Nice two groups, or two nice groups...please don't tell us it will do it all-day-long...lol...happy 4th, bro.
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Lighter weight, faster 308 win load
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It was my pleasure - looking forward to your publication.
Wedgy
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I got great speed with it but not being very temperature stable(1.32 fps/ F) turned me away from it as I shoot year round including well over 100F in the summer.
Ended up with Varget just over 3,000fps then ran out of case capacity. May try Benchmark as someone suggested.
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I agree 100% about temp stability but I gave up crying over spilt milk, I just develop for the conditions and if that means 2 loads so be it. I understand peoples concern about it but we were shooting for many moons before extreme powders. we are talking hunting accuracy not match accuracy is my thinking
I get we did it without the good stuff we have now, but we have the good stuff now for a reason. I want my hunting loads to be competition quality. I do t expect everyone to have that same mentality, but I know a lot of hunters that do.
I've had ammo that opened up groups like crazy with just a 10° shift and it was worse the more the shift was. It becomes very frustrating, especially when temps fluctuate between trips to the range for load development. You can end up really chasing your tail. I hate settling for "good enough". I'm a bit of a perfectionist though.
There's nothing wrong with being ok with groups within vital area size and at the distances you'll see y be shooting to. There's also nothing wrong with using one of the many temp stable powders out there to develop a load that's not frustrating and won't fall apart depending on the temps. Nothing wrong with striving for a 1/2 minute or better load. I'd never even think about taking a shot on an animal at 800, 1000, or more yards with ammo that I didn't fully trust and knew was capable of still impacting within the vitals f the animal at those distances, as long as I made the correct firing solution and got a clean shot off.
We all have different needs and requirements.
I don't really fret over the temperature concerns. The load was developed in July and it has taken game in our A Zone season (August-September) when temps are routinely 90-100+ with no issues. It'll go back out later from October-December for bear when you might see 50 degree temperature swings throughout the day with no noticeable effect on POI. Of course, I'm also aware of the limitations of myself and effective use of this bullet strictly as a hunting round, and limit its range to 500 yds or less. I suspect beyond that range temperature instability would be a real concern though.
Right off the bat you got great advice from RHARFO, DEAN2, & ALBERTA WEXIT. The Barnes 130 TTSX is a laser -zipper on eastern Whitetails. But I also agree with TX Badger - while I have not hunted with the Nosler 130 AB, I've shot the Nosler 125 BT in both 308 and 300 Sav and it's an easy bullet to reload. If there's a possibility you may be hunting lighter-weight deer you shouldn't ignore terminal ballistics - only you will know what your average range and velocity windows will be and I would let that be my guide (assuming that you get good load workups.) Personally, I've never seen a situation where any 30-cal Barnes was over-driven velocity-wise; however on other than the LRX-series, impact velocities below 1800fps are where expansion drops off and could be problematic if shooting light-weight game; in that situation I would give the nod to Nosler BT which will still have some expansion above 1600fps and still perform well at impact velocities up to 3200fps. My personal pet rifle is my M70 CRF 308 with a Dan Lilja 11.2 twist 3-groove and given it's deep throat, I mostly shoot the Barnes as it likes the long leap. From what I've seen - and read from others - both of these bullets shoot well in 10-twist and slower so hopefully they'll do the same for you; however, as always YMMV - good shooting.
Yep, like I said, we all have different needs and we all have different situations and considerations.
I do load development year round, hunt coyotes year round, and go on hunting trips in different areas and experience many different temps. I'm happy we have the technologies we have now because it's made what I do possible and without issues and frustrations.
My situation varies from many others though, and vice versa. Live free, choose free.
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there is nothing wrong with wanting the best money can buy and a lot of shooters do, but i can develop a hunting accurate load 1/2-1 moa. that is usable with many different components in many different conditions, i just dont base my choices on the daily flavor of cool aid that is being pushed. just for clarification hunting 1/2-1 moa. match well under 1/2 moa, were not talking being reckless with accuracy
I'm the same way. Can't find a picture of the groups with it. I compared this load against 150 TTSX's with Varget too, and it just continued outperform all my attempts to prove it wrong, so I stuck with it.
For some that may work but when I am seeing 300 fPS velocity changes, that is not a workable deal. It can easily go from -45 to -5F here in the same day. I can't have a cratridge that moves POI that much and still fell confident at 500 yards. 748 is great for some folks, up here where we hunt mostly in cool weahter with large swings, not a workable powder. I can give up 50-100 FPS at the top end to use one of the Extreme powders and not give up 300 fps when it cools off.
past 500yds does make it more of a concern but if you test and gather your info then it just means different numbers in your ballistic program and more or less clicks on your scope. the real concern is practice and confidence in yourself and equipment.
I still use a lot of bullets and cartridges that have been around for decades. My equipment, methods, certain powders, etc have evolved over time though. I also use new bullets, rifles, optics, etc too in certain applications.
I didn't at all mean anyone was being reckless or that anyone NEEDS to do anything different than what they're doing. I'm only addressing those statements that also tend to allude to people overcomplicating things and doing more than is necessary "just for a hunting round/load/rifle/etc". My point is we all can be right in what we do and our approach.
