Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Rem, Speer, or Hornady 170gr (.30-30 bullets) in .308Win?

Got a bunch of 170gr bullets I normally use for .30-30 and .307Win. Can't seem to find any of my preferred 180gr RNSP bullets. And thinking of using these at a reduced rate of 2500-2600fps. What say ye?

IF they work in the .307 I'd guess they'll work in the .308.

Those bullets are designed for 30-30 velocities only, if used on deer at increased velocities you will get explosive results & a lot of wasted meet. They will work perfect of course & kill deer efficiently as long as you don't try to push yardage with velocity in any .308 caliber rifle.

Edited to add...they are also generally a very accurate bullet!

I would run them slower than 2500-2600. more in the 2200 range.

They work great if you run them at 30-30 velocities.

No they will not work except in a lowly .30-30. You must use a mono metal bullet or at the very least a partition type in more powerful rifles. I use a 170 Nosler Solid Base at 2400 fps out of my .30'06. Hard to beat in the woods where range is under 100 yards.

This seems to make the most sense, seeing how the upper limit of .30-30 velocity can reach 2300fps+ with handloads in 24"-26" bbls. So, going a coouple hundred fps above that shouldn't matter a whole lot. I would think.

Now, of the given selection........which of the three to choose????? I've only ever had on-game experience with the Rem Core-Lokt.

Don't think t matters. One nice thing about the ol 30-30 is that the bullets all work well within their designed velocity window. Flip a coin.

If you go that route IMR4895 is your friend in the .308. It can be loaded down some 30 to 40% below max and still maintain good accuracy. I played around with reduced loads in the .308 back in the early 90�s, both gas checked cast and round nose jacketed .30-30 bullets and maintained excellent accuracy (1� or so) down to 2200 fps.

Use starting loads for IMR4895 out of your manual and if they are still too fast you can work down to your desired velocity.

No Hodgdon or IMR4895, but have Varget. And a start load of 41gr for a 180gr slug lists 2470fps from a 24" barrel. Think I'll go with this to begin with, and should put me right at 2400fps with the lighter 170's and my 21" barrel.

Sounds like a plan!

For the .308 Win, Hodgdon's max load with a 175 gr Sierra is 45 gr Varget at 2,690 fps.

For the .30-30, Hodgdon's max load is 33 gr Varget at 2,168 fps and a starting charge of 29.5 gr at 1,976 fps.

In order to get in that window, I'd try 32 - 36 gr (Maximum) of Varget to start with in the .308 Winchester.

I'd also use mag primers for consistent ignition.

If you have a chrony, that would be a great help to figure out where you're at and adjust the load accordingly, I wouldn't launch those bullets any faster than 2,300 fps personally.

Yup........I personally don't see how people can reload without a chrony!!!..........I'd be lost without mine. Even bought it before I ever started hand loading. Never did trust factory ballistics numbers. And part of the reason I got into rolling my own.

By the way........my digging around lead me to this bit of info regarding Sierras .30-30 bullets. Seeing how all the manufactures have had well over 120yrs to standardize and figure out that little sweetheart of a cartridge, I believe it's safe to theorize most all of them are designed and perform pretty much the same:



.30 CALIBER (.308) (.30-30) 150 & 170 GR. FN (30-30)
In rifles, these bulleta were designed for the venerable 30-30 Winchester cartridge, and feature a jacket tailored specifically to 30-30 velocities.� The cannelure on each bullet is precisely located to provide the proper over-all-length (OAL) for fast, trouble-free feeding. The bullet weight performs admirably on deer-sized game and is suited to larger deer and black bear at shorter ranges. PowerJacket construction assures reliable expansion with good penetration. Though designed for the 30-30 cartridge, the use of these bullets is not restricted to that cartridge. In fact, these bullets are very effective in any 30 caliber cartridge if a muzzle velocity level of 2500 to 2600 fps is not exceeded.

In handguns, these bullets are suitable for many cartridges because they were designed for the velocities of the venerable 30-30 Winchester cartridge. Specifically, these bullets are suitable for any handgun cartridge that will produce 2200 to 2500 fps at the muzzle. They are suitable for all game, from varmints to large game, such as elk, if the bullet weight is matched to game weight. These are short-range bullets due to their nose design and will be suitable only when maximum ranges do not exceed 125 to 150 yards. Sierra's unique Power Jacket design assures uniform bullet upset and expansion at this velocity level with traditional Sierra accuracy.

I use 170 gr. Hornady bullets in my 30-06 for practice loads and they shoot very well with light recoil. Hornady literature says they are good up to 2500 fps velocity. To date I haven't gotten a deer with them but see no reason why they would not work well.

Jim

Jack O'Connor once wrote that in his younger days, he often loaded 150 and 170 .30-30 bullets in his .30-06, at .30-06 velocities. He said they were great and sudden killers of Arizona mule deer.

I would be inclined to pick broadside shots personally, were I loading those bullets....

Sounds like a risky proposition to me, I'm sure they work great that way as long as the shot is perfect, although I'd hate to see what would happen if someone hit a shoulder on accident with that type of load.

Well, the deer around my neck of the woods rarely exceed 200lb, so they're more like large dogs than most deer.........LOL!!! So, I'm confident now that this combo will work on anything out to about 250-300yds. Much like my beloved Remington factory ammo in 180gr RN-CLSP. In fact, this load might actually be a tad better at ranges over 100yds, while only being slightly more destructive at short range

Yeh, but you got to remember back in his early days, there weren't very many reliable "fast controlled-expanding" bullets for deeer like we have today. Basically he used those bullets sorta like a lead tipped round nose ballistic tip. Heart/lung.....behind the shoulder under 100yds, shoulder hits thereafter.

Can't believe it took me so long to finally post my findings........LOL!!! Anyways, here they are, all shot from my Browniung A-Bolt w/21" bbl:

170gr Rem CLSP
44gr Varget--2475fps ES__15.7 SD__8.7
45gr Varget--2520fps ES__44.2 SD__20.5
52.5gr W760--2645fps ES__31 SD__15.4


Also loaded to a max charge listed for several 165/168gr bullets from many sources with Speer 170gr FN Hot-Cor's:

46gr Varget--2633fps ES__28.7 SD__15.1