I have a 308 Win load for the 150 grain Hornady spire point bullet that appears to work for me. However, it may be that I'm going to be able to get some Nosler partitions to try. Supplies will be limited and they are very costly. I live in the UK where these things are not at all easy to come by.

How much would you suggest reducing my current load (49 grains of Reloader 15) when starting with the new bullet? I get no pressure signs with the above load even though it is a max load in the Speer manual. Looking at my trajectory 44.5 grains of RL15 was barely giving me 2500fps, though it was accurate, so I guess my barrel is a little on the slow side. I've no idea what speed the 49 grain load is doing but it is accurate.

Clearly the less "working up" I can do the better in terms of preserving my supply of bullets but I also don't want to do anything stupid.

According to the Lyman book, you're cooking right along. You might be better served with your 150s with a little faster powder, something like 4064, but that isn't what you asked.

In your case, I'd load one of the NPs up with your load and fire it. If the case looks okay, I'd load say five with your load and the new bullet and see how it groups. Don't go chasing the bullseye. You're not interested in where it hits but how it groups. If it does well group wise, I'd go back to using the cheaper bullets for practice. At hunting season, I'd load up a bunch of hunting ammo with the NPs, correct my scope to the new bullet, and go hunting. If the NPs don't do well at your load, its been my experience that if you change bullets and the new one doesn't group well, it only takes a little jimming with your load to bring it in. I don't know what bullet you are routinely useing but the NP is noted as an excellent killer but it can lack a bit compared to say a match bullet.

I actually do the reverse. I sight my hunting rifle in using whichever permium bullet I will hunt with and then, during the off season, I practice with the cheap stuff w/o moving my sights. Who cares that they print 4" high and 3" to the left as long as they group tightly.

Noslers manual lists 46 gr of R15 as max with a 150 gr bullet, as does the Lyman #48 (46.2gr)
Hornady says 47.2gr is max while Speers #14 stops at 47.0.
I`d go back to at least 46-46.5gr and work up.

Thanks for the replies. I am aware that the 49 grain load is the max of all the book max loads however I really wasn't getting the velocity with loads of around max in the other books. Sierra was giving something like 44.8 as max and as I've said I don't think that load was giving me deer legal velocity here. My 44.5 load was accurate and I was happy with it until I shot it at 200 and 300 yards and worked out the trajectory, it was WAY down on velocity and as we have a velocity minimum here for deer I had to work up further to be deer legal.

Here in the UK we have supply problems so if RL15 is the powder I have then I am pretty much stuck with it. It might take a year to get something else. I still haven't got the partitions yet, but am hopeful that it might be possible to get them in the next few months.

In light of your helpful comments what I might do is load up one each at 46,47,48 and 49 grains and shoot them looking for pressure. If I don't see any pressure then I will load 5 at 49 and shoot them for a group and if they are not great then I will work downwards looking for the next accurate load. Hopefully it will cost me only 10 or 15 of my partitions.

As an aside I'm happy with the Hornady Spire Points but fancy trying the partitions as they get such a good name. I am pretty sure I don't "need" them but it is good to get the chance to experiment with something different.

The Nosler partitions will make higher pressure than the Hornady because of the type of bullet that it is. The NP jacket is more heavy in areas.

The NP is an excellent bullet and RL 15 should work fine in your 308.
Start your new loads at 45 g of RL 15 and work up in 1/2 g increments. I presume you have a chrono based on your post--use it. A consensus of the load manuals says you should get 2800-2900 fps.
Also, look at 6mmbr.com. It has excellent tech info for loading the 308

FWIW, the latest Nosler manual shows 42.0gr. of RL-15 as the start load for 2728 FPS and caalled it the mosy accurate with that powder. They show 46.0 gr. to be the max load for 2958 FPS. Their tests were done with a 24" Lilja barrel with 1 in 10" twist.
Paul B..

I would use Re15 or Varget for the 150 gr bullets in 308 Win.

Without a chronograph, you are handicapped. I would work up loads even up to 2 grain above max only because my chronographed loads are often slower than the books. As long as your primer re-seat really firm, you are safe. If the primer goes in a bit easy, I would reduce 1 grain & try another case (with tight fit primer) and check for primer re-seating.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul B:
FWIW, the latest Nosler manual shows 42.0gr. of RL-15 as the start load for 2728 FPS

I was aware that a lot of loads are lower than the one I'm working to. In fact I'd worked up to 44.5 grains, which is near max for a 150 grain bullet in the Sierra manual. I was happy with the load for accuracy but then I had the chance to shoot it at 200 and 300 yards and the trajectory (i don't have a chrono) indicated that my MV was way down there. We have a minimum MV to be legal for deer here so I needed to do something. So, I worked up to the primted max in the Speer manual which is 49 grains and right at 49 grains got an accurate load. I can see no signs of pressure at 49 grains and the bolt "lift" (it is a Blaser R93 so no lift as such) is no different from the 44.5 grain load. Some photos of the 49 grain cases: