Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Flight 215 now boarding at gate 308!

Would you see much gain in performance in seating longer if you had a long action? Do you have the neck length and bearing surface or are you about at your limits within reason? Still kicking ideas around on what to do with my long action 700. It would probably be better served as a 30/06 or opened up to 300 win but I did talk to the smith about building a 308 on a long action a few weeks ago for a friend, just never thought I would entertain the idea. Also does your elevation help with stability? I would be real close to sea level, 800' to 1600', so faster twist is what I had in mind even if I went with the faster chambering.

We need some 180s n 6.5mm

Pretty awesome MM.

Have you ever shot the Sierra 190gr MK's? I picked up a .308 but I can't find the 208's anywhere.


Travis

Suicycle, A long action would be great for a 308 loaded to 3.1" oal. In my short action, there's no way 3.1" will fit a magazine, not even a Wyatt's. In fact, at 3.1" oal, I cannot eject a loaded round without releasing the bolt stop.

I've mulled chambering a long action 308, but to me the long action just makes the 30-06 a no-brainer.

With the 215 Berger, 3.1" oal puts the juncture of the boat-tail and bearing surface right about at the bottom of the case neck. The Berger 215 Hybrid is 1.62" long. In direct comparison, a 220gr Sierra Matchking is only 1.48" long.

Elevation (air density) is a component of bullet stabilization. The 215 being stable at 1/12 twist/2600 fps here at 4500', may not be stable at all at lower elevations.

If you had a 1/10 twist barrel, stability should be a non-issue at any reasonable velocity. If you were thinking subsonic loads, then 1/8 would be the right choice.

Travis, Yes I've shot a few thousand of the 190 SMKs in my earlier days with the heavy 30-06 and 308.

They were super accurate in both. When my heavy 30-06 was new, I was loading the 190 to 2900 fps via moly, RL22, and a 26" bbl.

My 308 load was 45gr RL15, Win brass, moly'd 190. That was consistent accuracy around .5-.7 moa, and 2650 fps from a 26" factory Rem 1/12 barrel.

The BC of .53 is not horrible either, but I was drawn to the 210 Berger for more BC, and eventually ended up at the 208 AMax for the great price, and quality.

Shane, have you seen or tried the Matrix 210 VLD? They supposedly have a BC of .752.

No I haven't tried the Matrix. The numbers look awesome.

Thanks MM. I just tried two loads with TAC. Three were going sub-MOA but the last two shots opened things up. I think TAC was wishful thinking though. I'm glad RL 15 worked for you because that and Big Game were my next bets.

Have a Merry Christmas.


Travis

Thanks Shane.

Good info...

Please excuse me if my questions are dumb, but is his elevation helpin him stabilize bullets with that twist? I have a remington 5r with a 1-11.25 twist and was wondering if these would work at 500 to 1000ft above sea level in my 308.

Down here in NGA and TN we are close enough to sea level to have dense air. That is hard for bullets to fly through, he will get free velocity at his elevation because of the thinner air. Max, and I mean MAX loads in a 270 when a local smith left the Colorado School of Trades that were fine there were blowing primers in the same rifle here. Elevation along with velocity will help stabalize bullets. Look at bergers site and you can put in bullet length and elevation along with speed and figure out what will be good and decent and nogo according to them.

Elevation is always 'free performance' regarding LR.

The only way to really know if 215s in a 1/11.25" twist will work in your locale is to try it.

Here's an interesting blog post regarding shooting heavy bullets in a 1/13" twist 30-06.

http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2010/06/ballistics-heavy-bullets-in-113-twist.html

Good article. Seems like he is throwing a knuckle ball at first, but the test shows different.

Ill be buying a box of 210 or 215s today

Interesting results Shane.

I asked Berger what they'd recommend out of the '06 I'm building, and they mentioned the 185gr Hybrid for 1000 and the 230gr Hybrid for 1000+. The price of those buggers has me leaning 208gr Amax though.

clark'

You might look into the Hornady 225gr BTHP too. They are not badly priced, and my results shooting them out to 1200 yards indicate a BC of about .710. That has been reported by other 225 users at the 'hide as well. Hornady advertised BC is .670.

Well I picked up a box of 210 grain hunting vlds today. Hope to get them loaded up and send them downrange tomorrow

I had good luck with the 210s in my 1/12 twist 308. They were consistently under 1 moa.

Here's a crazy group I shot one day with the 210s. No I don't usually stack them like this. Had a flyer on the last shot.
, still about .75 moa.

Five rounds, 100 yards.