Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .308W Ruger Scout and 130g TTSX = happy combo

It has been almost a year since I got my Ruger Scout. I mounted a 3-9x scope for load development purposes but have had very little time to do any. Yesterday I was doing some load development for Daughter #1's Ruger Hawkeye in .308W using 130g Barnes TTSX. I had seated the bullets so that they would work in either my Scout or her Hawkeye. I forget the jump but it is well over 0.100", probably more like 0.130".

For powders I tried CFE223 for the first time in any load, plus BLC-2 and Varget. Using .5g increments with each powder, I built a total of 5 loads at each charge level, planning on shooting three through the Hawkeye and two through the Scout.

The Hawkeye didn't care much for the big jump. BLC-2 was a no go and after the first two powder charges I stopped shooting BLC-2 in the Hawkeye. Both Varget and CFE223 yielded marginally acceptable acceptable results with multiple powder charges providing about 1.5" 3-shot groups. I was looking for a low recoil load for Daughter #1 and, given her 300-350 yard shooting limit, these loads will work for now.

The Scout really surprised me by turning in the best groups ever. CFE223 had been a question mark as I had never used it before and had heard results of mediocre accuracy. It turned out the Scout loved both CFE223 and Varget with the 130TTSX, in spite of the long bullet jump. I'll post targets tonight when I get back home but I recall the CFE223 target having six holes, three touching and the other three just outside. This was with three different powder charges, two shots each. With Varget I had only two different powder charges, so only four holes, but they also made a happy group.

Now I’m thinking this rifle might go antelope hunting before I take the scope off and re-install the rear peep, returning it to the iron-sighted configuration I wanted when I bought it.

You are the only one who has to be happy with it. Glad to hear you have it perking along.

What kind of velocity you getting with the 130's out of the scout? I like the scout concept.

Sweet, I like the sound of that combo. Yeah I love my GSR too. The only powder I have tried is RL 15 and 150 grain Nosler BTs

My usual modus operandi is to find several sequential charge increments that give good accuracy with a fairly consistent POI and pick a load in the middle. CFE223 was giving the highest velocities by about 100-130fps, plus the best on-target POI consistency. In this case 52.0g and 53.0g charges gave 2-shot groups just under 3/4” each while 52.5g gave a 2-shot group just under 1/2”. Neither Varget nor BL(C)-2 looked like they could match the velocity or consistency so I cut testing short with them. Applying my usual methods I’ll load up a few more at 52.5g CFE223 for confirmation. If it looks good the Scout will probably go antelope hunting in Wyoming in a few weeks with that load.

Velocities, powder and charge weights are indicated on targets below.

.308 Ruger Scout, 130g TTSX, CFE223


.308 Ruger Scout, 130g TTSX, Varget and BL(C)-2

I've never not seen a 308 shoot like that.

Barnes manual calls for a max load of 52 grains of Varget with the 130 ttsx. I'm loading 51 grains in a kimber Montana, also a tikka, both shoot tight little groups and they chromo at 3125-3150 fps, shoots as flat out to 400yds as my 270 win. Thinking you should be easily able to get 3000 out of your scout.

Nice CoyoteHunter.

How long is the barrel on your Scout?
IIRC they come in two different lengths..

It has the original 16.1" barrel. That excludes the flash hider.

I'd be looking at a softer bullet at those speeds. Have been less than impressed with Barnes bullets when starting speeds are that low...

If it was an older 'X', 'XLC' or even the 'TSX', I would have some concerns. As it is, I don't.

A few years back I shot a cow elk at 400 yards wiht a Barnes 180g MRX (the original tipped X bullet with the tungsten rear core). It was launched from my .300WM at a nominal 3033fps. At 400 yards the calculated velocity would have been 2061fps. The cow took a few steps and collapsed.

My daughter won't be shooting past 300 yards due to lack of practice. At that range thew 130g TTSX, launched at 3000fps, will still retain 2264fps, just over 200fps more than the one that killed my cow.

As far as the Scout goes, if I launch a 130g TTSX at 2850fps it will have more velocity at 330 yards than the bullet that killed the cow did at 400 yards. The Scout isn't intended to be a long-range rifle as I plan to put the peep sight back on. Some people can shoot peeps well out to 1000 yards, me not so much. If I want to go over 300 yards i'll grab a different rifle - one with more fps and glass.

I'm running a 130 TSX in my my Ruger Scout rifle at 2800 fps. using Varget. Two with 1 shot, complete penetration on both hogs.

Range?

Thanks - that is the performance I've come to expect from TTSX.