Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 308 and 180 grain NP's?

My wife has a BSA Majestic in 308 which belonged to her late brother. We have used it some over the years but I have never really spent much time with it developing loads. She would like to use it this year for moose hunting with me. I am a devoted Nosler Partition fan but have never tried the 180 grain Partition in the 308. Any favorite loads for this combination? Any input would be appreciated. I have 4895, 4320, 3031, H380, RL15 and BL-C2 on hand. Thanks in advance.

Mart

Use a 165 bullet an don't look back. 180 to me are to heavy for the 308 I think

180 will work just fine.

Use what works best in your weapon.

I have owned a variety of bolt, lever action and break action combo guns chambered in .308Win., one of THE most truely useful cartridges ever developed, IMHO, and loaded and fired thousands of rounds from these. I bought my first .308Win.-Savage 99 Fwt. in 1966 and my most recent, a higly customized Classic sts. Mod. 70 last year,this is almost finished, most work by Martini Gunmakers of BC and it seems to shoot pretty well.

I have loaded and shot 150, 165 and 180 gr. bullets and strongly prefer 180 NPs for every hunting use in this cartridge. I like 42.5-43 grs. of RE-15 in mine, but, have used a lot of H-414, W-760, W-748 and IMR-4350.

This, is my favourite "30 cal" round by far and, after some serious culling of my collection, I still have four .30-06s, a .308Norma and a .300 H&H and three .308s. Actually, as I get older,my Browning 12 ga-.308Win O/U combo and the above Mod. 70 will get most of my usage in BC hunting and with 180 NPs. YMMV, but, it works well for me.

Forget about the bullets and go and tell Lisa Kelly from Wasilla I love her...........Ok enough of that,,, . I'd go with the 180 partition and never look back........I'd run a max load (if the rifle will take it) of IMR 4350 (50 GR'S) and let us know how it does.....Remember to work up to max....and remember to say high to Lisa for me....

RE-15 would work great too.....That's my favorite powder for my 308's......

Varget, I used about a grain below Hodgden's published max sparked by BR2's.

You might give Alliant's 2000MR a try. Haven't used it with 180 gr loads, but it can definitely move your 308 up to 30-06 velocities - works great in my 308.

4350 and the 308 did not work for me. Loads run thru the chrono were 200 fps under what they should have been, 22 inch tube. RL-15 gave top velocity and accuracy and were right there when checked on the chrono.

I also use RL15 in the .308, but not just for 180s. It's my preferred powder for 150 and 165 gr. loads too. I recommend it highly.

Who is Lisa Kelly? I would pass her a note in study hall for you but I haven't been in junior high for 40 years.

The rest of you guys, thanks for the load ideas. I will pick up some 180's today and work up some loads to try this next week off.

Mart

Myself i personally prefer the 165 gr as my all around 308 cal bullet in the 308 and the the best powders i have used is Hod 4895 and Varget. I now have only 4 308's and need to build another , I'm starting to get low . My personal pick of powder if i could only use one in the 308 Win it would be Hod 4895

I usually use a 165 gr. bullets in the .308 but have had good results with the 180 gr. bullets as well. I am one of those individuals who take what most gun rag writers say with a grain of salt. The Late W.D.M. Bell whose claim (?) to fame was killing all those elephants once said that he thought the .308 Win. shooting a 220 gr. FMJ bullet just might be the perfect elephant gun. (I'll add for him.) That did get my curiosity up so after a long hard search, I found that one could push a 220 gr. bullet from a .308 Win. to 2310 FPS. Rifle was a Winchester M70 Youth Ranger sitting in a Ramline stock. Twist rate was 1 in 12". Now that rate is not supposed to stabilize bullets that heavy. Guess what, they stabilized just fine. Group ran from .375" to .50" at 100 yards. Bullet was the 220 gr. Sierra round nose. Oh but that's too slsow say the naysayers. Funny, but the advertised velocity for the 220 gr. bullet in the 30-06 is 2400 FPS, only 90 FPS faster yet the 06 is OK for the great bears. How many times have people said that 100 FPS doesn't mean squat yet 90 FPS difference won't cut it.
Now I don't cae whether anyone agrees with me ot not. It was nothing more than an experiment more for my own edification than anything else so if you want to flame. don't bother, I've already heard it all.
As I said when I started out, I usually use a 165 gr. bullet, most likely the Speer Hot-Core but have used various 150 and 180 gr. bullets as well.
I think a 165 gr. bullet works great on deer and I do belive I might use it on elk but would prefer something heavier just in cast I don't get a perfect broadside shot. I've never even seen a moose up close and personal, only on a few hunting videos but I do understand they're big. For me the .308 would not be a first choice so if it had to be taken with a .308, I do believe I would at least use a 180 gr. bullet, probably the Nosler Accubond or Partition. If I knew for sure that my shots would come at 100 yards or less, I might even use that 220 gr. load I worked up.
Paul B.

I have an old Friend that insists I load nothing but 180's in his 308W, I run them to 2660 with RL-15 from his 22" barreled rifle.

Gunner