.308 light recoil load for score shooting?

[jhord]

I'm kicking around the idea of shooting my .308 in an upcoming 100 yd score match. It is a R700VS with a mile long throat. I'd like to come up with a light recoil load, thinking along the lines of a 110 Vmax or similar light bullet. I have "all the usual" powders on hand. The gun shoots the typical 168SMK loads well, but the thought of ~40 shots of that make my bum shoulder ache. Any suggestions?

 

[jonbearman]

Go to handloads .com and type in .308 winchester. They have alot of imfo with the results of each load.

 

[Scott Harris]

I think you have a good idea and could probably find a few light flat-base match bullets that will work well for you. Here's a good place to start your search for lighter bullets: http://www.6mmbr.com/30BR.html

 

[MrMajestic]

Try the Speer 130 grain HP. With its blunt ogive it is the only bullet that allows me to "jam", with a magazine length loaded round, in my long throated Winchester 88. Shoots 3/4 MOA in that gun loaded in front of 3031.

 

[Keith Glasscock]

I'll second the 130 hp's. If the wind isn't blowing too hard, they're great. They don't need to be jammed to perform either. I got 1/2 MOA out of them with 4 different powders - you can even load them to match the velocities of your 168's. At the low velocity node, they will be significantly lower in recoil than anything else you can pump through the rifle.

110 V-maxes are OK, I find them less accurate than the 130's though.

Just remember, light 30 cal bullets have the BC of a ping-pong ball (my appologies to the table-tennis crowd) and will drift mightily if the wind gets away from you.

 

[jhord]

Thanks everyone. The info on the Speer 130's is exactly the type of stuff I'm looking for. It sounds like they will work well for my purposes. Midway has them in stock so time to order up! I see Berger have some nice FB light target bullets but hoo-whee, they are too expensive for an experiment.

 

[jonbearman]

If you ask,someone will send you a few to try for next to nothing.

 

[2506]

The 125 Nosler ballistic tip is very accurate in my 308 Win. with 46 grs IMR 4895. It kills deer like lightening struck them also.

 

[Laurie]

I'm not convinced about using 110-130gn bullets for this application. If you go back a few decades when .30-06 and later .308 Win were used for short-range matches, 200yd in the US, 300M in European ISSF / CISM 3-P matches, the 168gn Sierra MK at modest MVs was the norm, and even heavier bullets gave superb results at low MVs in these applications, 180 and 190gn Sierra MKs often used.

Running 125gn bullet load combinations against 168s using Sierra Infinity 6's 'Recoil Calculator' shows there is nothing much in it when you're running light loads. In fact, you can easily end up with more recoil with the lighter bullet because you'd run with significantly heavier powder charges and the resulting extra weight of gasses exiting the muzzle generates more backward force per grain weight than additional bullet mass because of its very much higher velocity.

If you look at Ken Waters' old 'Pet Loads' for the .308W, there are lots of mild loads from short-range competition back in the year 19-whatsit that use relatively light loads of relatively fast burning powders such as H322, IMR-3031, IMR and H4895 at MVs around 2500-2600 with 168s, less with 180s and 190s. 37.0gn H322 in WW brass and the CCI-200 primer for only 2,279 fps MV with the 180gn Sierra MK is quoted as being very accurate. The most accurate .308 Win load tested (out of scores of them) was the old 190gn W-W BT match bullet over 40gn Norma N202 at only 2,361 fps. N202 is in practical terms very similar to today's Alliant Re15, both made by Bofors in Sweden.

 

[2644ever]

Laurie, I would agree with you, up to a point: that match is on a 100 yard range and the difference of wind drift between medium low weight bullets and medium high weight bullets is not that significant, besides using a 125 BT or a 130 HP, or better yet: the very accurate and well profiled Speer 125 TNT, allows you to use a lighter charge of a faster powder thus reducing recoil. I would tame the recoil of that light .308 bullet to the level of a .30-30 bullet with 40 grains of IMR 4198 (about 90% of loading density) and would be perfectly happy with the 2900 fps this load would deliver. JMHO

 

[jhord]

Everybody's input is appreciated. I have run the recoil stats through Litz's online program, and agree that shooting a light bullet fast isn't much different than a 168 SMK at 2600, which is typically what I shoot in this rifle. (I replicate the Federal GMM ammo, no sense reinventing the wheel) I have some of the Speer 130's on the way from Midway, and hope to find a low velocity load (2600-2700?) that groups somewhat well. According to the Litz site that ought to reduce recoil around 30% IIRC. If I can get it to shoot 1/2 moa or a little less I should be set. This is mainly just a brain exercise and not a world record attempt. If it doesn't work out I can always expend the leftover bullets on some varmints.

 

[boltman13]

I have had very good luck with my tight neck 308 HBR rifle and the Speer 125 gr TNT's. Either Benchmark, H4895, Varget, or the new one from IMR8208XBR. The throat on my rifle is shorter than a factory rifle but it is still jumping about 0.025" in my load. I also have had good luck with the Sierra 150 gr Matchking at 200 yds. The 110 gr Hornady V-max did poorly in my rifle especally in the wind. If you want to kick the price up a little the Berger 125 and 135 gr flat base bullets are a good choice. Beyond that there are custom bullets out there that you can try. I know a lot of HBR shooters swear by Bibbs.

 

[BOBC]

I shoot 39grs of 3031 with a 135 FB in my 308. Very easy on the shoulder
and groups extremely tight at 100 yds. I load them to work through the magazine,so they have a good jump. I wish I could hold as tight as their
accuracy potential. However, it does group in the threes if I do my part. That load was used for years in hunter class comp.

Good Shooting.

Bob C

 

[jhord]

Well, a box of Speer 130 HP's showed up in the mailbox. I did a few quick measurements to see what my base to ogive would need to be. I knew this going in, but the bullet was barely in the neck of the case when touching the rifling. So I am having to run a huge jump, but that's ok because this rifle doesn't seem to mind that. I've done some rapid-fire loading and testing here at my home range. Unfortunately I'm limited to 50 yards right now, because the rest of my 800 yard range is infested with corn. ;D 8208 and Benchmark definitely show the most promise. 41.0 grns of 8208 are showing about 2620 fps. 40.0 grns of Benchmark are showing about 2580fps, with a remarkable 10ES and 5SD. BM "felt" like it recoiled the least. Although 8208 shot well, BM shot really well, a 3-shot .100" (.2 MOA) group! (yes, I know, 50 yards and 3 shots isn't a true test) I tested a few other powders and the results were not even worth typing about. Obviously Benchmark will be the focus of all my further testing. I'm going to try a 10-shot score test when the wind lays down, if I can clean the target @ 50 yards then it should still be pretty good at 100. We'll see what happens!