Mike V and the .308 Winchester

[Char-Gar]

I picked up the latest copy of Rifleman magazine at the grocery store a few days ago and found the issue throughly to my liking. It was dedicated to 30 caliber rifles. Mike V did an excellent pioece on cast bullets in the 30-06, 30-40 and .308. It was a sound article done in his usual straightforward and personal manner.

He tried a bullet new to him (RCBS 200 SIL) in the .308 and received excellent results. His sucess as not to his total liking as he had to seat the bullet out so far the rounds would not feed through the rifle magazine, in order to keep the lube grooves out of the boiler room.

I wished Mike had also tried the RCBS 165 SIL)! This bullet just seems to be made for the .308 case. The lube grooves and the gas check are contained in the neck and the round will still feed any rifle magazine as slick as you please. The excellent accuracy is frosting on the cake.

Both RCBS SIL bullets are bore riders and in rifles barrels they fit are excellent bullets. The 165 Sil isn't just for the .308 but I receive top notch accuracy in the 30-06 as well.

Like Mike I tend to prefer the heavy weight (200 grains plus) 30 caliber cast bullets. But you can't always have your druthers. If you are searching for a bullet for the .308 rifle and can live with a 160 to 170 grain bullet, RCBS has your mold.

[Blammer]

Generally, sillywet bullets are single shot affairs right? Not being able to feed through the magazine is not really important.

I'll have to see about picking up a copy of that mag.

[buck1]

That 165 SIl is a shooter. My Favorite mold by the way.

[garandsrus]

The clone of the RCBS 165 Sil group buy mold we did (Lee 6 cavity) a while back is probably my favorite .30 cal mold. Not only does it turn out a bunch of boolits, but they really shoot too! It is what I use the most for 30-06 and 7.5x55 Swiss.

John

[Uncle Grinch]

I too found Mike's article very informative and wondered the same thing about his choice of the 311299 for the 308.

Charger's comments about the RCBS 165-SIL in the 308 got me thinking (often a very dangerous process!) about what choices I have since I've recently put together a 98 actioned 308. Looking through my mould inventory, the closest I have is the 30-30 favorite, 311041.

It's listed in Lyman's Cast Bullet Manual, but I've never tried it in my 308. Other than thoughts of accuracy, my real concern is feeding, since it's a flat point. I'll give it a try this weekend if time permits.

Anyone else have any experience with the 311041 (31141) in their 308?

[Larry Gibson]

Anyone else have any experience with the 311041 (31141) in their 308?

I've used the 311041 in a few .308Ws if they have the throat for it. Mine are hunting loads and I don't like the GC seated below the neck. Specific questions?

Larry Gibson

[Uncle Grinch]

Anyone else have any experience with the 311041 (31141) in their 308?

I've used the 311041 in a few .308Ws if they have the throat for it. Mine are hunting loads and I don't like the GC seated below the neck. Specific questions?

Larry Gibson

Larry,

Just doing a stare & compare between the 311041 and a 308 case, it looks real close as far as getting the lube grooves in the neck and keeping the gas check in there also.

If my Mauser will feed them and they are accurate enough, I'd love to try them on some deer.

[Larry Gibson]

Larry,

Just doing a stare & compare between the 311041 and a 308 case, it looks real close as far as getting the lube grooves in the neck and keeping the gas check in there also.

If my Mauser will feed them and they are accurate enough, I'd love to try them on some deer.

Yes, the GC and lube groove can be fit into the neck. The problem comes with chambers having short throats. That front driving band is out there and runs into the leade make chambering difficult. My old Lyman single cavity 311041HP fits a lot more .308W chambers than the GB 311041 (actually a 314041 with .3145x.303 dimensions) bullet does.

I size the nose down to .300 on the GB and can partially size that 1st driving band so the GB bullets will fit but have not tried them that way in the .308W yet. They shoot very well w/o the nose sized in my 7.65 Argies but they have the throat to take the GB bullet and keep the lube groove and GC inside the short neck of the 7.75 case. The tried and true Lyman bullet works very well and holds 1 1/2 - 2 moa at 200 yards out a 12" twist barrel at 2250 fps and 2050 fps out of most good 10" twist barrels with softer hunting alloys. The HP stem has been modified so it only HPs 2/3 the length of the nose. When cast of 50/50 WW/lead alloy the 311041s are deadly on coyote, deer and even one elk.

Larry Gibson

[Char-Gar]

The .308 is a great cast bullet round as most of the rifles come with 1-12 twist barrels. The only fly on it is the short neck, but with the right bullet that can be mastered. for all cast bullet purposes the .308 and 30-40 are ballistic twins having the same case capacity.

As long as the pressures are kept safe for the Krag rifles, the cast bullet loading data can be switched. With jacketed bullets and top end loads, .308 data will take a Krag action apart in short order.