Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Heavy Bullet loads in the .308 Winchester

All,

After reading 7 pages of the "Reloading the .308" thread and going crosseyed trying to keep up, I'll just ask outright!

Do any of you have a good 180gn or above load for the .308? I've got 180gn NPs and 200gn Game Kings on hand but don't mind chasing down something different if it can be found...

Thanks in advance,
John

What about a 250 gr. load ....

I remember Varget and RL 15 doing well with 180's but don't have the exact data anymore. A 200 gr load sounds interesting for your neck of the woods judging from your user name, bet you could get around 2500 fps with the right load.

My R77RL in 308 shoots 180 Nosler solid bases well with W748. I have had the best overall luck with accuracy/velocity in several 308s with that powder. Getting 2650+ from a 20" barrel. Killed a cow elk at 297 yds with the bullet noted above (which of course they don't make anymore).
As always, work up loads carefully.
Tim

I have good luck with Re17 and H414/W760 in the 180+ bullets for the 308 Win. On that note I also have the benefit of my rifle being a commercial 98 action where I'm not limited by mag length and can load them out to near 2.9" OAL.

175 SMK with Varget worked well for me so I would imagine a 180 bullet with the right load of Varget may do the trick. H4895 might be another powder to look at although I have not used it.

Thanks for the replies, gents... I'm going to play with the NP 180s as well as some NP 165s, throw in a dash of H4895 and see what we can come up with. This will primarily be for my Bride's moose rifle, a Remington Model 7.

Having a magazine full of heavy bullets can, at times, be a comfort in these parts and I do not doubt the effectiveness of the .308 when loaded appropriately.

Thanks again for all the suggestions,
John

With the 18" barrel on the Mod 7, you probably want to stay with faster burning powders.
jmho
Tim

44.0 gr of Varget with 180 gr Partition.

yep. I use 45 grain Varget with a 180 ballistic tip at 2.80 inches OAL, WW case, and CCI 200 primer. This load is not a barn burner but gets an honest 2525 fps out of a 20 inch BBL with excellent accuracy.

Yukoner and Montana Marine were both getting some amazing results with RL-17. Yukoner keeps excellent notes and is a very experienced hand-loader - he was getting well over 2700 fps with 180gr Winchester Power Points and well over 2600 fps with 200gr Speer SP. This was out of a 22" barreled Stevens 200.

We made roughly 2,600 with 200gr Sierra's in my father's 20" SPS-T 700 when using RL17. I'd not put that load in a little M7 and give it to my wife, that's for sure.......

You can get 2310 FPS from a 22" barrel witrh W760 and the 220 gr. Sierra round nose. I get that from a Winchester M70. My Ruger M77 RSI with 18.5" barrel does a bit over 2200 FPS with that load. I haven't tried it in a Remingto M660 with 20" barrel but an honest geusse would put in around 2250, give or take.
The load comes from one of those one cartridge manuals and it not in their latest edition. Looking at all the loads in that little book, it was the fastest with 220 gr. bullets. I have not tried it with the 220 gr. Hornady, mostly because I don't have any.
Here's the data.
Powder: W760
Brass: W/W
Primer: Winchester WLR
Bullet: 220 gr. Sierra RN
Start: 42.0 gr/2177 FPS @ 42,000 CUP
Max: 44.0 gr/2295 FPS @ 46,900 CUP
The load clocked 2310 FPS from my rifle.
If you want a copy from the book, I can scan it and print one out. Just need a snail mail address to get to to you.
For the record, the recoil was not bad in either rifle.
Paul B.

ive run 180's in my 308 for a couple of years now. i really like the 180 rn hornady and the 180 sierra gameking. they have shot well in my 98 mauser and recently in a mdl 70 fwt

load is
44gr rel 15
rem 9 1/2 primer
rp brass

this load gets 2620 in the 24 mauser and 2590 in the 22 mdl 70. and i load them to the crimping groove on the hornady and 2.8 on the sierra

A max load of H4350 and the 180gr PP partition gives me great accuracy. But at 2400fps out of my 22" Range would be limited. I just stick with 150gr bullets at 2800fps for ballistic tips and Varget or 2900fps with partitions