Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 308 winchester 220 gr. loads

Do any of you guys have a good 220 gr. load for the 308 win.?

Thats one big honkin' slug for the 308 case....

Unless your barrel has a 1:10" twist, it likely won't stabalize a heavy projectile like that. Typically, 308 Wins are 1:12" and the heaviest slug you see commercially is a 200 grain and even then, they are marginal.

Think I'd try a Hornady 190 Interlock if I was looking for a heavy in 308, but fill yer boots.

I have a remington 7600 and it has a 1 in 10 twist.

Even my Sierra manual shows up to a 200 grain bullet. Beyond that, what purpose would a 220 grainer serve, that a 200 grainer could not do?

Yep and you're eating up valuable case volume with copper bullets that could have some propelant in there.

Why would you need one?

I shot a 160 grain .308 out of my Encore... once!

I shot a 160 grain .308 out of my Encore pistol... once!

Don't have a .308 but I shoot 200 grain bullets all the time out of my .300 Savage, about 40 grs of RL15 gets about 2400 from a 24" barrel model 99.

That's with Speer 200's and Lapua Mega 200's. Use it for Black Bear hunting and might use em for Elk if I use that rifle for that some time. Shoots them well.

Been meaning to try some Hornady 220's, just haven't got around to it. My 1-12 " twist stabilizes bullets out to 1.2"+ just fine.

1-10 twist will stabilize bullets out to 1.42 inches long. 220's should work fine.

Greenhill formula

Have fun. I like the heavy bullets too!...

Give 760 a try, up to ~44 gr. w/ a 220 Horn. Has shot well for me, though I haven't tried it for several years.

P.S. Why do so many get their panties in a wad if someone wants to do something they wouldn't do? One can load a 220 in a 308, the Earth won't stop rotating. If he likes it, great, if not, no foul.

No one questions 220s in a 30-40 Krag. Why should using them in a 308 be such a strange affair? Especially since the 308 actually has slightly more case capacity.

45 gr of IMR 4350 will give you 2300 fps.

Ted

As well, you can use a .30-06 magazine in the 7600, allowing you to seat out further and not lose any case capacity...7600's are all long actions...

Not only yes, but HELL YES! Use Winchester W-760 powder.

Starting load: 42.0 gr. 2177 FPS 42,000 C.U.P.
Maximum Load: 44.0 gr. 2295 FPS 46,900 C.U.P.

Chronograph and accuracy results from:
Winchester M70, 22" barrel, 1 in 12" twist, 2310 FPS. groups range from .375" to .50" So much for a 1 in 12" being too slow for a 220 gr. Sierra round nose bullet. This load is only 100 FPS slower than advertised velocity from a 30-06 factory 220 gr. bullet load.

Ruger M77 RSI, 18.5" 1 in 10" barrel, 2250 FPS. groups average 1.50". This rifle extremely fussy about what will shoot good.
The best it has done is 1.25" with 49.0 gr. of W-760 and the 165 gr. Speer Hot-Core.

The above is based on my shooting about a dozen trial loads with the max load after working up. JMHO, but I think a 220 gr. bullet load for the .308 Win. is perfectly viable and in both rifles sufficiently accurate for any big game. After all, the 30-40 Krag was considered a good elk rifle in it's day and both rifles beat it by 200 FPS or more.
I kind of wish I'd had access to a few more rifles in .308 just to see it my finding would continue to hold up.
Paul B.

Sounds like somebody needs a 338 Federal

I worked this one up in my 20.5" 1/12 twist 308 Win. No stability issues. Being a flat base bullet with a long round nose, it really doesn't use up all that much powder space.

220gr Hornady RN
2.78" OAL
Milsurp brass
W760
46gr - 2420 fps
1.0 moa accurate at 100 yards. No pics, computer crashed/burned and lost all that wasn't on photobucket....




For $hits-n-giggles I loaded up a subsonic load over 10.8gr Unique. That chrono'd at 1050 fps. It was wobbly at 100 yards, but still about 1.5 moa accurate,