Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 308, RL17, 200 gr bullet

Shane, that's reassuring to hear.

Yeah, I hear you on that, I've used the same criteria for as long as I've loaded with never a split case or even a blown primer, ..........every time this subject comes up it's the same old song.

Problem is, there are lots of reloaders who really don't understand all aspects & who are truly dangerous.......not gonna say reckless, just not genuinely knowledgeable, and hence, tend to get themselves (and maybe others) into trouble.

And then the schitt splatters all over everyone else who doesn't take the ultra conservative POV.

MM

David,

I believe Jim's call is correct.

I don't have any experience with the 300 WinMag. There's a bunch of 300 WinMag shooters over on the 'hide though. They all tend to congregate around 208s/210s and about 72gr RL22.

There are some significant volume differences between brands of brass in 300 WinMag. Even Quickload goes as far as listing four types, and their respective volumes.

Per Quickload:

Max case capacity to overflow (grains of water).

300 WinMag

Norma - 95.5
Winchester - 93.8
Federal - 92.0
Remington - 88.0


A max load in Norma or Win brass could easily get wonky in Rem brass.

Shane, Thoughts on running RL17 with 140s out of a 6.5-06? Case capacity is really close to a 284 and hoping it may be a fit. Not sure if QL has anything on that round or not, but can't find RL17 data for it.

There's a reason I provided all the pertinent details of my componenets, rifle, and workup.

None of this negates the need for traditional load development. We should all know by now that each rifle is a bit of an entity unto itself.

Start low and work up remains the right way of doing business.

At the end of the day, I know they are out there, but I can't save a fool from himself.

It would probably work fairly well.

Remember as compared to a 308Win, the 6.5-06 has a lot more volume, and a lot smaller hole in the front to let pressure work. So the pressure dynamics are going to be a bit different than the 308. Things could get sporty with a smaller change in propellant.

I usually work in 1.0 gr increments with the 308, and 30-06, and the slowish powders I choose. In the 6.5-06, working up in .5 gr increments would be a good call.

Thank you. Looking forward to getting some RL17 and giving it a run.

RL17 sure makes the 300 WSM go... but supposedly that's what its primary formulation was for. I get a solid 50-100 fps (depending) over the "best" 300 WSM powders. RL17 turns the 300 WSM into a 300 WM that uses less powder and kicks less...

..........Brad!.........Agreed there! RL17 does the job all-right! That stuff is turning my compact into a full sized rifle without adding on another inch to the barrel.

If you get a chance for comparison`s sake and assuming you just might have some of these bullets laying around, load up 69 gr of RL17 using the 155 gr Berger hunting VLDs. I`d be very curious to see what your velocities are.

On one of the loadings I duplicated off of Reloaders Nest, the poster submitted a velocity of 3380 fps from his 24" barrel using the 155 VLD in front of 69 gr RL17. I have been using the 168 VLDs for hogs, but will try the 155 VLDs as well.

That same loading chronyd @ 3234 fps from my 16.5" barreled 300 WSM compact, which was a loss of 146 fps or 19.4 fps per inch of shorter tube length.

Duplicating and comparing with what is on the nest is fine, but I`d also like to read what others here have done with their 300 WSM using the same RL17 loadings and bullets I`ve already chronyd.

If you don`t use the 155 VLDs, then no matter. But if you have some, it would be interesting.