Reloading 308 question

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

birdmanflocka

Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2014
Messages
20
Hi,

I've been looking at a lot of posts but I'm new to the forum. I've been reloading 9mm, 45 acp, and 223's successfully for a while now and I just bought everything I need to begin 308's on my Hornady LNL AP press.

I'm trying to find load data for 308 Win using Lake City once fired military brass, CCI 200 large rifle primers, IMR 8208 XBR, and X-treme copper plated 150 grain flat point bullets. I found a lot of data for IMR 8208 using other bullets but nothing for xtreme plated 150 grain FP. The owner of the reloading store suggested doing 39-40 grains of IMR 8208 with COL at 2.6" but I want to get a second/third opinion. I heard to decrease loads by 10% if using military brass because its thicker, but I'm not sure if the 39-40 grains is factoring in the 10% decrease. Also, X-treme indicates on their website recommends loads with velocity below 1500fps.

I'm mainly using these rounds for plinking at 100 yards and plan to use SMK or Hornady FMJ bullets later on for better accuracy and longer distances. Thanks for the help!
 
I pushed that bullet to 1750ish in 300 BLK and it shot one foot plus groups at 100 yards.

The only powder I know suited to run those bullets at 1500 FPS or less from a .308 case is Trail Boss.

Welcome to THR
 
Thanks for the quick response. I too heard that Trailboss is well suited for those bullets but I'm unable to get my hands on any at the moment. How many grains of trailboss do you use and what was your COL?
 
Thanks for your inputs.

Anyone out there try IMR 8208 XBR for 150 grain plated flat nose x-treme bullets? I want to try the trailboss loads but my store isn't going to get any in for a while so I still want to load with what I have first.
 
Based on absolutely nothing, I just hate the idea of loading for a bullet at 40% slower fps than all its counterparts. Is this Xtreme 308 a plated bullet like most Xtreme bullets or is it FMJ? If it is FMJ, why load so slow? If it is plated, why buy it?
 
Mohave-Tec said:
Based on absolutely nothing, I just hate the idea of loading for a bullet at 40% slower fps than all its counterparts. Is this Xtreme 308 a plated bullet like most Xtreme bullets or is it FMJ? If it is FMJ, why load so slow? If it is plated, why buy it?
Click to expand...
Its a plated bullet and I got it for free from the guy I bought the remington 700 vtr from. I assume he bought it because the price tag sticker on it shows $50 for 500 bullets, which is less than half the price of any other 308 bullets at the store
 
With 8028 XBR & a 150 grain .308 bullet, velocities will range from around 2604 FPS to 2850 or so. Starting charge is 40 grains to produce 2604 FPS per Hodgdon. You have the wrong bullet. Break down buy some jacketed bullets for that rifle.
 
Birdman, the 308 bullet typically flys at 2600 fps MV +/- 200. A 150gr 30caliber would usually be on the fast side of that but most 308 are not well appreciated until 168 or a little higher. If you were to push this bullet at a speed where it would presumably stabilize it would actually fall apart in flight because of how soft it is and that's if it doesn't start to come apart in your barrel. IMHO, 30 caliber bullets are very much not meant to be lightly plated. Fast caliber need a jacket.
Look for some bulk packaged AMAX. They are accurate and much more economical that many others. You're not really going to have an idea what your rifle is about with those extremes.
One last note. Xtreme is a fine bullet for pinking economically with your pistol rounds and I understand they also make some jacketed rifle bullets me thinks?!
 
Well, Vol beat me to it. But nobody is ragging on the guy. Its just that this bullet is way off base, WAY off and it probably shouldn't be produced. Hell, if I lived by him I'd give him a half fist full if something better to shoot.
 
The normal .308 powders are just not designed to load that slow. Even SR 4759 or AA 5744 are probably not going to go that low.
 
Way off base ?

If its the bullet im thinking of ( the plated 150 FLAT NOSE ) Its actually forvthe 30-30, where that speed is great.

