Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles N140 or N150…

…for a 308 shooting 150-168gr bullets.
I’m probably going to pick up another 308 in the near future.

I have enough powder for my 308 mtn rifle to keep me in elk meat for a long time, but I want another 308 to play with, and will probably need to add to my powder stash to feed it.

I like the copper reducer feature in the VV 100 series of powder, and they have a reputation for accuracy.

So what is your experience with the these two powders in the 308?

I'd suggest N140. It gives excellent results, and IMO the N150 is too slow for your stated application.

N140 has been a bit hard to come by lately, if you can't find it, you might consider N540.

ETA: Looks like Midsouth has N140 tonight.

I use both, not in the .308, though.
N140 is Varget-ish, and N150 is Re15-ish.
Both give me very accurate loads and temperature stable speeds.
The N540 Son of the Gael mentioned gave me higher speeds than N140 but, in my experience, has proven more tricky.

N140 can be hard to find and sells out quickly in my area. Local shooters are using Varget data for it and love it. I have used N150 under 155s for very accurate .308 loads with good velocity in a couple of barrels, I think it was a little slow burning for them, but not as slow as the charts indicate. A drop tube is helpful to get enough in the case if using for max loads. I backed off 1/2 grain during our Phoenix summers. Shot up 3 or 4 jugs of the older version without the decoppering agent and the new version of is advertised as temperature insensitive. Wish it was still $160 per jug at Brunos!

How much N150 were you putting under those 155s?

Yeah, the VV load data generally shows N150 producing a bit more velocity with 150-165 gr bullets than N140. I was kind’ve wondering about accuracy between the two.

For whatever reason the N140 data with several 150 grain bullets seems extremely conservative.

That would not surprise me. Their N135 and N150 data seems super low as well. They don't list pressures, so it may be due to older rifles, semi auto port pressures or?

46.5 grains for a .300/308 bore / groove Kreiger and 46 for my .298/3075 Kreiger (winter loads). SRP primer pockets were still tight after 13-15 firings. Ran up to 47 grains in initial testing.

I think that would probably be dependent on the individual barrel... it shot at least as tight as other powders I have used for those bullets.

That is interesting info mm.