Hi everyone, been lurking for a while, wanted to get some direct info from you now.
Rifles are a Smith and Corona 30-06 (unknown rifling twist, to me anyway) and a Savage Axis 308 Win, 1-10 twist.
I have the above mold on order and will be casting with WW + 2% tin (95/5 tin anitmony solder) with gas checks and then water quenching, hoping to get around BH 16 after aging. I will use the Lee 309 sizer initially, though I plan to try out the 310/311 sizer as well, if the results at 309 are unsatifactory.
My question comes from lots of searching and few results specific to the 308 win and this mold (plenty of people seem to use this for 30-30).
As of now, I want to load this boolit for hunting (with some plinking) out of both rifles. I have heard of 26-32 gr of 4895 being a good/great load, but my Lyman casting manual doesn't go that high (aka slower powder=high in my brain) generally on cast boolits, only using faster powders like 3031, 5744, 2400, Unique, etc.
I want to recreate at least 2100 fps muzzle velocity to ensure 1000 ft/lbs out to 150 yards so I can ensure ethical kills on deer and elk (I know, good luck getting that close to an elk). According to http://www.handloads.com/calc/ with 2100 fps, 170 grain boolit, -15 temperature(), ballistic coefficient of .268 and altitude of 5280, I should be abel to get this kind of result. And, unfortunately, I don't have a chrono to measure this.
What powders to use? What starting gr and max gr to look for?
I have seen mention of dacron filler at 1/2 to 3/4 gr, would this ride on top of the powder, underneath the boolit?
I could ask more questions, and any answers will create more questions I am sure. I have been really impressed with the knowledge and willingness to help on this forum so far. Please excuse the newby questions.
Also, since I know this can effect things, I am/ will be using these rifles between 4-9k ft above sea level. Thank you in advance of your help!