Same diameter, way different purpose.
 
Hey thanks a lot for all the clarification, really helpful! I'm gonna pick up some more suitable bullets
 
Something led me to believe those bullets would take up to 2000 FPS. My imagination I guess. Anyway, they did not tumble or anything, they just shot poorly in my barrel at 1700 to 1900 FPS. They may shoot well in another one.

I pushed the X-Treme 123 Gr (7.62X39) bullet to 2200ish FPS and it too was very inaccurate in this barrel. It did not tumble, but the accuracy was quite bad. Surprised me. I felt like they were going to shoot decently.
 
C. E. Harris has put out an article that says 16 gr of Alliant 2400 would be the universal load for this application, getting somewhere around 1450 fps with decent accuracy. Google it and see what you think. I'm going to try this over the summer but I have not been able to find any 2400 so far after a few weeks of looking.
 
So i decided to pick up some Graf 168 gr HPBT bullets instead and the load data I got from Hodgdon's website indicates starting loads at 39 grains and max at 43.3 grains. I have 30 Federal brass and 500 Lake City brass that I can use. Do I have to decrease my min/max loads by 10% when using the LC brass? Is a min load of 39grains accounting for a 10% decrease in powder or should I start at 35.1gr using LC? The Federal brass weighed 177.3gr and the LC brass weighed 180.1gr, both with no primers.
 
The Federal brass weighed 177.3gr and the LC brass weighed 180.1gr, both with no primers.
Click to expand...

The weight of the brass dosen't always directly correlate to volume. Brass is a 70/30 mix of copper and zinc and often has other trace elements such as lead. If the ratio is off by a little the Specific Gravity will change as copper has the highest SG of the two. Eureka thank Archimedes.
 
ironworkerwill said:
The weight of the brass dosen't always directly correlate to volume. Brass is a 70/30 mix of copper and zinc and often has other trace elements such as lead. If the ratio is off by a little the Specific Gravity will change as copper has the highest SG of the two. Eureka thank Archimedes.
Click to expand...
Good point. I just checked, Federal case holds 51.1 grains max, and LC case holds 51.5 max. Not much of a difference, I'm just going to treat them the same. I assume all the other LC and Federal cases should be very similar in capacity if not the slight deviations should be too minor to have to adjust for right?
 
H4895 Can be downloaded significantly, and safely, for youth loadings or other purposes.

I believe if you wanted to use those bullets, it might be the trick you are looking for.

Hodgdon offers their youth loads on their website, or at least used to. I'd start there.
 
Treat the plated bullet as if it were a CAST bullet....because, under the plating, that's what it is.

There are MANY powders that wil allow the lower velocity you seek.

Go to www.castboolits.gunloads.com

and then to the "CB Loads/ Military Rifles" forum. There is a thread there, TWELVE PAGES LONG, titled "7.62 NATO/.308 in the Springfield Armory M1A". Many powders, many bullets, and many velocities are discussed on that thread. It may open your eyes!

It's a mistake, to try to make a load conform to what YOU may want in using a powder that's on-hand. The rifle and its ammunition don't care about your wants. However, find the burning rate of your powder in a burning-rate chart and see what loads exist with powders of similar burning rates. This at least will give you some idea of where you stand. (Do NOT use data for other powders as a simple substitution!)
 
Last edited:
But they are not nearly as slippery as lead, so be careful with low end lead data. Make sure the bullets exit the barrel.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

A
  • Locked
Reduced 30-06 loads with 190 gr Nosler for 03A3
Replies
7
Views
838
atblis
A
C
  • Locked
Which powder to buy?
Replies
15
Views
1K
Fatelvis
Fatelvis
N
  • Locked
Strange load data for 162 ELD-X
Replies
7
Views
2K
Newtosavage
N
B
  • Locked
20 practical reloading
Replies
9
Views
4K
armarsh
armarsh
joneb
  • Locked
Powder for 30-30 Win.
2
Replies
30
Views
7K
entropy
entropy
Back
Top