308, 147 - 150g pulled bullets, and Varget. Go

[wolfe28]

Good Morning;

I'm looking for a fairly accurate 308 load using 147 or 150g pulled military ball projectiles and Varget. I want to build this up to be a practice load, and I'm just looking for a starting point that is a little narrower than the 3-5 grain range that Hodgdon lists in their load data section.

Thanks,
D

[376Steyr]

Will you be shooting these out of a M14, or from a bolt gun?

[wolfe28]

Good Afternoon;

Most of these will be shot out of a TC Encore with a 24" barrel, but the rest will be shot out of a bolt gun (Savage 12BVSS).

Thanks,
D

[Gunnut 45/454]

Here's a starting point!

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

150 GR. NOS BT Hodgdon Varget .308" 2.800" 44.0 2788 43,300 CUP 47.0C 2937 50,300 CUP

[Larry Gibson]

"Fairly accurate" and "147 or 150g pulled military ball projectiles" can be a contradicition. Many of them won't hold better than 2 1/2 - 4 moa, some will but most won't.

Varget is a pretty slow powder for that weight of bullet for optimum results. You will max out on case capacity long before you get close to optimum velocities that any of the medium ball powders or H4895 will give you. If using well fire formed NS'd WW cases try 47 gr and work up to slight compression. If using milsurp cases start at 45 gr and work up.

Larry Gibson

[WineMan]

I agree with Larry, even weight sorting the 147 pulls can only do so much. They were good for minute of man and sometimes better but the open base and stress of pulling are not accuracy enhancers. I did run across a batch of pulls from M118 LR that turned out to be Sierra Match King 175's. The do have a few gouges from being pulled but are still very accurate. I run them through a LEE 308 sizing did to smooth them out.

Dave

[wolfe28]

Good Afternoon;

Larry and Dave, thanks for the info. That is exactly what I was looking for. I know using these projectiles won't give me match grade accuracy, but I'm okay with that. I just want a "cheap" alternative to the hunting bullets I'm going to use that will allow me to practice and not spend a ton to do so. Getting 500 147 FMJBTs for under $100 is a lot cheaper than getting the same amount of Sierra SGKs or the Hornady equivalent.

Thanks,
D

[BigRso]

My experience with varget and 147 gr pull downs is 44gr is very accurate out of my ptr91, but

have to drop to 43.5 gr in my savage bolt rifle or the bolt becomes heavy to open. The grouping

remains the same with a flyer once in awhile may just be the shooter so now I just load 43.5 gr for

both to make life simple.