Loading 308 Win

[dallasb]

Hello,

I purchased some 30cal 123gr coated bullets from lucky13 while back to use in 300blk. Needless to say the results have not been very good. To get them to be accurate I must stay around 1500fps per the manufacturer. In my AR I cannot run this low of speed, otherwise the bolt will not fully cycle. I do have a 308 bolt action, would it be possible to use these in that configuration? I'm thinking this would be a good practice bullet for my wife as recoil would be minimal.

Thanks,

Dallas

[Scharfschuetze]

Yes, you're on the right track in using them for the bolt action rifle. I'm assuming that your velocity is limited as these are plain base boolits?

I've used plain base boolits of that weight in several different military bolt actions over a charge of either Bullseye or Unique for a light load. I guess you are able to get higher velocities than I do with your boolits being powder coated. With regular hard cast boolits and conventional lubes, I'm lucky to get up to 1,200 fps before leading starts.

At any rate, these light loads are great for kids, wives and for plinking at paper or varmints. I've found them to be useful and reasonably accurate on calm days out to 200 yards or so.

[dallasb]

They are fully coated. Would you be comfortable with making a recommendation for the load or maybe point me to a source? I have bullseye on my shelf. I have loaded quite a bit of pistol using lead, do I need to do anything different for rifle?

Thanks,

Dallas

[4719dave]

pc isn't a gas check replacement ...

[Cherokee]

Keep the velocity down around 1000 and they should work OK. You should expand the case necks and bell them for seating cast bullets like you do for handguns. What size are the bullets you have ? For my 308 I am using .311". You should make a dummy to make sure they will fit your chamber, to make sure the throat is not too small for the bullet size seated in your brass. I'm using 5 gr 231 for my light loads with 150 gr cast.

[dallasb]

pc isn't a gas check replacement ...

They are polymer coated if that makes any difference.

[dallasb]

Keep the velocity down around 1000 and they should work OK. You should expand the case necks and bell them for seating cast bullets like you do for handguns. What size are the bullets you have ? For my 308 I am using .311". You should make a dummy to make sure they will fit your chamber, to make sure the throat is not too small for the bullet size seated in your brass. I'm using 5 gr 231 for my light loads with 150 gr cast.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will give it a try. Is there anything to be careful of other than having a squib load?

[popper]

They are BB hardball. The alloy probably limits you to 1600 fps with 1:7 in the BO, PB GC would allow you somewhat higher fps. Good 'polymer' coating is OK to 2700 fps or better. If you got the 309 sized you may be limited. What gas system, twist and powder? As for the bolt gun, 2400,unique, ect. My 308 takes 310.

[runfiverun]

mine like 310 too but would live with 309 if pushed with bulls-eye at about the 7-8gr mark.

[dallasb]

They are BB hardball. The alloy probably limits you to 1600 fps with 1:7 in the BO, PB GC would allow you somewhat higher fps. Good 'polymer' coating is OK to 2700 fps or better. If you got the 309 sized you may be limited. What gas system, twist and powder? As for the bolt gun, 2400,unique, ect. My 308 takes 310.

I have the 309 sized.

The BO gun is a mid length 16" 1:7 twist. I loaded this from 15.5gr to 17.5gr of 4227 in 0.5gr increments. 16.5 was the most accurate, but that's not saying much as it still wasn't minute of paper. This same fun with 125gr SST is 1" at 100.

I think I'm going to load up some 308 tonight using bullseye and see what happens.

[popper]

1st?, did the barrel lead? Too small dia., maybe faster powder would bump them up. On the other hand, some OP gets 125s to work with H4895.

[dallasb]

I didn't notice any appreciable amount of lead in the bore. I did notice more "stuff" on my flash hider though.