proven 178 bthp loads, hoping for similarity.

My Savage 110 in .308 liked Hornady 165gr and 168 bthp, plus 170gr flat nose sp.  I never tried the fnsp at ranges past 100 yards.  It punched nice holes in the paper.

Barnes 150 grain TSX or TTSX.

OP Swift makes the scirocco 2's, in 3 weights for 308..150/165/180.. I have loaded the 165's in my ar-10 308 and the 180's in my 300rum(actual factory round as well), both produced excellent accuracy and I have taken game with them over the years from as small as wolverine to moose...I have had great results with tthe barnes as well, but not nearly as accurate..

https://www.swiftbullets.com/pages/bullets

OP, you mention deer and coyotes...I'd say you need nothing bigger than 165g bullets.  Nothing wrong with heavier bullets.

I notice many of the comments here are in bolt guns.  While not necessarily night/day differences, you mentioned yours is a .308 AR.

Barrel twist "might" have some bearing here, but most AR .308 barrels are capable of stabilizing 178's.

My Armalite .308 AR10 in 11.25:1 twist likes home loaded Hornady 165g SST's.  They just about rival equal weight match bullets but are obviously much better for hunting.

150 SST is my .308 whitetail bullet.

Barnes bullets are fantastic
Accubond is good too
Federal Fusion will also surprise you

150's is all I load in my .308 anymore. Accubond is my first choice and Barne's TTSX my second. I carry both with me and if the deer are near I go with the Barnes because the Accubonds can blow up on short range shots if they hit bone. The TTSX is all copper and expands very will out to 150/200 Yards but tends to act like a Partition after that and can result in a through and through with very little expansion. The Accubonds expand well out to 300 yards which is about the most you want to go when hunting with a .308 and the AR10 platform. My personal recommendation is that you go buy a real hunting rifle and leave the AR at home.

150gr Grand Slams from yotes to elk

I didn’t see the barrel length but assuming it is 22 inches or less, I would definitely try the 150 gr Ballistic Tip.  I have a recovered 150gr fired diagonally through a big bucks neck at a distance of about 3 feet from a friends 30-06.  Yes the distance is correct.  He was finishing off the wounded buck.  The bullet is still in 1 piece with a well developed mushroom.  All in all, I have had excellent luck with the NBT with various calibers and distances.  To date I have taken 72 deer with them.  Had exits on 61. The largest two were 210 and 194 pounds.  The 210 pound buck was taken with a 150gr fired from a Savage 30-06 (different from the one above).  The 194 pound buck was taken with a 100gr NBT fired from a 25-06.  They get the job done quite well.

Why are you pushing the 150/155s at less than 2950 fps?

I don't shoot them much.  I am using Varget as a propellant and I can't fit much more than 45.7 grains of it in a Federal (FC  308 WIN) case (loaded to SAAMI/magazine COAL) & that is where "a node" seemed to be in my development of that load.  I am not chasing velocity but rather accuracy.  My barrel is 20 inches.

OP here.
18" jp barrel. Factory Hornady 178 eld-x shoots at 2500 FPS. Any of my reloads and the factory ammo at that velocity is well over 2 Moa. Hornady brass at 163 grains and IMI match brass at 180 grains both had an SD of 5 FPS with 41.5 grains of IMR 4064. The IMI brass was pushing 2464 FPS and sucked bad. Hornady brass was 2437 and shows promise at just over one Moa. Each side of 41.5 grains pushes the SD to 15 or 20 FPS. 41.2 grains of IMR 4064 in IMI brass was also accurate at  2440 FPS but had a high SD. I plan to play with the Hornady brass and seating depth to see how this goes. It looks like the 18in barrel wants velocity below 2450 feet per second an Factory ammo is way too fast.

Major side note.
Speer 125 grain TNT is an awesome bullet. With h 4895 it shot 7 consecutive shots in half grain increments and you could cover the group with a quarter. Velocity about 3000 to 3140 feet per second from an 18in Barrel.

A load with the 125 grain TNT and ramshot exterminator is also just over 1 Moa thrown with a Dillon 550. 42.5 grains plus or minus 0.1 grains at just under 2700 feet per second with an SD of well over 50 feet per second.

I may seek a 125 grain Nosler accubond for deer considering how good the 125 grain TNT's are looking. Opinions?