Plinker/rabbit load for .308 win

[LeadThrower]

Anyone use the following with an appropriate load of Unique or other pistol powder in a .308 win bolt gun for cheap shooting or low power small game loads? Mine is a Ruger Gunsite Scout. If you've used these or similar, please describe your method and results.



Remington 110gr FMJ 30 carbine or 110gr SP
Hornady 100gr short jacket or 110 SP
Hornady .32 cal 100gr HP-XTP pistol bullets at .312 sized down to .309
any cast lead 32-20 BB at .313 or so sized down to .309 and gas checked with Pat Marlins 30PB, or not gas checked.


Any other recommendations?
thanks in advance -- it's been a few years since I've posted and the forum has changed a lot. My apologies if this is in the wrong place.

LeadThrower

[swamp]

I have used 32-98-swc sized to .309 in my 30-06 with 2gr. of Red Dot. Quiet and shoots to POA at 20-25 yds. I was plinking and testing cat sneeze loads.
swamp

[starmac]

I have not done it, so can't say for sure on the subject, but I have seen many forum members caution against cat sneeze loads with jacketed bullets.

[LeadThrower]

Good to hear, swamp, thanks!
starmac, yep, I pull the bolt and look down the barrel after each round that my chronograph fails to register.

[Outpost75]

Minimum charge for reliable bullet exit with jacketed in .308 is 5 grains of Bullseye. With Unique I would not go below 6 grains and check bore!

With lubricated lead bullets you can drop the minimum charge a grain.

[Mk42gunner]

I used the group buy 314120, (think Lyman 311008) sized to .311" in front of 6.0 grains of 231 in my .308. If memory serves velocity was 1220 fps.

Robert

[popper]

Hornady 100gr short jacket Fun to shoot, reasonable accuracy in 30/30 with unique. Don't try to push them too fast or very far. Seat less than 1/2" in a 30/30 neck. If I had a do-over, I'd get a cast RNFP 125 PB/BB or so. Look at accurate's 31-115C (30 carbine) minus the top LG (or both) if you use BLL tumble lube. You could go heavier with not much increase in powder ($$).

[LeadThrower]

So, I made some pinker loads and got to the range. Replicate at your own peril, etc., so here's my data:

110 grain Hornady varmint (#3010)
Salut powder (nearly identical to Unique in every load I've used)
1 gr Dacron to keep the powder positioned
CCI 200 primers
5 rounds each loading

6.5 gr Salut: 933fps avg, 219fps es, 80fps sd
7.5 gr Salut: 1154fps avg, 117fps es, 50fps sd

All the same, but with Remington 110 FMJ RN pulled from 30 carbine rounds:
6.5 gr Salut: 981fps avg, 129fps es, 56fps sd
7.5 gr Salut: 1138fps avg, 59fps es, 25fps sd

I have no explanation for the inversion of relative velocities between the two bullets.

With a Nikon pro staff bdc reticle zeroed to 100 for a factory-level 165 gr load, it appeared to have roughly 12" drop at 100 yards (impact point was a little below the 4th circle of the reticle) for the Hornady bullets with 7.5 grains.

typical of such light loads, lots of soot around the case neck. Recoil like... Well... Like recoil doesn't exist.

It wasn't in the cards to do much more than loft the lead over the chronograph, so real accuracy tests at 25 and 50 yards will have to wait.

[kycrawler]

I take a piece of alox lubed 00 buckshot set it on a hornady gascheck and run it through a lee push through .309 sizer I use red dot but any pistol powder would work I have also used a .314 90 gr cast bullet run through a .309 sizer good squirrel or rabbit load out of a deer rife

[Motor]

Hornady or Speer 100gr short jacket. Seated so you can just see the jacket above the case neck.

There was data published years ago in, I believe, The American Rifleman.

In .308 Win the start load was 9gr Unique. In my own rifle, a Ruger M77 light weight I found better accuracy and better consistency in velocity using a little more. I ended up settling on 15gr Unique.

I would suggest starting at 10 or 12gr Unique with the 100gr short jacket in the .308

ONE THING TO ALWAYS BE AWARE OF WHEN LOADING THESE. A DOUBLE CHARGE WILL FIT IN THE CASING AND THE RESULTS OF SHOOTING ONE WILL NOT BE PRETTY !!!!!!

For this reason you may want to look into using something like Trail Boss.

Big boy rules apply.

If you look hard enough you could probably find the data that I referenced.

Motor

[pietro]

.

Alternatively, .32 ACP ammo can be used in a .308 via a chamber adapter.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/32-acp-rifle-chamber-insert?a=471502

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t175/SteveCover/Shooting/Chamber%20Insert%20Tests/32ACPin308Win01.jpg


.

