Favorite projectiles and powders for 308 win?

in my magazines are the 110, 120 tac-tx i mentioned AND 147 FMJ PRVI all using ramshot TAC.

home defense. tac-tx penetrate barriers and then 'other' things after. 147 FMJ mixed in for penetration.

Justice1327 said:

175 SMK or 185 Berger HYBRID
with Leverevolution.
Or 165-168 gr with Varget or VN140

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What charge did you go with on the leverevolution? tried it a good while back and it did produce some great speed but had really weird pressure swings. I have some data some where but at one point I had a 195 running about 2750ish and thought the load was ok but then for some reason or another it started spiking in pressure. Re-shot the load and it was ok but in the middle of a string of shooting it spiked so I chalked it up to being very temp sensitive and moved on to a different powder. I was testing around 40 degrees maybe to about 45 degrees ambient outside temp. Wasn't shooting to fast but I may have let some soak in the chamber for a minute or so when taking notes or adjusting my chronograph.

Wachsmann said:

What charge did you go with on the leverevolution? tried it a good while back and it did produce some great speed but had really weird pressure swings. I have some data some where but at one point I had a 195 running about 2750ish and thought the load was ok but then for some reason or another it started spiking in pressure. Re-shot the load and it was ok but in the middle of a string of shooting it spiked so I chalked it up to being very temp sensitive and moved on to a different powder. I was testing around 40 degrees maybe to about 45 degrees ambient outside temp. Wasn't shooting to fast but I may have let some soak in the chamber for a minute or so when taking notes or adjusting my chronograph.

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Using SRP brass, so I started at 46.5 gr and worked up.
Yes, LR powder is temp sensitive, but during the shortage I found it was available, cheap, and gave great velocity and good accuracy. I cant say I mine was as unstable as what you experienced but spring into summer time showed its ugly head.

That is interesting. I did try it out even into the spring as I have some notes with 46.4 at 75 degree day. Velocity was 2750 range. On my data notes it was about 30fps slower in the winter as I have it marked at 33 degrees. I ran up to 47.5 grains on one pressure string (winter notes) but it must been on 2 different types of brass. One set of datar for max pressure shows per notes was up at the 48 grains and one has it about 47.5 grains for max. Per my notes it also showed 46.4 was really good ES and SD. I must of also shot out to 600yards with it. I have a note in there that 600 showed good grouping. Looking over my notes it seems I must of had good results in the winter and not so good in the spring. I also may have made the mistake of letting them soak in the chamber for a bit. Kind of interesting to see the old notes charge pretty much match your charge weight. Might be a good load for just winter on my rifle.

George Fournier (Badlands Precision deceased owner) swore by this LR powder in the 308 with his 150 Badlands BD2. I ran it using the 150 BD2 with fantastic results at around 49 grains of powder with no pressure. Was up around 3035 FPS in a 20" 10 twist barrel. I miss his bullets!!

Our hunting round, Sierra 165 gr Gameking HPBT and Varget.

That super fast for a 308win.

Never had any experience with a 308 until my 14 yr old son picked one up last year. Savage 110 tactical.
He has ran 110 SSTs, 110 Nos BTs, 155 eldm, and 180 SSTs. Crazy thing prints all of them sub MOA with the same POI. I am starting to think the 308 is the "easy button". We haven't had time to do any load development.
The 110 SSTs are for coyotes. It usually anchors them where they stand. If you head shot one the thermal footage is rather graphic.
Sometimes a lung will travel a ways also.
Varget(180 & 155) and Benchmark(110s) are as far as we have made it powder wise.

WWG55 said:

Here is link to an article I wrote for mossy Oak. The 308 is indeed a very versatile round and fun to work with.

Loading for the 308 Winchester

"I have a hard time passing up an old classic. One of those classic rounds - the 308 Winchester- seems to be enjoying a resurgence in popularity."

www.mossyoak.com

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Wow, you had more bullets sent to you for that one article than the total I ever received in 25 years of writing.

Glad to hear these companies are supporting the essentially free editorials and marketing they get from handloading articles. Well done.

If a guy can't get N140/150/Varget and a Berger 185jugg to shoot they probably have something going on within the platform. It's been the easy button for me and many others.

Beluebow said:

If a guy can't get N140/150/Varget and a Berger 185jugg to shoot they probably have something going on within the platform. It's been the easy button for me and many others.

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So I went to Bergers website. They list two 185 juggs. One is an OTM (open tip match) and the other just says target. Is there really much difference? Which one do you run?

bluedog69 said:

So I went to Bergers website. They list two 185 juggs. One is an OTM (open tip match) and the other just says target. Is there really much difference? Which one do you run?

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They are one in the same.

The 185gr Classic Hunter is very similar, easy to get to shoot well and I can attest to its effectiveness on critters.

John