HEAVY 308, Any advice or is what I"m attempting not practical?

[country85]

I just recently picked up a Lee TL309-230-5R mold, it's designed for 300 Blackout, but has a really nice bullet profile and has about the best BC and SD I can find for a 30 caliber mold for under a buck fifty. Any way I want to load this for 308. I've been messing around paper patching a few of these and shooting out of my no4 mk1 with 10 grains of Unique and they do okay out to 25 yards before they start to tumble. I will need to load these at about 1500 FPS minimum to get them so stabilize in my FR8 1 in 12'' barrel. I can't find any loads for this heavy of a boolit or bullet for that matter any where so I"m kind of stuck. Any help would be great thanks,

[tomme boy]

Good luck on the 1-12 twist. I think you are going to have problems getting it to be stable. 1 in 8 seems to be what is used most. With 1 in 7 second.

[country85]

I know I"m going to be lucky if they stabilize at all, JBM and a few other calculators say that 1200 to 1500 FPS will be just stable

[Lefty SRH]

I know its not your mold but I've been getting good results from a RCBS 308-200-SIL. My alloy bumps the weight to 215gr and I'm pushing it 2175-ish fps and getting 2 moa with iron sights from a 16" 1-10 twist barrel. Hope that helps in the least bit....

[country85]

Thanks lefty, I"m really trying not to go that hot if I can help it, a new mold is cheaper than a new sholder(my FR8 only weights about 6 pounds lol). would you be willing to share your starting load for that round? I was trying to stay with Unique powder but I think the pressure spikes are going to keep me around the 1200 FPS range at max, I do have a left over half pound of Benchmark left over from my AR days, maybe I should try to work up a load with it?

[30CAL-TEXAN]

Isn't that the boolit with a Plain base and a boat tail? If you do get it going fast enough to stabilize you may end up with leading problems.

If you do more experimenting, post your results, this one could be interesting.

[country85]

Yep that's the one, Everyone says that you can seat a 30 cal gas check on the boat tail but I haven't tried it yet. I just got threw casting 50 of these with the hardest alloy I could make so I'm going to work up a load with unique and Benchmark, I'll post the results in a week or so when I get out to the range

[HARRYMPOPE]

i shoot a 240g in my 7.62 x 54 @ 1350 and it shoots fine.it is the Lyman 323378 sized down and nose tapered to .315.its not as long as your bullet i would imagine and i have a 1-9.5 twist.But my Finn 28 had about a 1-11 and shot it well too.

[country85]

Thanks Harry, That gives me hope. I'm headed to the range here in a bit to clean some of J words out of some perfectly good brass So I can started loading my cast. I'm going to start with 9 grains of Unique and work my way up until I see pressure signs, But I have no clue where to start dealing with other powders...

[DeanWinchester]

You'll find it difficult.
I'm running a 12 twist and have been playing with a 235g plain base and Trail Boss. They group fairly decent but are NOT stable as is evident from the holes in the paper.

Personally, if they group well enough, I don't care. I'd like to use them for deer inside 75 yards and an unstable boolit should wreak havoc on a deers organs.

[HARRYMPOPE]

You'll find it difficult.
I'm running a 12 twist and have been playing with a 235g plain base and Trail Boss. They group fairly decent but are NOT stable as is evident from the holes in the paper.

Personally, if they group well enough, I don't care. I'd like to use them for deer inside 75 yards and an unstable boolit should wreak havoc on a deers organs.

When shooting the 308403 bullet in my 30-06 many of the cuts are also oblong one way or the other.Some of the best groups had "tippers"No theory i have ever heard explained this.

George

[DeanWinchester]

When shooting the 308403 bullet in my 30-06 many of the cuts are also oblong one way or the other.Some of the best groups had "tippers"No theory i have ever heard explained this.

George

Yeah, my Ishapore will keep them inside a couple inches at 50 yards. Obvious tipping to one side though. Not quite a keyhole but I bet at a hundred they turn almost 90 degrees.

[45 2.1]

When shooting the 308403 bullet in my 30-06 many of the cuts are also oblong one way or the other.Some of the best groups had "tippers"No theory i have ever heard explained this. George


Yeah, my Ishapore will keep them inside a couple inches at 50 yards. Obvious tipping to one side though. Not quite a keyhole but I bet at a hundred they turn almost 90 degrees.

Change your loads............. Another powder will probably produce round holes. That is providing your using the boolit as Pope intended.

[HARRYMPOPE]

used as Pope intended.Tried over 10 powders any alloy imagined but to no avail.I shot 15,000 over a two year cycle to no avail powder choice in NOT the answer.Sometimes it shot sometimes it didn't.Actually sizing the band a bit and seating in a custom hand die proved more accurate than the finger seat method that Pope recommended(sometimes,not all the time)

[NSP64]

I just sold my mold, I couldn't get decent in my 1-10 savage without going hotter than I wanted (900-1250 fps)
It had great penetration at 184yrds (3 pcs 1/2" plywood and a 12 nylon ply tractor tire ) groups actually were smaller at 184 than at 90 yards.

[45 2.1]

used as Pope intended.Tried over 10 powders any alloy imagined but to no avail.I shot 15,000 over a two year cycle to no avail powder choice in NOT the answer.Sometimes it shot sometimes it didn't.Actually sizing the band a bit and seating in a custom hand die proved more accurate than the finger seat method that Pope recommended(sometimes,not all the time)

You tried WW231..........

[Gunnut 45/454]

I would try I different powder TrailBoss, Unique or lite charge of regular rifle powders and use filler so you can run them at or around 1700-1800 fps. That would be the min I would think you could run them with that 1:12" twist. With straight WW water quenched I can run the Lee 155-312-2r GC at 2305 fps in my Rem 7400. Speed those things up some!

[Lefty SRH]

Thanks lefty, I"m really trying not to go that hot if I can help it, a new mold is cheaper than a new sholder(my FR8 only weights about 6 pounds lol). would you be willing to share your starting load for that round? I was trying to stay with Unique powder but I think the pressure spikes are going to keep me around the 1200 FPS range at max, I do have a left over half pound of Benchmark left over from my AR days, maybe I should try to work up a load with it?

I used Sierra jacketed data for their 200gr bullet. But I wouldn't do that if you are shooting a plain base boolit.

[Smoke4320]

FNH PBR 20" 1-10 shoots the lee 230 powdercoated and sized to 311 very well, using 9.5 grns of trailboss at approx 1040 FPS

doing it in 1 1-12 might be harder.

[country85]

Thanks smoke, thats a good start point for me

[country85]

Powdercoated?? How does that work?
FNH PBR 20" 1-10 shoots the lee 230 powdercoated and sized to 311 very well, using 9.5 grns of trailboss at approx 1040 FPS

doing it in 1 1-12 might be harder.

[KinkBreaker]

FNH PBR 20" 1-10 shoots the lee 230 powdercoated and sized to 311 very well, using 9.5 grns of trailboss at approx 1040 FPS

doing it in 1 1-12 might be harder.

I've got all that stuff except the powdercoat part, can't wait to try it out. Thanks for the post