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Thread: Lee 30 cal "soup can" loads for .308 Win

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Lee 30 cal "soup can" loads for .308 Win

    I'm just starting to play around with the Lee C309-113F "soup can" in my .308 Winchester chambered Savage Mdl 11.
    I searched for loads using this boolit and never did find a "THE LOAD" for the .308 Win, but saw a lot of references to 13g of Red Dot in the .30-06 with this boolit. Anybody have any favorite loads that they'd like to share with thias boolit in the .308 Win? Thanks!--Shuz
    It's all chicken, even the beak!

  2. #2
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    My personal experience with "the load" is that 13 grains is too hot and optimal accuracy is usually found at less than that.

    That little soup can is a neat bullet. Works well for small game and such with about five grains of Bullseye or similar in the .30-30. If you're wanting something to hit harder or farther than that, I think you'd be better served with a heavier bullet.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master rsrocket1's Avatar
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    My intentions were to make a fairly accurate plinker load with the C309-113-F bullet without needing a gas check. No need to spend more for a GC than for the bullet and powder combined .

    Start around 10 grains Unique or Red Dot or any other medium to fast pistol powder and work up and down by 0.2g until you find a decent group. Then load up 10-20 and shoot them all at one target to see if that accuracy is acceptable at your intended range.

    This was an early test when I was testing both 113g loads and a subsonic load with the C309-200-R bullet. I've settled on 9.7g Unique for the plinker load in my 24" 788 rifle.

    You can neck size the cases, very slightly expand the neck with the Lee universal expander die, then very lightly close the flare with the crimp die and use the case many times without needing to bump the shoulder back because the max pressure is only about 15,000 psi and puts almost no stress on the case. I just wipe them down with a damp rag in mineral spirits to clean them off and the reload them again.

    Last edited by rsrocket1; 02-12-2018 at 05:09 PM.

  4. #4
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    I have been shooting the lee 90 gr tc tl bullet and the 100 gr 2R with 3.2 to 5 gr of bullseye. Works really good at 25 and 50 yards. I haven't tried it any farther but this load shoots great

  5. #5
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    Forgot to mention it is in a savage axis 308 win sized. 311

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by rsrocket1 View Post
    My intentions were to make a fairly accurate plinker load with the C309-113-F bullet without needing a gas check. No need to spend more for a GC than for the bullet and powder combined .

    Start around 10 grains Unique or Red Dot or any other medium to fast pistol powder and work up and down by 0.2g until you find a decent group. Then load up 10-20 and shoot them all at one target to see if that accuracy is acceptable at your intended range.

    This was an early test when I was testing both 113g loads and a subsonic load with the C309-200-R bullet. I've settled on 9.7g Unique for the plinker load in my 24" 788 rifle.

    You can neck size the cases, very slightly expand the neck with the Lee universal expander die, then very lightly close the flare with the crimp die and use the case many times without needing to bump the shoulder back because the max pressure is only about 15,000 psi and puts almost no stress on the case. I just wipe them down with a damp rag in mineral spirits to clean them off and the reload them again.

    I like those, especially the 200gn load. Along the lines of what I want to do with my .308

  7. #7
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    Texas by God's Avatar
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    I've just sized &GC'd a small pile of these to try in .30 Carbine, .300 bo, and 30-30.
    Why is it called the soup can?

  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master
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    That is sorta what it resembles.

  9. #9
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    About the same results I have been getting. I went down to 4.5, 5.0 and 5.5gr of red dot with slight gains in accuracy with a light boolit IMR red gave better results. Seems like the heavier boolits 180gr and up like almost any grain weight of boolit or powder combination (under 10gr unique) and still have acceptable accuracy. Been shooting alot of 314 115 hps in my 303's with 5.5 grain of tightgroup with great results. I gas checked all my boolit, some PCed and the rest lubed. I shoot them at 66m and found most fillers were an accuracy blocker.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check