I haven't shot 220gr out of a .308 yet, but i would think a little testing to make sure it is stabilized out to your max working distance would be called for. IIRC most .308s are 1/12 twist.....which may or may not stabilize the 220gr RN....just some food for thought. that is why most 30-06 are 1/10 twist...so they can reliably stabilize the heavier bullets. the military went with a 1/11.25 twist to stabiliz the 175gr SMK....which i would think is close to the minimum twist required for the 220gr RN.
advntrjnky
I suggest you eread my post concerning my experimentation with 220 gr. bullets in the .308. Results, especially withthe 220 gr. Sierra round nose were a complete surprise. Velocity was only 90 FPS slower than factory advertised speeds for the 30-06 with the same bullet weight. Seems to me that should be sufficient for the ranges one normally shoots a 220 gr. bullet. IIRC, it was W.D.M. Karamojo" Bell who once opiced that the perfect (for him) elephant gun just might be the .308 Win. with FMJ 220 gr. bullets at 2250 FPS.
I know about the 30-06 and the 1 in 10" twist being standard yet IIRC, at one time I believe it was Browning that used a 1 in 12" twist in their 30-06 rifles. The late Jack O'Connor had a 30-06 with 1 in 12" twist and thought it to be just fine with all bullet weights. As I am one who probably shoot about 100 cast bullets for every jacketed bullet, I had a commercial FN Mauser that had a badly corroded barrel rebarreled with a 1 in 12" barrel for cast bullet shooting. When the controversy showed up again by a gun writer who stated that 220 gr. bullets would not be stabilized by a 1 in 12" twist, I loaded up and shot some in my rifle which has a 24" 1 in 12" Douglas barrel built for me by the late Cal Albright back around 1975 or 76. Groups ran right at 1.25" at 100 yards and right at 2.0" at 200 yards. Again, so much for all the BS about a 1 in 12" twist in the 30-06. No my comments stand using 220 gr. round nose bullets. When it comes to the somewhat longer 220 spitzer and spitzer boat tail types, I might tend to agree that they might not stabilize. With bullet and powder prices what they are today, I'm not sure I want to spend the bucks trying to prove that one way or the other.
I do think that the 220 gr. Spitzers would be too long in a .308, and if they did work in the 30-06 that they would be borderline. JMHO.
Paul B.
