Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 308 winchester 220 grain partition

Few months back, had some great velocity from leverevolution and 200 grain hot cors in the little 308:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...-308-win-200-grain-hotcor-leverevolution

Decided to test the forbidden fruit: 220 grainers from a 308 winchester in a standard Ruger American, standar COAL.

I started at 42 grains and worked up to 46 grains in some range rubbish brass using standard primers.

I saw 2515 fps from 46 grains of powder. Easy extraction all the way through 42-46 grains.

Lerevolution shows a very sneaky sign of pressure: extraction like butter, but loose primer pockets. At 46 grains of powder, I got 3 firings before the primer pockets loosened.

Read my other thread posted above for more detailed info on the loose primer pockets.

Backed down to 45 grains, accuracy improved from 1.5" groups to 3/4 " groups. 2480 fps, still tight primer pockets loaded up for the 4th firing.

Few things I learned:

The supposed 220 grain 30-06 advantage is non-existant.

The 220 grain partition does not impede powder capacity in the 308 winchester.

A specialized ball powder giving similar performance to a 30-06 in a shorter cartridge, is history repeating itself.

Plenty of powder capacity @ 45 grains in my range-rubbish winchester brass. So a feller doesn't need to worry about which ever brass or cartridge over-all length. Leverevolution is the densest ball powder I've ever used, perfect for the 308 win under-dog.

Recoil from the light rifle was WAY less than a 30-06. This was a sporterized Mauser using 30-06 federal blue box 220 grain ammo.

And as always, the 6.5 douch-nozzle-creedmoor will never out-do the 308 winchester.........

Thank you again! My hunting load is the 200s at 2450. I must try this load for spring bear. Heavies rule

It's getting close to the time of year where it's a concern, so I'll just throw it out there:

You'll shoot yer eye out.

Awesome Pard! I was going to load a little Mauser in .308 with the Speer 200HC, but the rifle had a super tight chamber/short throat length. At the time I needed something else and sold it. I was going to use it in the timber on cow elk. I like the big heavy round nose bullets.

Thanks gents, leverevolution is THE 308 winchester powder.

It has a very narrow window of performance. It is a weird powder. I bet it would make a very potent powder for the 300 savage as well.

Was hoping to use this load on the creeks for moose this past fall, but unfortunately the plastic mags weren't holding up to all the 200 and 220 grainers.

Need to go boyds laminated stock to get that nice aluminum bottom metal and steel ai mags.

Anyhow, just a basic do-all general purpose Alaskan load.

Just read Richard Mann's stupid fkn moose hunting story. He was hunting my native mi'kmaw country. Dude dropped prone and crippled a small bull moose with a 150 grain partition. A frontal shot. Arrogant fkn minimilists.

I've communicated with him and he thinks 200 grain bullets or 220 grain bullets arent necessary and don't expand properly in the 308 winchester?

Who the fk drops prone at 50 yds for a moose?!:

"From the prone position and with a target at only 60 yards I was prepared for a precision shot. I placed the tip of the Trijicon post reticle just under the moose’s nose and at the center of his chest. Then I touched off the shot I had been waiting for.

The rifle roared and the moose twisted and turned into the thickness. As expected with a chest shot, there was little blood. That and the fact that the forest was wet made tracking difficult. We looked for an hour and then went back to the scene of the encounter. Gordon took the place of the moose and I retraced the shot. The investigation did not reveal good news. The Nolser Partition had hit a branch about the size of a pencil and even though the moose was only about 15 feet behind that branch, there was no confidence in where the bullet actually struck the bull.

Another hour and a half of searching turned up only a few drops of blood."

https://empty-cases.com/blog/spruce-branch-moose/

That same year he crippled that mulligan bull, I called a big boy right into camp. Slapped some leafy willow brush with a 275 grain woodleigh. Behind that willow brush was the most pissed off, rut-raged bull I've ever shot. Frontal shot.

Anyhow, the bullet got sideways. It didn't expand and was near the diaphragm. It looked like a banana.

That was a 358 winchester. This same author had the audacity to describe the 358 winchester in a nosler reloading manual. He don't know jack mother fkn sht about the 358 winchester, or whats a proper moose bullet..........

Thank you for this writeup. I happen to have Leverevolution powder I use for another cartridge and am going to try and duplicate your findings.

Good post, thanks.

you can never go wrong with a 220 gr RN...used them on Northern MN and Northern Wisconsin deer, when I lived in the upper Midwest...
Yeah, from an 06, but a 308 will do the exact same job...at North Woods distances...

that much sectional density will bulldoze itself thru quite a bit of animal anatomy.
Never really needed a tracking job with the 220 RN.. Hornady or Sierra.

The Nosler is just a lot more of a good thing....

Congrats on the Moose and as Flintlocke said "Good Post"!

I have often wondered why Hodgdon has been so very cautious about expanding their reloading data to a wider array of cartridges with LeveR. I have cautiously tried it in several cartridges unlisted in Hodgdon data...it seems to fall pretty close to H380 on burn rate...and I haven't experienced any unpleasant surprises. It absolutely blew me away with accuracy and velocity in the 7.62x54R (tested in a scoped 39 Finn). In the rural west, we don't get the latest wonder powders, more like I wonder where they are, but LeveRevolution was one that showed up out here and powder is powder in these times. For those rare few riflemen who are fond of the 8x57, give it a try, you may be pleasantly surprised.

So, the 30-06 has a lot more recoil but no more power???

Thanks for sharing your research Mainer. A load like that makes alot of sense down here in southeast. I've been shooting 200s at 2350 in the little Kimber, but may have to dip into my supply of 220s now. Does your Ruger have a 22" barrel?

Bugger,
No; not quite the message. The MSG is that LVR powder and a 220 in the 308 is a terrific load as described. The '06 loading manual loads for the 220 are found up to 2600 and likely there are some powders that can beat that. I frankly don't think it matters much as both the 308 and 30-06 are terrific big game rounds and both can aptly handle the heavies.
Happy hunting!
F01

I looked at your post date and I gotta know where you are in Alaska that still has green stuff on the ground and bushes??? It's been gone in Kodiak for for 2 months already!!

Dennis,
Middle of August was when I started working up the load, then settled on 45 grains of LVR and loaded up 150 rounds of the heavies. Just now got around to posting it up.

PA, yep 22" barrel. I hope 220s work well for you. Still haven't done that roofing job down in Sitka, fella is behind on a remodel of another place.

Seafire, flintlocke, jeeper, fury,
Thanks. It's the loaner rifle for guests, sighted to 220 grainers.


Happy Thanksgving everyone

Good deal, thanks. That’ll help me plan what velocity I should look for.

Lemme know when you’re headed down, we’ll kill some stuff or go see some places.

My 1-9 twist barrel came in. Looks like new tube for the 308 . Maybe 2 weeks I'll have time. That should stabilize anything i wave to shoot

In an 06, a 220 grainer with H4831SC, can be pushed a lot faster that 2600... like 10% more than that speed, in the 2800 to 2850 fps, depending on barrel length....If you search the campfire archives that has been discussed several times over the years I've been on here.. which dates back to 2004. I've personally tested that fact for myself...

and have even reloaded brass with that load, 10 times and the 11th reload, the primer pocket was still tight...

and those velocities are still within SAAMI specs....

Wow, that seems awfully fast for a 30-06/220 load. If such loads are within SAAMI specs, then why does published data not approach this velocity? What barrel length did you use?