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308 win and light bullets
skyfish
Member Posts: 1,068 ✭✭✭✭
I was going to help my brother with some 308 loads and 110gr V-max. Not a lot of data for those bullets other than Hornady. Has anyone tried these before. I have an email in to Ramshot to see if they have any data that's not on their website.
May have to use AA2015 otherwise, just have more of the Ramshot available and I like the idea of ball powder for this application.
My guess is TAC may be too slow, but X-Terminator? Just seeing if anyone has tried.
May have to use AA2015 otherwise, just have more of the Ramshot available and I like the idea of ball powder for this application.
My guess is TAC may be too slow, but X-Terminator? Just seeing if anyone has tried.
Comments
TAC 44.4 - 49.3
X-Term 39.6 - 44.0
A2230 41.4 - 46.0
Here are my thoughts: Rather than try for maximum velocity, load those bullets to 2800 (which is what all those Start loads deliver). That way, you may not have to change your scope settings at all, and will have almost the same trajectory as your deer bullets as well.
Light bullets in the .308 Win. has always sounded like such a great idea but reality is that they take some work in order to get them to shoot with any degree of accuracy and consistency.
The Hornady V-Max is only 0.920" in length so when these are seated at 2.800", there isn't much left in the neck. So any calculation you make for load development should be based on a shorter OAL such as Hodgdon recommends of 2.690" or slightly shorter. This will improve the neck tension and potential concentricity but it will also leave you with a substantial bullet jump to the lands. This can be detrimental to accuracy but not always. Just something to consider.
Ramshot Tac and X-Terminator fall on either side of being an 'ideal' powder. Neither is right in the zone of performance I expect from a powder/bullet combination. However if you insist on using them because of supply, then so be it. The heavier loads of TAC show an improved performance over the X-Terminator loads.
Now 2015 works nicely as you approach the upper end of the loads. You could start somewhere around 43.0 grains and then work your way up watching for signs of pressure. Remember that this is based on an OAL of 2.690" for the 110 V-MAX.
My notes on the 900 or so that we tested indicate that IMR/H-4198 were the best performers for this bullet/case. While I am a big fan of 2015 for several applications, this stick powder was the best using these parameters. Accuracy vs velocity was excellent. You can use the starting loads found on the Hodgdon website for the Barnes 110 gr. TSX.
Best.
http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/#/ocw-load-recipes/4533485759
I'll start with the Acc 2015, have enough of that for quite a few. Also, picked up some 125gr Speer hp's. Give them a try too. The powders I have on hand. Tac-lots, XBR8208-lots, 2015-little, X-Terminator-little. I thought I had some 3031, but that was used up in 204 Ruger. And 8208 had better velocity and just a hair better accuracy(in the 204), so have bought no more.
I didn't mention that this is for my brothers DPMS, wants to try it on P-dogs. Supplement his 223 bolt rifle. I'll give a range report late June if I remember.
*Update*Just an update. loaded some 110s' the other night. Something I noticed and wanted to see if others have noticed. I had on the short side of 1/2lb of older(2 years old) Accurate 2015. Well I had 2 lbs of newer Acc2015 and the granules were different. Definitely shorter cut, possibly even smaller diameter "logs". It worked better in the progressive, but something to watch for. Density was less, took slightly more volume to get same weight.
Now for the 125 Speer's
At one time, Accurate used a "lowest bidder" approach and bought powder from whoever could match their specifications for a given powder. That meant that a given lot of powder could come from a different supplier than the last lot, even from a different country. It would burn the same, but would in fact be a different powder. Accurate has bought powder from Israel, Scotland, Belgium, South Africa, Czech Republic, and France that I know of (although not necessarily with the same powder number).
Now that Western Powder has bought Accurate, they pledge to end that and source powders from one supplier and one only.