Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles sr4759 in .308

I am currently working with sr4759 in a Marlin XS7 that I put a .308 barrel on. I am looking for a low report, low recoil load to shoot deer at 100 yards or less. Accuracy was pretty good, about 1.25" for 5 shots and it was a pleasure to shoot. With a 150 gr bullet, I was getting about 2100 fps, which is about 100-150 fps faster that they say it would be with the load I am using. Not having much experience with this powder, do you think that shooting in the 80* heat this past weekend was causing a higher than expected speed?

I burn 5 to 10 lbs of SR 4759 per year, so yeah, I have a little experience with it..

you didn't list how many grains of powder your charge was, but at the same time, that could have been caused by what your seating depth was, how close or not your bullet was from the lands...

SR 4759 is a very forgiving powder.. instead of having a pressure spike at a certain point, it seems to have a point it hits a plateau for lack of any other word... more powder and it will not increase the velocity...

it gives plenty of warning signs before it is going to start popping primers...in fact I use it with brass for lighter loads, when their primer pockets start to get weak for whatever reason..

as far as heat sensitivity, I use it here in Oregon when the summer heat gets over 100 degrees, without problems...

being a Virginia native, I am well familiar with any temps you'd experience there, and so compared to my experience with it here in Oregon, I'd say you're totally safe unless you go way over max recommendations....

I run 4759, 4198 and Rl 7 in a wide variety of cartridges, for the exact reasons you are running it in your 308... I don't need a 500 yd load, when I am doing a lot of shooting at 100 to 250 yds...and a nice thing about 4759, 4198 and Rl 7, is they will have the same POI at 100 yds as many factory loads will..

I was running 25gr in that load with a COAL of 2.81", which is .015 or so off the lands with the sierra 150 gr spt in that gun. I might play with the depth a little to tighten the group, but it will do what I need it to right now. I did notice the regular 4064 load only hit about 1/2" higher than the 4759 load.

Funny you mention being a Va native in Oregon, as I am an Oregon native in Va.

My old, 1975-1976, Dupont Handloader's Guide lists 27.5 grs. of SR4759 with the 150 gr. pointed Cor-Lok bullet for 2325 fps. at 51500 CUP. Remington cases. COL 2.70. Your load sounds fine to me. E

Perfect, thanks for the load data. That sounds in line with what I saw. I know it was very easy on the shoulder with zero pressure signs, and if the bullets works at about 2k fps we should have venison this fall.

that is kind of Ironic!!!

don't know where you are from in Oregon here... I live in Grants Pass.. from Virginia, my family is scattered all over the state...immediate roots are SW Va ( Roanoke down to Blacksbur and Wytheville), my dad was military so home was up in NO Va (Fairfax, Arlington and Prince William Counties....)

I use SR 4759 in several calibers taking kids out for blacktails each year... with a lot of successful results...

Another very pleasant load in the .308 is the 150 g. Winchester Power Point over 25.0 gr. of IMR or H4895. That's normally the load I use for cast bullets in the .308 but my wife fell in love with my Ruger M77 RSI so I had to buy her one of her own. A while back I was going to loan my lightweight custom Mauser to a kid who'd drawn a tag for elk and we used that load in the custom and a Remington 660 custon to see if either rifle would work for him. He did not like the feel of the Mauser or the thumbhole stock so we tried the 660. He felt it was too land. So, I said OK and sat down at the bench and put 5 shots under a nickel with that load. I hadn't shot that 660 in a very long time and was surprised it was still sighted in.
The only cartridge I've used SR4759 in has been the 45-70. With this shortage due to panic buying I haven't seem much of anything on the shelves.
Paul B.