Been playing around with some reduced loads for a buddy with a .270, and found a good one with IMR4895. Shoots sub-moa with the 120SST. That bullet was intended for the 6.8SPC and the reduced load for the .270 pushes it about that fast, so it'll be his deer load this year. Way less blast, and not as much recoil.
Shortly thereafter, Hodgdon added reduced loads to their Reloading Data Center, including one with IMR4350, so I loaded some with that powder too. He hasn't shot that one yet.
This led me to take a look through my load manuals and see what is listed for my .308. The older Speer books show a Reduced Load or two at the end of their data for a particular bullet, but not much else. Most reduced loads use SR4759 or Accurate 5744, and I don't have either of those.
So now, finally on to the purpose for this post. My Hornady Fifth Edition, the one that has two separate books, has data for the .308 Win, with 165 grain bullets, that goes all the way down to 2100 FPS. That book has data for the 150SST, but not for the 165SST, maybe it wasn't out at that time. I have enough of the 165SSTs to play a little, so I loaded ten with Varget at the very low end of the published range (but not the lowest listed) for the 165 AMAX from that book. The charge of Varget was about 2/3 of the case volume. I loaded these in some cleaned and prepped LC NATO brass, since I thought any reduced capacity in that brass would actually help here.
Shot them today at 100 yards and it took a few shots to get them zeroed in comparison to my near full loads with that same bullet, but it was within a few inches. I was a little leery on the first one, but it's published data, and they all fired like any other round. Last five shots printed inside an inch, which I know isn't all that incredible, but it recoiled more like my 6mmARC. This would be a great starter round for a new shooter or a youngster hunting. I'm going to load a few more, and see how this does across a few range trips, and get a few rounds over the chronograph if possible. Maybe shoot at 50 and again at 200 just to see what trajectory looks like.
I thought it was interesting that the older Hornady book had loads for the .308 that went down that low.
Shortly thereafter, Hodgdon added reduced loads to their Reloading Data Center, including one with IMR4350, so I loaded some with that powder too. He hasn't shot that one yet.
This led me to take a look through my load manuals and see what is listed for my .308. The older Speer books show a Reduced Load or two at the end of their data for a particular bullet, but not much else. Most reduced loads use SR4759 or Accurate 5744, and I don't have either of those.
So now, finally on to the purpose for this post. My Hornady Fifth Edition, the one that has two separate books, has data for the .308 Win, with 165 grain bullets, that goes all the way down to 2100 FPS. That book has data for the 150SST, but not for the 165SST, maybe it wasn't out at that time. I have enough of the 165SSTs to play a little, so I loaded ten with Varget at the very low end of the published range (but not the lowest listed) for the 165 AMAX from that book. The charge of Varget was about 2/3 of the case volume. I loaded these in some cleaned and prepped LC NATO brass, since I thought any reduced capacity in that brass would actually help here.
Shot them today at 100 yards and it took a few shots to get them zeroed in comparison to my near full loads with that same bullet, but it was within a few inches. I was a little leery on the first one, but it's published data, and they all fired like any other round. Last five shots printed inside an inch, which I know isn't all that incredible, but it recoiled more like my 6mmARC. This would be a great starter round for a new shooter or a youngster hunting. I'm going to load a few more, and see how this does across a few range trips, and get a few rounds over the chronograph if possible. Maybe shoot at 50 and again at 200 just to see what trajectory looks like.
I thought it was interesting that the older Hornady book had loads for the .308 that went down that low.
