Sig has delved into the ammunition game hard. With practice, defensive, match, and hunting loads coming out in a wider and wider variety of calibers it is abundantly clear that Sig wants to be a heavyweight contender in ammo too.
Several of our authors hunt a variety of game. However our focus is largely on multi-role/multi-purpose arms and equipment. The Sig ECH ammunition looked like it could fill that role.
With that let’s delve into this particular .308 load from Sig.
.308 Win 150gr Elite Copper Hunting
Sig’s entire HT line feature a solid copper expanding projectile designed to retain mass on impact. Sig advertises a 1.8x average expansion meaning this hotly loaded .30 cal has a wounding diameter of .55 once the bullet does its thing through tissue.
The listed muzzle velocity is 2,900 feet per second, putting it at about a 3-4% edge in velocity over the 147gr M80. Federal M80 is the round I am using for a baseline. Weights are similar and it is one of the most common commercial loads that the .308 users of the world are running.
I had the BG SIPR-H out of its bag running some match ammo and function testing so it was a convenient time to run the Sig load too. First thing’s first, fire a 10 round test group with M80 ball.
Next up was the Sig HT.
The solid copper round is lead free and able to be used in states that have banned the older lead core bullets either for hunting, or outright. The nickel cases provide a better environmental seal to resist moisture incursion and preserve the ammo’s effectiveness as it is carried.
And, most relevantly, they are loaded to a higher accuracy standard.
Accounting for shooting errors made on my part the group shrank by 50-66%, making the Sig and BG rifle combination capable of 1-1.25 MOA. The accuracy and consistency, even out of a suboptimal optic for precise shot placement, is highly impressive. The VCOG has a 2 MOA center dot, great on a red dot sight, not as great on a front focal plane LPVO. But it gets the job done.
Here’s the takeaway from the testing the Sig .308 HT
- The ammunition performed reliably, no failures.
- The accuracy was dramatically superior to M80 ball without drastically shifting point of impact from the M80 zero allowing the two rounds to be used jointly.
- The bullet design lends itself to hunting and defensive applications with a solid copper expanding projectile. The casing adds to the environmental resistance of the ammunition lending towards its resilience being carried or stored in less than ideal moisture and temperature.
The I’ll let you know how it does once whitetail season rolls around but the performance thus far has put it in the .308 go magazines setup for my SCAR17.
