Amazed by recent loads

[mpmarty]

I've got a Savage bolt action in 308 I've been playing around with and it has never had a J word in it. Today I loaded up a dozen sized cases with WLR primers and thirty grains of BLC-2 under a cast LEE 17x grain gas check boolit lubed in 50/50 LLA and JPW. Over the chrono they ran right at 1800 fps and after a dozen rounds I pulled the bolt and looked down the barrel. A bit of black granular powder residue and after one dry patch the barrel shines like a mirror. No leading whatsoever. Next weekend I'll take her out to the range and see what it does at a hundred yards. I will also raise the ante a bit and work up to forty grains of BLC-2. At some point I expect to get some leading or keyholing.

[RobS]

Going from 30 to 40 grains is a large jump; you may want to consider some in between loads along your route to 40 grains and look at accuracy as you go up. Just a thought.

[DLCTEX]

He did say "work up to 40 gr."

[RobS]

He did say "work up to 40 gr."

Yes, I guess he did write that; I must have missed it the first go around.

[9.3X62AL]

1700-1800 has become a "sweet spot" for me with castings in many of my rifles/calibers--from 243 through 9.3 x 62. If the boolits are fit well to the rifle's throat, I get results like your own AND generally good accuracy--sometimes STELLAR accuracy. This entails use of 92/6/2 alloy and Javelina Alox lube, so there's nothing real esoteric about the ingredients. None of my rifles are target-grade platforms, or even varmint-grade......just milsurps or sporter-grade with standard-taper barrels and factory or arsenal bedding.

I've meant to start running a few of the better rifle/boolit combos at higher velocities to see where things fall apart, but haven't gotten a roundtuit yet. Roundtuits have been on back-order, it seems. :)

[NSP64]

I too have a Savage in .308 (edge) . I have shot lee soupcans ( gc @1800 fps, PB @ 1200 fps) and lee 150 gr rn gc at 1700 over Fed LP primers and 2400 (3/4" @ 50 yrds). Over 300 boolits down the bore. No leading. Dry patch once in a while is all I do.