In new nosler brass and with 180g. NP bullets, looks like it's close to being compressed, is this a safe load. Im thinking 2560 MV. am I close?

You're using a reloading manual or reloading data from a reputable source, right? Don't want to be guessing powder charges...

As to your question, Hodgon has reloading data for 4064/180 grains on their site, your load is in the middle of the range.

http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp

By the way, I've had very good luck with that charge of 4064 and 150 grain NBTs in the 308 Win.

I have some older (1997) IMR data that shows 43.5gr of 4064 with a 180gr bullet as a compressed load with a velocity of 2580 out of a 23" bbl.

I have some nosler brass for my 308 but haven't loaded it yet. One thing I noticed is it is much heavier than my win brass. I would start about 1.5 to 2 grains lower than charges that have worked with win/rem/ or fed brass just as I think it might have considerably less case capacity.

quote:

Originally posted by daveo:
In new nosler brass and with 180g. NP bullets, looks like it's close to being compressed, is this a safe load. Im thinking 2560 MV. am I close?

Can I ask why youre using a 180 NP? And, I havent seen a load yet that wasnt compressed in the 308, nature of the beast so to speak. 43grs seems to be about max for a 180, NP bullet might have a lower charge due to the length of the bullet. 40-41grs RE15 might give ya more room since its a smaller granular powder.

Well I have become a fan of heavy bullets lately,in my 270 and 280 loading... My old man allways told me it was a good thing, to use a heaver bullet at a slower speed rather then a lighter bullet at a faster speed. This idea took me some time to warm up to, and now I see some of the wisdom in this.

The 308 loads have been made, and I must say look like they could take the big ass black BEAR out on my property, not that I would do it butt it's nice to know I could if I wanted to.

That load and a few tenths more is my go tload for the 168 MK. Should be safe, but Iwould work up to it with the Partition.

Load shot good but not great! I will try the 160g. np and 41g. of the IMR 4064.

Davo.
I asume you mean the 165 grain NP. If so your load is quite lite.
The nosler book shows a max of 44.5, and a velocity of 2700.
If the 43 grain load proved safe in your rifle with a 180 grain I can see no reason to start so slow.
Personaly I would go with 44 grains with complete confidence.
If you don't get satisfactory results with IMR-4064 , My old featherweight winchester likes W-748. Other .308s I have loaded for like
varget and RL-15.
My Idea of a great load with a .308 loaded with a 165 grain partition would be around 2800 FPS and MOA for 3 rounds at 100 yards.
My rifle has a 22 inch tube...tj3006

Good points you bring up Thomas. Thanks for your input.