Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .308 Varmint and plinking loads

Lately I've been trying to develop loads with light projectiles for my .308.
Ive had success with Norma 125gn, getting 5 shots under an inch at a 100 - but so far no luck with 110gn Hornady.

I was thinking that as the Hornady projectiles are short and have a more sharply point angled point than the Norma that the extra jump to the lands may be the trouble?

So in regard to safety, how far out can I seat the 110 grainers?

Any suggestions are welcome.

Regards,
DBT.

Not sure what you mean by "safety" but don't seat them so far out that they stick in the throat, jam in the magazine or fall out or for that matter into the case.

The 110 Hornadys that I have are the VMax. I seated them to 2.8" and they shoot about one moa. I thought that RL 10 was the powder but I got soot on the cases with 47 grs when firing that load in a M70 and a M88. Earlier they showed adequate burning in the M84M.

You may have the soft points and they could be a shorter bullet. That Hornady Spire Point design brings the bullet closer and not further towards the throat.

These 110 VMax's are about the only 110 gr .30 cal bullet that I have had good luck with. Prior to that it was easy to get 125's to shoot.

It's just that the 110grainers are so stumpy, there's hardly any straight shank to play with - so to seat them to the point where they are close to the lands, they are only seated about a 1/4" into the neck of the shell...
I don't know if that's going to be a safety issue with pressure spikes, or perhaps some other factor?
...................................................................................




I've got ballistic tips, I've also got a batch of Hornady 150gr. which also shoot badly.
I'm probably wrong, but I thought that the spire point, being sharper than the more rounded Nosler, would still require a bit of a jump to the lands even when they are seated at the same length as more rounded projectiles.

I've always had good accuracy results with round nose projectiles. Poor BC though.

[quoteI've always had good accuracy results with round nose projectiles. Poor BC though. [/quote]

DBT:

Well, if you're getting good accuracy with the RN bullets, that's certainly good for plinking. Pretty good for varmints, too, probably. Unless you're shooting at such a distance that BC becomes an issue.

What kind of varmints are we talking about, here, ferals or marsupials?

- TJM

If you're getting a full 1/4" engagement into the case neck that should be fine. 300 Winchester mag shooters successfully work with a quarter inch of neck all the time. My little 300 Savage cases have only .220" of case neck, and I haven't run into any problems.

OK, but I'd like to try and seat them out a little further so I'm wondering what the minimum engagement is for the .308...

For instance 3/8" seems too little,and it may cause problems that I don't know about, but it would make the overall length good for the 110gr. projectile.

DBT:

What kind of varmints are we talking about, here, ferals or marsupials?

- TJM [/quote]

Rabbits, fox, feral cats, etc. mainly at longer range than the .22 rimfire (I only have 2 rifles)

Plus I'd like to use the mild recoiling 110grainers at the range for informal bench rest practice...just love seeing those small groups. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />