168gr HPBT

maschevy

I've just started reloading rifle loads so this is a basic question on felt recoil. Im shooting a Savage 10fp 308 Mcmillan stock. My reload is a 168gr HPBT with Varget powder and using Lee specs which there is only a max load for this bullet and powder. Is this combo suppose to have a soft recoil? I've shot 180gr Remingtons which are pretty strong. Will 150gr bullets be even softer? So far the 180gr are most accurate. thanks

bpost

Welcome to the forum!

All things considered the 168 bullet AT THE SAME MV OF THE 180 Grain bullet will be less recoil but not enough to notice. Accuracy of the 168 can be tuned with load and seating depth.

sandwarrior

maschevy,

The felt recoil should be less than the 180's. At least if both are equally loaded pressure-wise. You may also find you can work your loads up to a higher pressure than what you buy off the shelf. I wouldn't call a 150 gr. out of a .308 soft per se. But then again, I wouldn't call the 180's particularly hard either. They should be around 12-16 ft. lbs of recoil.

The biggest thing to work on with those is consistency.

konamtbiker

http://www.handloads.com/calc/recoil.asp

This might help you out a little.

Pinhead

Recoil is a matter of bullet weight, velocity/chamber pressure and gun weight. The formula that I used for years came out of the NRA fact book and an old Lyman reloading manual. It was: E=1/2 (weight rifle divided by 32)(weight bullet X muzzle velocity + 4700 X weight of powder charge in grains divided by 7000 X weight of rifle) squared. In other words, a .308 rifle weighing 6 1/2 lbs. shooting a 180 weight bullet at 2610 fps. should generate a recoil of 22.0 lbs. of recoil. Pitch, with or without recoil pad, width of stock at the butt and other such difference will make slight variations in the perceived recoil level of individual rifles.