Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 125 gr .308 load

I'm loading ammo for a young lady with a new .308 T/C Compass. I'm gonna mount a 3-9x40 4500 Bushnell.

For local WT's and hogs, I use and like 125's and 130's in the '06, with BG powder. If a 125/130 gr bullet will blow thru a WT's chest, one may not need heavier bullets for that use. And, they're moving at 3,100 fps. They kick less than heavier bullets, which should be great for her.

For the .308, I've seen TAC used as well as others in that burn rate range. In addition to TAC, I have N-133, 8208, Varget, H-4895, several that should work.

I'm going to start with 125 NBT's, may use 125 NAB's for hunting.

I'd be interested in pet loads, experiences that some of you may have with similar combo.

DF.

h4198 and a 125 grain accubond....the least amount of powder you will find to use for less recoil at 2950 fps

Several years ago I taught a smallish lady to shoot, and then helped her get her first deer, a fat whitetail buck.

She chose a good quality, lightweight .308 bolt action rifle for her hunting. She was shooting it okay with standard 165 grain ammo, but I could see that the recoil was becoming a problem.

I handloaded 125 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets over RL-15 to 3,000 fps. Recoil was reduced. Accuracy was excellent. And she dropped her buck nicely with one shot through the shoulder blades at about 125 yards. The bullet was recovered, very flattened, just under the off-side hide. I think if she'd hit through the ribs & lungs, it probably would have been a pass-through. Later I found that Varget worked equally well.

Regards, Guy

A friend of mine used to shoot the 125 Bal Tip on top of a max charge of 748 for his Encore handgun. He got fine accuracy and dropped deer right now style.

Of the powders you mentioned give the VV online data for N133 a look.

Will do. I like Vv powder, have a pound of n-133 not currently being used.

Appreciate the comments by all.

DF

Sounds like a good plan since you have the 125 NBT and Varget on hand. Vv N133 is a good medium burner that has shown to burn a bit hotter than others in that burn rate range. I use RL15 and and BL-C(2) on most loads and predominately shoot 165 and 168 class bullets. I would not discount the use of 150 class bullets at 2,600 fps for a very comfortable level of recoil. The 308 Win loves 150s for accuracy and at that launch speed provides moderate impact velocities for exceptional expansion and intended bullet performance. The NBT and SST are excellent at those speeds under just about any shot scenario. You get a nice upgrade with 150s in BC as well. For hogs the 150 NPT will show reliable expansion down at a 1,600 fps impact velocity. Just another thought, good luck.

I have always had good luck finding accurate loads and good velocity with Varget in .223, .243, and .308 cartridges. If you have Varget on hand, I would start there...

Significantly, I’m sure.

A quick recoil momentum balance calc for the projectiles says that's about equivalent to a 165 @ 2272 fps, a good 400 fps off of full power 165 loads.

Back when I was doing a lot of groundhog shooting with my .308 I burned through 500 125gr Speer TNTs loaded over 47grs of Varget. This was through a Rem 700 VLS. I dont recall the velocity of that load but it was very accurate. As already mentioned, Varget would be worthy of trying with 125s. I use it for everything in two 308s. It works well across the board in that cartridge in my experience, and I've found it to be exceptional with 175gr Sierra Matchkings in particular.

Use a stick powder for reduced recoil. Ball gives too much jet-effect recoil from the muzzle blast.

Is there that much recoil difference, ball vs. stick? I wasn't aware of that.

I'm thinking about using Vv n-133, as I have a pound not being used. It's a fine stick, IIRC.

I do have Varget and as suggested, it's a good one. I'm saving my Varget for dedicated use in other rounds, want to use powders not otherwise "spoken for". And that would include n-133. It was mentioned that it burns hotter, but for a Compass priced hunting rifle, that's not an issue.

DF

Observations on the Compass. The stock is typical cheap rifle plastic, but serviceable.

The trigger is an open design, sorta like older M-70's. I was able to adjust it to 3#'s with no over travel. It also has the M-70 style three position wing safety, which is a nice feature on a $285 rifle.

I like the Compass trigger better than the RAR or Savage with the Glock like trigger safety. I never did like the way those look. The Compass trigger is a simple, straight forward design that's easily adjusted. I had watched a You Tube presentation by the guy who sells a $30 spring kit. You don't need a full set of springs. I removed the trigger pin, dropped the trigger, removed one lock nut, set the over travel, replaced OEM spring and had consistent 3# trigger. Too easy.

Seems to be a well designed gun for what it is. Those cheap rifles are a marvel in manufacturing and performance.

My bud says he doesn't like plastic, loves walnut and steel. I agreed with him. He was bragging on the Springfield I had gifted him. I told him that Springfield, he and I, were all from a different era. And, you couldn't build that gun today for less than $300, probably more like $1,200 or so.

He had to agree.

DF

DF, Varget and 125 NAB's is accurate and low-recoil in my RAR. Started and finished with Hodgdon's starting load.

Will probably try NBT's later on.

CFE-223 will get a 125/130 class bullet to 3,100 fps pretty easy . . .

130 TTSX @ 3,100 is a pretty decent loading.

I have that one as well as Pw Pro 2000, which some say is the same powder, maybe with different coatings.

Thanks

DF

My bud had picked up (for a good price, of course) a Bushnell 4500 2.5-10x50 with DOA 600 reticle.

The Bushnell booklet has several rounds that they claim work with this reticle. I checked the ballistics on a couple of their recommendations, getting Hodgdon ballistic data from factory rounds. I then plugged in 125 NBT .308 data and found out I need to run those bullets at max speed (3,100 or so) to get identical ballistics.

Light bullets at max speed out of an 8.5# rig shouldn't kick very much. We're gonna find out.

I was thinking about running them at 2,950 or so, but less than 3,100 fps doesn't give ballistics that exactly fit the 600 DOA reticle. 3,100 is dead on, 3.050 and 3,000 are close, just not identical. Even if I end up running them less than 3,100,fps, the difference isn't that much, maybe a few inches at extended ranges.

Will report.

DF

48.5grs of TAC has worked well for me. 3100fps

I hear a lot of good reports on TAC. I have a couple of cans, that load and 48.0 gr. are at the top of my list.

I also want to try Vv n-133, Benchmark and 8208, all three on my shelf, none dedicated to a specific round like Varget.

DF

You may even give the 110 ETip a whirl? Certainly nothing wrong with the 125 NBT, can only say the 124 NAB may be better "overall" for elk, but the NBT is a very very good choice in a 308 ( even 30-06)