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Bearcat74 (May 1st 2024)

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Re: Reduced loads using 4198 #17247882 May 14th a 08:51 AM
by Seafire
Seafire	Well just seeing this... haven't been on the campfire as much as of late.. because I've been busy taking care of all sorts of fix it needs that have popped up around the homestead here... without it meant to be a point of bragging.... I would gather that I probably load more 4198 in hunting rifles than about anyone else on the campfire. many think it has no use other than light cast bullet uses.... I look at it another way... here in Oregon, we have Blacktails.... many weigh not much more than the average antelope. I'm of the opinion of I don't need a 500 yd load with a heavy bullet, to kill a 100 to 120 pound blacktail at 75 to 200 yds... I also work a lot with youth loads for kids, doing so with Boy Scouts as I am a shooting instructor and Merit Badge Counselor with Scouts. Cast bullet manuals were I got my research started on loads using 4198 ( I prefer IMRs to Hodgdons)....but I've learned to simply them also. between the 6mm size to the 30 caliber size... most bread and butter cartridges are based on the 308 case or the 30/06 case. Looking over load data for a host of cartridges in the case load manuals.. I came up with two parameters... 1. 308 based cartridges.... the max load I set at 30 grains of powder for 4198. doesn't matter if its a 243 shooting a 100 grain bullet, to a 308 shooting a 180 to 200 grain bullet... and anything in between for the 260, or 7/08 or the 338 Federal or 358 Win....30 grains max works across the board. I set the minimum ( although one can go even lower) at 20 grains....which works fine if you are shooting at 100 yds or less...or anything in between... I myself either load them with 20 grains, 25 or 30....close enough for government work. 2. 06 based cartridges... you can expand that to 35 grains of 4198, but I usually load those to 30 grains also.... also use 30 grains for the 6.5 x 55, 7 x 57, 8 x 57, 6mm Rem, but that can be worked up to 32.5 grains safely and consistently... I use no filler and only large rifle primers... no magnum primers are really needed... I've sent 10s of thousands of these loads thru my rifles... and never had ONE issue... I just call these 4198 loads the equivalent of 30/30 ranges....most are more.. since you are using spitzer bullets... as far as the OPs original question about use in the 260 Rem.. I carry that round in several rifles... I go afield with 30 grains of 4198 ( IMR) and either a 100 grain or 120 grain bullet.. usually a Ballistic tip, but also have used and take deer with the 100 gr SP Hornady, and the 100 grain HP Sierra....the 120 Ballistic tip works so well, never experimented with much else in that bullet weight... the 129 Hornady is also another excellent choice... where to zero these loads... I learned this from reading and have set this up as my regimen for decades... an antelope ( smaller than deer) is 14 inches from Breast bone to back bone regardless of weight on the hoof. cut that in half and you have a 7 inch window of opportunity at the vitals in the lung area. a bullet zeroed 3.5 inches high at 100 yds, is usually dead on or close to it at 200 yds and about 3.5 inches low at something around 240 yds.. this is with a spitzer bullet, when leaving the muzzle at 2250 fps... since 90% of most game is taken at 100 yds, and 95% if taken at 200 yds and under... this more than adequate for hunting deer in the field. these speeds also work real well, with the good old, been around forever cup and core bullets... even most kids can shoot them with ease.... if your MV is more than 2250 fps at the muzzle, then you load will be flatter shooting and can stretch your max point blank range out a little further.. but a cup and core bullet will still perform well at these speeds even out to 250 yds just fine... off a rest, I've even taken game at 300 yds with them.... have had a lot of calls from happy dad's of scouts who have called me when their son killed their first deer with these 4198 loads, and have never heard a complaint about a failure when the deer is shot in the right spot.. and the low recoil level really helps in shot placement. the success ratio I've seen, this has been a more than effective load regardless of caliber or bullet weight, as long as someone is using a bullet designed to open up with the velocity range of the cartridge at the distances being shot.... The last deer I saw one of my scouts actually shoot his first deer, was in a borrowed 8 x 57 of mine... 30 grains of 4198, with a Speer 170 SMP bullet...once hit the deer did a quick button hook run of less than 20 yds and was down for the count...that was in 2019....rifle was a pre War ( WW2) Mauser made by CZ... CZ 24... 4 power scope on top( Tasco no less).... I've personally taken a couple of deer with my 6.5 x 55 Mauser, made in 1919, with open sites... 30 grains of 4198 and a 140 and 160 grain bullet... bank flops when hit and recoil was like a 22.250 or less... courtesy of how good a Mauser stock is designed right for handling recoil....certainly kicked much less than a 30/30.... hope some of this helps.. I carry more 30 grains of 4198 load come deer season than anything else...last deer that I dropped that was a big one, was a 180 pound blacktail, 4 x 4.... 85 grain Speer SP, with a Rem ADL 243.. one shot right thru the heart... bang flop... and I never lost sight picture in the scope, due to low recoil.... 30 grs of 4198 is really just a 30/30 equivalent in a different cartridge... from 243 to 358 bore size.... 30 grains of 4198 in a 22.250 with a 55 or 60 grain SP is also a good deer slayer with low recoil, but still 250 yd capable with no real Kentucky windage needed...

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