Sorry if this topic has already been covered. Couldn't find one on it. I have a DPMS .308 with a 1-10 twist 16" barrel. It really seems to be the most accurate with 145 grain FMJ bullets up to this point. I have started properly breaking in the barrel with 80 rounds. I cleaned it between every round for the first 25 shots. Then cleaned it every 10 rounds up to 80. I am going to shoot 120 more rounds through it before whitetail deer season starts in late November. What bullet weight and manufacturer have you had the best accuracy with? I'm looking for a whitetail deer round that will also give me the best accuracy out of this platform. The 150 grain bullets aren't as accurate in my rifle as the 145's. I would apprentice any help you guys can give me. I don't want to buy a bunch of different bullets that have already failed with others.

Thanks in advance.

States right in the manual that comes with it that 168 gr bullets are optimized for that rifle. I have that rifle and it loves 168 gr A-Max's. I plink with 150 gr FMJ too. If you don't reload, go buy some hornady superformace 168 A-Max ammo. Accurate!

Hornady Technical Article on Superformance in Gas Guns

Short story, don't shoot Superformance in CLGS, especially .308 Win.

I agree that the 168gr A-MAX is a great bullet, works well for hunting too.

Stating that your rifle doesn't like 150gr might only be the case in the particular loads or shooting technique you tested.  

What are your accuracy expectations and what distance is the farthest you will ethically take a shot?

If it were mine, I would work up a load with the 150gr GMX or 150gr SST.

The DPMS Oracle has a 16" CLGS with a lightweight profile barrel.  Accuracy expectations should be realistic with this pipe.  1.5 MOA would be really good for it, and plenty for hunting medium game with a 10" vital zone out to 225yds for a no hold shot, using a 200yd zero.

Another issue you will start to see with the Oracle is the aluminum gas block.  They often erode within the first few hundred rounds, to the point that significant gas leakage around the block prevents enough gas from cycling the action fully.

If you're happy with the barrel, I would replace the handguard and gas block, but most importantly, the gas block needs to be steel, not aluminum.  Throw a carbon fiber or MI handguard on there, and set the gun up a little better if you can.

The gas block needs to be aligned based on port locations, not shoulder location for the circuit to be correct.

Sorry, forgot about the superformance not good in gas guns. The regular hornady 168 ammo will work though. I have shot the surperformance out of mine a couple times. Sure chews the brass up.

Killed 2 deer last year with 180gr corlokt and great with it.

So far TAP and Amax 168gr have been the most accurate ammo for my LR308. Four shot groups at 100 yd into less than 1/2".  I'll be in Spokane WA next weekend visiting my Daughter, son in law, and adult grandkids.  We'll be shooting  2 semi-auto Thompsons, 2 AR15s, and a LR308. So I'll be trying out some other brands of ammo in the LR308.

You are wasting your time going through a break-in ritual with that gun.  Determine which ammo works well for the type of game you will be hunting, and make sure it runs properly through your gun, and then verify it is minute of kill zone accurate.  The chances of almost any of the hunting ammo available not displaying acceptable accuracy is almost nil.  What I would worry about is whether or not that rifle is going to reliably feed soft points.

I ran into a guy shooting an Oracle at the range that would not feed soft points from the right or left side of the magazine.  I can't remember which side it was, but it was just one side.  I made sure it fed FMJ fine, and then we started loading FMJ on just that one side that it kept jamming on, and it fed fine.  As soon as you put nothing but soft points in the magazine, it would misfeed every other round.  The soft point would get caught on the feed ramp on the one side.  I don't know if a simple polish job would have fixed the problem, or if it was something it would always do, maybe because of the dynamics from that one side.  I have not seen him at the range again to ask if he was able to fix it.

My .308 Oracle would consistently shoot 5 shots into right around 1.3-1.6" at 100yds with 168gr AMaxes using an unmagnified dot optic and resting on a backpack. Best 5 shots was 1.0MOA, with 4 shots in .4". Second most accurate was the 175gr SMKs averaging closer to 1.6" or so. I generally just shoot blank white 8.5x11 sheets of paper.

I broke my barrel in pretty much per the manual. I have about 2025 rounds through it and haven't seen a marked reduction in accurcy, though my last few hundred rounds have been with iron sights only (shooting about 2moa with good ammo), so perhaps I changed too many variables to be scientific. I also went about 1000 rounds before going to an adjustable gas block, also with no apparent issues.

I would comfortably call my MOA shooter with an appropriate optic and real target paper. Certainly sub-MOA if you are willing to use 3-shot groups (which IMO is acceptable for a hunting setup).

Thanks so much for these replies. That's the info I was needing. One of the reasons I bought this rifle was because it got great reviews on accuracy and function. It has not disappointed in any way, except with the 150 grain ammo I used. I will watch the gas block for sure and I changed out one of my 5.56 gas blocks for a fold down. Won't be a hard job. Based on the replies here, I'm going to go with the 168 grain bullet weight and probably a couple of different manufacturers. Thanks again!

Mangled brass is often the sign of violent, early unlocking, which is exactly what happens when you run slow-burning powder (Superformance) in shorter gas systems.  Some people have claimed smooth operation in MLGS .308, as well as RLGS, but there are other factors that can cause violent extraction, like variance in bore diameter from gun to gun, chamber dimensions, buffer and recoil spring weight, gas port diameter, etc.

I agree with the barrel break-in, although it might help increase the throat life on this carbine, not that you will be reaching 5,000-8,000 rounds anytime soon.

These little guns are so light for a .308, there are squirrely to hold on target.  You might be surprised if you bag the gun with a Bulls Bag and rear bag, using a really good trigger and low-mass hammer, like the Alexander Arms trigger, or a Geissele SSA-E.  Light guns that recoil more than .223 are hard to hold steady on target, especially if they have a swinging hammer, or striker that binds in the bolt like on cheap bolt guns.