Savage 308 for Ground Hogs

[Johnch]

A few night back I could not sleep

So I used my key to my friends shop and finished a mold that was started 2 months back
Nice to have a bunch of tools to use and not have to spend all that cash myself .... But I will be dropping off a case or 2 of beer this weekend as a thank you

A single cavity HP mold that drops a GC .312 dia bullet that is 155 gr as cast .... sort of based on the Lee Soup Can design

Last evening I did some casting , so I made up 50 of the new bullet
I used 2 types of lead

The nose was almost pure lead and the base was a hard lead , from the bullet trap at the club ...IMO it had a high percent of store bought hard cast bullets


I sized them to .310 and used a lube that another member gave me ... darned if I can remember who gave it to me

I used a reduced charge of IMR 4895 as that jug was sitting on the bench ... just over 1900 fps and a just under 3" group at 100 yards
I will work on loads as IMO I know the rifle can do a lot better

But I took the rifle and a few rounds with me this morning for a walk .... I was scouting deer on a area I have permission to hunt along the Maumee River

As I figured most of the deer moved before sunrise or right after sunrise .... I hope as the weather turns cooler the deer might feed in the corn field between the river and the woods

But I figured it was worth a try to see if a ground hog would come out along a old fence row

Well about 9 AM I was thinking of leaving when a ground hog came out and started eating in the harvested wheat field about 50 yards away

I took my time and made a good shot

The soft HP nose did its part and really expanded
Lots of damage , just what I wanted for ground hogs ... I just have to work on a better grouping load

John

[CastingFool]

I have used my 308w on woodchucks, loaded with 130 gr spirepoints. It really puts a hurt on the chucks

[brass410]

not much left to eat though is there? we used to shoot'em with accelerators, spectacular hits, but law changed and we could only shoot small game with rim fire.

[marlin39a]

John, good work. I've done the same with cast in my Savage 10FP, in .308. I shot standing jackrabbits with mine. Only thing, was I couldn't see the impact, over the recoil. It sure messed them up.