Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Compressed loads, Starline brass

New gun, new brass,

.308 Winchester, Starline brass, Varget powder 130 Barnes TTSX

Barnes manual and website states 47.5 grains up to 52 grains of Varget

Hodgdons data shows 47 to 50 with being compressed,

Pic below will show two on the left at 48, then out of curiosity the 3rd from left is 49 grains,

Looks compressed from the start to me,

Don’t know if I should proceed or pause……..

I would back off half a grain to a full grain.

Different powders may react differently to being “compressed! I once used a load with RL 19, using a 10” (I think) drop tube, lightly tapping the side of the case, lift the drop tube off, the powder was just below the case mouth…..then seated a 270 grain Barnes bullet into the case. I quickly discovered that seating the bullet very slowly was needed…..as to “Not” bulge the case.

The loads shot great…..though, I don’t recommend the practice! memtb

Use a drop tube to settle the powder better

Hodgdon's data will likely show Winchester brass, which in my experience weighs about 155 grains empty and deprimed. If your Starline is like mine it will be near 180 grains. It's thicker and lower capacity.

178 with primer.

So we back off a grain or two to compensate for the thicker brass,

Will we still hit the prior expected velocities?

I can try that, I was tapping the cases on the bench otherwise just looking for some settling.

I would start at 47g, maybe 46 and work up. See if you can reach your target velocity. Case weight and capacity would give me pause.

I usually have the vibratory cleaner running beside my bench when loading; when the cases are that full, I place a finger over the case mouth and hold the base against the bowl for a few seconds - does a good job of settling the powder. Having said that, the safest thing is to only work up to the published velocity.

I started at 46.5 and worked up to 48, half grain increments, No noticeable signs of pressure that I noticed, That was with 130 gr TTSX, That’s about all that case might handle, did not get velocity today,

Decent load for break in, Around an inch or even slightly less for 3 shot groups, For a 7lb rifle with a thin barrel, could almost stop right there,

But,

That’s not what we do, is it…..So, might try 150’s next….start around 44 grains , should give additional case space.

When I shot 30-06, one could hear granules of 4831 (H or IMR) crunch as every bullet was seated. 165s and 190s

The loads gave superb accuracy, primer pockets stayed tight for over a dozen loads.

No issues at all.

That depends on your barrel. Some are fast, some are slow.

Chrongraph is your friend.

Ever see one of the plastic wishing wells where the pennies or dimes roll round and round until they finally drop through a small hole into a collection jar.

Forty years or more ago. In one of the gun rags, it was reccomended that the "swirl technique" was the best way to lay extruded powders into a case.

I dispense, or weigh the powder into a scale pan. Then pour it into a powder funnel so that it swirls down and into the case.

This gives me a better bulk density than any drop tube. Surpassed only by laying the brass against the vertical bolt on a vibratory tumbler as the powder is added.

not sure what site you went to but I use these exclusively for my hardwoods hunting and Barnes states the 130's at 44.3 to 49.2c. I have a lot of varget but I use it in other loads with my 155 scenars. So I use TAC, and one of the main reasons I use TAC is that when trying to get to max load, I too ran into this situation and didn't like "A LOT" of crunch. So getting 52g of Varget in there is pretty tight. 50g TAC with 210M primer was the ticket in my Tikka.

I don't remember my full recipe off the top of my head, its at home if you need it. But I do remember my COAL was 2.825". Shoots little biddy groups. The book states 2.735" which is a good bit shorter. I'd like to try that as well but with the primer shortage and gouging prices, I'll wait.

Good catch, I was looking at Barnes manual#4, I had looked at the website but did not notice the changes,

And now it looks I could move over to Benchmark rather easily with little loss in velocity if any. Thanks.

Unless you actually measure pressure, everything is a guess...but knowing velocity provides the BEST guess.

My 55 grain 223 load looks worse than that with 27 grains of Varget. 27.5 grains is the max. Any more than 27 grains and its going to spill. Very accurate load and no pressure signs. If thats within the normal load data and I am not using thicker brass, I would load up a few and test. I do use 308 ADG brass for some loads and have to drop down the charge a bit or I will be over pressure.

So the manual states 3121 fps with 45.9 grains of Benchmark, from a 24 inch barrel,

Then what would you consider top end from a 22 inch barrel?