Load data for IMR800x in 308 Winchester

[lawboy]

I have several lbs of 800x left over from my 10mm days. I would like to use it in cast bullet 308, or 7.62x39, or 300 Blackout loads. I made an educated guess that in 308, 13.0 grains would be a sensible starting load, but info. from someone who has been there and done that would be very welcome.

[lawboy]

Ok. The silence has me a worried that my educated guess may not be as educated as I think it is. Nobody has any info. on this?

[petroid]

I think that is sensible if you are using 150ish grain boolits. The old Ed Harris' "The Load" was 13gr of Red Dot which is much faster than 800-X. The "new" Ed Harris' load is 16gr 2400. 800-X is in the middle and would likely have a max load of about 16gr. If using heavier boolits, I would probably start about 11gr. A lot of people use 11gr Unique and it works well. The x39 and 300BLK loads would be much lower as I'm sure you are aware.

[John Boy]

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/

[30calflash]

You could try 700X data and go slow from there. Lyman manual, maybe older like #44, should have this

I used it in a 375 H&H at one time, lower end with cast, it shot very well. About 1.5 MOA.

[rsrocket1]

Here are some 800X shots. I ran 10.6g to 12.7g 800X with a Lee C309-200-R both with and without gas check. At 50 yards, the GC's didn't matter so it works fine as a plinker that will easily wipe out a soda can at that range. For low recoil 10g loads, just about any pistol/shotshell powder will work because the powder is fully consumed before the bullet exits the barrel and the imparted energy is mostly based on the weight of the propellant. Yes, some really fast pistol powders have a different MV than a really slow pistol powder but it's all in the same ball park. I also tried holding the powder down with dacron pillow stuffing but that didn't make a whole lot of difference in MV variation so it's not worth the trouble.

Hint: 800X works really well in 9mm, but you have to hand trickle each load because it meters so terribly. In the 25g range, a shotgun loader powder bushing is good enough for +/- 0.5g but for pistol loads 0.3g variations at 5g is too much. I did hand trickle the .308 loads, but for <50 yard plinking, you don't really have to.