I went through my wifes grandfathers reloading supplies from around 1970 i believe and i have a boatload of the following bullets, all 30 cal. .308 fmj 110grn, .308 rn 110grn (looks like 110grain TMJ RN), .308 150grn sp(looks like 150 grain spitz sp(not boattail). All come in clear plastic bulk bags with a white label that states caliber, size, and what they are except manufacturer. Can i load a 110grain fmj with the same data as in speer manual#14 for .308? I'd hate for all these bullets to go to waste from lack of manufacturer info. I have all the other info, but are most 110grn fmj created equal?

I dont have the speer manual, but do as with all other bullets start at min charge weight and work up from there.

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I'd hate for all these bullets to go to waste from lack of manufacturer info. I have all the other info, but are most 110grn FMJ created equal?

Send them to me. I will load them up, shoot them and get back to you with the results...

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Originally posted by Nordic2:
I dont have the speer manual, but do as with all other bullets start at min charge weight and work up from there.

Yup....that's a way to do it.

IMO the 110 FMJ bullets could be pulled from .30 M-1 Carbine ammo. There's no reason they can't be fired in a .308 Win or a .30-06....
Take them to a quarry or gravel pit and roll soft ball sized rocks all over the place. Thay're not too much good for anything else.

i only plan to load them for more shooting time, then i don't have to shoot up all my good bullets all the time. I have probably about 1,000 of each kind. I'm only gonna punch paper with them. They don't appear to have been seated before, they are really shiny and appear brand new in 100 rnd unopened sealed plastic bags.

Little bullets like what you have are pretty much for plinkin', whackin' coyotes or other small game. They are not balanced enough for very serious target work. You could use them for foulers. That's what I do with my 100-grain plinkers (jacketed bottom with a lead round nose).

Hey IceMan, I had a buddy give me 1000 147gr FN-FAL FMJs a few years ago. He had simply ordered the wrong part number, was in and out of the hospital and just never got around to sending them back.

I planned to use them for Fire Forming since I do that a good bit. Come to find out, they are accurate enough for me to enjoy plinking with too. Much better finished than the FMJ Wins and Rems I've used.

As to your 110gr FMJs, I'd suggest the only way to know how well they will shoot - is to try them. Even if they need to be Seated waaaay off the Lands, the accuracy might surprise you.

Had a buddy pick up 100 110gr 30Cal RN-SPs in Greensboro at a Gun Show one year for $4. He told me he wanted to try them in his 30-06 for Killing Ground Hogs in West Virginia. I didn't have much hope for his efforts. So, I was sure surprised when his first Loads with ??.?gr of IMR-4064 were stacking up on a 1" Orange Dot, after sighting in.

He got all kinds of Ground Hogs with them and looked for more of them at all the Gun Shows.
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Best of luck with the Find!

If you get a shot at some varments you will be amazed at the damage that they will do.Try to keep them under 200 yards.

I loaded some up tonight using the speer manual recipe for .308 110 grn TMJ RN using Alliant Reloader 15. Started with 10 rounds loaded with 47 grains and 10 each up to 50 grains with 51grains being MAX load. Only difference is the cases, i am loading remington-peters .308 cases and Speer used IMI cases. Am i starting low enough or should i go lighter to start? 47 grains is Speers starting load.

You are going in the right direction, never use a lighter charge than recomended in the manual it`s dangeruos. Yes you can excange case brand just wath for signs of high pressure.
I use to load only 2-3 round for pressure checking until i reach the preferad speed or max. load. example: 2* 40g,2* 41g,2* 42g,5*43g,5* 43,5g,5* 44g.

That's another question, i'm relatively new to handloading bottleneck cartridges. Speer says the typical signs that people think are signs of high pressure aren't always, like pushed out or flattened primers. Maybe this should be a new post.

I've heard, but never done it, that you can load FMJ's backward and they are flat nosed expanding bullets. I would think that you would want to start below min a little and work up. In addition, the ballistics would be quite bad so they would be best for short range, but it would be a way to hit animals hard with a fmj bullet as opposed to zipping right through. OAL would be shorter as well due to no ogive but it would be something to play with. Good Luck with whatever you do.

While that may be possible to shoot fmj's inverted, It seems impractical at best and seems to fall in line with the guy that uses 300 win mag ammo in his 300 Weatherby because the ammo is too expensive. I think i'll leave the experiments for the winners of the Darwin awards. Just my .02.

I do agree with you. There is a big risk. It was just that the old timer that taught me to reload said he used to do this. I have never done it and don't intend to. If I stumbed upon 1000 FMJ bullets that weren't good for anything else I might consider it but that hasn't happened and I'm not going to buy some just to try it.

Have had some great paper punching accuracy with "certain lots" of 110gr. 30 cal. carbine bullets.
Have also turned a lot of military bullets around and shot them; mostly 147gr, 150gr,and 172gr BTs.The brain should be exercised a little when shooting a bullet backwards. No ill effects that would qualify me for the Darwin award.
Have qualified, however, in a number of other areas. roger

I tried some 55gr 0.224" FMJs(can't remember the brand) backwards for a few shots. I do remember they were not nearly as accurate for me as when the Nose was in the correct direction. Saying they shot a Pattern is being generous.

Also tried some 38cal 148gr Hollow Base Wad Cutters backwards and had the same pitiful accuracy compared to shooting them in the correct direction.

Perhaps they work better for some than they did for me. But, I'll pass on backwards.

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Originally posted by Nordic2:
never use a lighter charge than recomended in the manual it`s dangeruos.

For beginners this is a good rule. Once you learn enough about the various powders you'll be using, you may sometimes find yourself free to ignore it.

Hodgdon, for instance reportedly says its quite safe to use loads up to 40% lighter than book loads, IF one is using H-4895 in .30-06 or smaller cases.

Where the danger of light loads causing excessive pressures is noticed is when using slow burning rate powders (such as 4831 or slower) in sharply necked-down cases, particularly with heavy bullets for the bore diameter.

Well i went and shot the rounds i loaded. I didn't have enough time to shoot a follow up 5 shot grouping to be certain but i will tomarrow. My rifle has 1:11 twist and 20 1/4" barrel. It appears to really like 48 grains of reloader 15 with 110 gr fmj's. 100 yd group in .687 outside to outside! WHAT, I was not expecting that at all, you'da thunk i had 165 grain match grades in there! I'm gonna shoot some more and i'll post what i got. This was from a bone stock Sako 85 finnlight bench rested of course.

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Originally posted by icemanls2:
My rifle has 1:11 twist and 20 1/4" barrel. It appears to really like 48 grains of reloader 15 with 110 gr fmj's. 100 yd group in .687 outside to outside! WHAT, I was not expecting that at all, you'da thunk i had 165 grain match grades in there!

That's a .379"
Thought I was putting you on; didn't ya? roger

We'll see if when i get more time if i can duplicate it, but i was pleasantly suprised! At least i got one 40 degree day to shoot some, It's getting colder again.