[HABCAN]

LEE C309-113-F, bored out to PB with 5/16" drill, sized .309 or .311 for .308, .30-06, .314 for .303, tumble lubed, 5.0 grs. Red dot, 18 grs. IMR4227, 24.0 grs. IMR4198, CCI 200.............fill yer boots.
They all work very well for ME but YMMV.

[35remington]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?269411-Shooting-a-Lopsided-32-Wadcutter-in-a-308

The Hornady Short Jacket resembles a bomb on small game if pushed to the 1500 fps vicinity, and I was never able to get them to group as well as a good cast bullet. Even 1300 fps is too much and much meat is lost. I don't like messy hits for small game, simply a hole. 30 caliber is plenty of diameter with a nonexpanding bullet.

I like the above wadcutter for its up to 60 yard trajectory and accuracy and reduced danger space, but the Lee 100-2R shot well also. A little behind but still usable was their 90 SWC.

[Larry Gibson]

Anyone use the following with an appropriate load of Unique or other pistol powder in a .308 win bolt gun for cheap shooting or low power small game loads? Mine is a Ruger Gunsite Scout. If you've used these or similar, please describe your method and results.



Remington 110gr FMJ 30 carbine or 110gr SP
Hornady 100gr short jacket or 110 SP
Hornady .32 cal 100gr HP-XTP pistol bullets at .312 sized down to .309


Hornady makes a 90 gr XTP that is already .308. I use it in my M1 Carbine and it is very deadly on rabbits. Try 12 - 14 gr of Unique with any of the above bullets. That should get you .30 Carbine equivalent velocities. A bit much for "plinking" in my opinion but deadly on rabbits.


any cast lead 32-20 BB at .313 or so sized down to .309 and gas checked with Pat Marlins 30PB, or not gas checked.


Ah, now you're talkin'.....Try 3.5 - 5 gr Bullsye (no wad or filler) for a velocity range of 800 - 1050 fps. I use the Lyman GC'd 32-20 311316 which runs 118 gr fully dressed from my mould. Also try 6 - 8 gr Unique for a bit more potent load.

Any other recommendations?

The Hornady .32 swaged LSWC or the Lee TL314-90-SWC over 3.2 gr Bullseye. The Hornady and Speer .32 swaged HBWCs also over 2.8 gr Bullseye but they generally are a single feed load.

BTW; I use dedicated well fire formed cases with the flash holes drilled out with a #28 bit for use in push feeds to avoid shoulder set back and subsequent headspace problems.

thanks in advance -- it's been a few years since I've posted and the forum has changed a lot. My apologies if this is in the wrong place.

LeadThrower

Larry Gibson

[Motor]

With 9gr Unique the Hornady short jacket shot straight through squirrel when I used them with little to no expantion. I haven't used them on game at 15gr Unique but at least for me they shot accurately enough to pop 20oz soda bottles one after another at 100 yards.

The 9gr Unique load was not as accurate or as consistent velocity wise.

BTW: The 15gr Unique load was also a perfect youth training load and would shoot plastic soda bottles or clay pigeons at 35 to 50 yards with the same sight in as my 150gr j-word hunting load.

Hardly anyone especially a youth hears or feels the rifle when shooting at game so when the time came to drop the hammer, so to speak, for my then 8 year old son, he put the 150gr full power j-word right where it needed to be. I never needed a reduced or youth load for him. :) At least not to hunt with. For practice until he got bigger which is another story altogether, he's turned into a BIG young man.


Motor

[35remington]

15 grains Unique and the Hornady SJ bullet will cut trees squirrels in half. BTDT.

Gruesome.

[Motor]

15 grains Unique and the Hornady SJ bullet will cut trees squirrels in half. BTDT.

Gruesome.

I don't doubt it. That's why I always shoot them in the head. ;)

Motor

[Mauser48]

I was using the lee c309-113 bullet in my 30-06 with 700x powder and was getting under 0.5 inch groups at 35 yards.

[Reverend Al]

It seemed that every time I was out deer hunting with my favorite .308 Winchester I would see Mr. Grouse standing on the logging road sticking his tongue out at me, so just to ruin his day I started loading the Speer 100 grain "Plinker" 1/2 jacket bullet over about 6 grains of Unique from memory. It made a low noise alternative to my usual full bore 165 grain Nosler solid base boat tail load so that I didn't chase Mr. Grouse's friend Mr. Deer off into the next game management unit ... (I spent some time out at the range and I worked the reduced load up in 1/10th grain increments until it shot on point of aim at 25 yards when my rifle was zeroed 2" high at 100 with my usual 165 bt load.)

[Ric-san]

Thanks for the info...looking into some of these reloads