I have been trying to find a bullet that I can use in my Remington 660 (20" barrel) that has a bullet short enough so that it doesn't get smashed in the short magazine from recoil. I've been fooling with sierra 170-grain flat nose bullets, which give good accuracy with a load of 42 grains of IMR 4064. OAL is 2.635". My question is how will this bullet perform on big deer at close range in a 308 Winchester. Velocity is not known. High velocity and long range accuracy are unimportant. Dave P.
Posts: 115 | Location: Maine USA | Registered: 26 January 2002
I got a buddy that has your exact combo, he use's a Rem 600 in .308 and 170gr 30-30 bullets. He loads down a little, about 2400fps, the bullet performs very well, you will love it.
Posts: 3097 | Location: Louisiana | Registered: 28 November 2001
There is no problem to use 30/30 bullet in a .308 Win. For deer these bullets will perform very well, .308 cases accept more powder than 30/30 cases. The only bad thing with this bullet is for benchrest shooting, these bullet haven't same accuracy than .308 Match bullets (for instance 168 gr BTHP in 308). But don't panic, accuracy with these bullets for hunting are great.IMHO
: I have been trying to find a bullet that I can use in my Remington 660 (20" barrel) that has a bullet short enough so that it doesn't get smashed in the short magazine from recoil. I've been fooling with sierra 170-grain flat nose bullets, which give good accuracy with a load of 42 grains of IMR 4064. OAL is 2.635". My question is how will this bullet perform on big deer at close range in a 308 Winchester. Velocity is not known. High velocity and long range accuracy are unimportant. Dave P.[/QUOTE]
------------------ BER007 Keep the faith in any circumstances ------------------------ BBER007@HOTMAIL.COM
Posts: 831 | Location: BELGIUM | Registered: 23 May 2002
They'll work with no problem. Just be very careful about shot placement. A solid hit on a shoulder bone will wreck a lot of good eating meat. I used to use loads of that type when I hunted Northern California's rain forest country. If a deer ran much farther than about 25 yards in that stuff, the rain would wash out and sort of trail. Those loads would usually drop them like a rock with any decent hit. But, like I said, hit some solid bome and you will have a bit of a mess. Paul B.
Posts: 2814 | Location: Tucson AZ USA | Registered: 11 May 2001
Thats what I was getting at I guess. I was wondering if the bullets would blow up at 308 velocities. I've been using hornady 180 round nose bullets (wish I could still get Rem 180 roundnose). These perform very well at the close ranges that are so common here, but when loaded with the canular out to the mouth of the shell the cartridge is about max length for the short magazine box. I've never had a problem with the shells feeding, so maybe I'll stick with the hornadys.
Does anyone know if the 165 hornady round bullets are shorter in front of the canular or behind? I80s give great penetration without blowing up at close range. I've had a couple of 150 grain bullets go to pieces at close range.
DP
Posts: 115 | Location: Maine USA | Registered: 26 January 2002
I load both Hornady and Speer 170 gr bullets for my son's .308 at 2550 fps and they have both performed outstandingly on wild boar. Hornady's do not feed from the magazine due to their very large meplat. Montero
Posts: 875 | Location: Madrid-Spain | Registered: 03 July 2000
Thats what I was getting at I guess. I was wondering if the bullets would blow up at 308 velocities. I've been using hornady 180 round nose bullets (wish I could still get Rem 180 roundnose). These perform very well at the close ranges that are so common here, but when loaded with the canular out to the mouth of the shell the cartridge is about max length for the short magazine box. I've never had a problem with the shells feeding, so maybe I'll stick with the hornadys.
Does anyone know if the 165 hornady round bullets are shorter in front of the canular or behind? I80s give great penetration without blowing up at close range. I've had a couple of 150 grain bullets go to pieces at close range.
DP
I tried the Hornady in .30-30 loads just last weekend. It shot well but that was in an actual .30-30! I also tried the Sierra 170 in a .30-30 equivalent load (can't remember the charge but I used IMR 3031) in a problem .30-06 with good accuracy.
The cannelure on the Hornady is rather far forward, more than half the bullet is behind the cannelure, which I believe is normal for the .30-30. In fact, I believe that when I seated them with the crimp right on the cannelure they were exactly the SAAMI maximum length. So they should feed in your magazine.
Personally I ignore cannelures unless I need to use them for crimping (as in my tubular magazine guns). I also am not an enthusiast for using bullets outside their design velocity. Hornady is the only maker that publishes such data, however -- if I were you I would load to the high end of the velocity range they give in Vol. 2 of their handbook.
John
Posts: 1246 | Location: Northern Virginia, USA | Registered: 02 June 2001
I have been loading the 170s well out past the canular, about .25", which gives the overall length listed above. The load duplicates one listed in the Speer manual for the 307 Winchester with a 170 gr 30-30 bullet. Listed velocity is about 2450 or so. I wouldn't expect the bullet to come apart at that speed, since it's only a little faster than a 30-30. I guess the thing to do will be to shoot the bullets into some sort of test media and see what happens. Any suggestions for easy to acquire bullet testing materials?
DP
Posts: 115 | Location: Maine USA | Registered: 26 January 2002
Go to corbins.com Check out accessories. Look at the Hand Cannelure tool. It will put the cannelure where you want it. I purchased Sierra cull bullets from the factory store. (by the pound!) They were 150 gr. P/SP with no cannelure. You will need to experiment with the positioning and beware. If you put too much in the neck you can substantially increase pressures. If not carried to extremes you may save $$ on smaller powder charge. Just remember you are changing or reducing powder space. I use a M600 in .308 as well. Good luck. PAK
I have a Ruger 77 Compact .308 win with a 16 1/2" barrel. The recoil tends to smash the exposed lead on the spire point core-lokt bullets when shooting. I wonder if there is any danger of pushing the bullet into the case, especially if it the bottom cartridge, which would experience the recoil of 4 shots? Would the polymer tip (BT or SST) be more durable, or would using a polymer tip bullet increase the likelyhood of pushing the bullet into the cartridge? Any advice or experience would be appreciated.
Posts: 719 | Location: Boswell, PA, USA | Registered: 20 December 2001
One thing that has not been mentioned, is a bullet designed for a 30-30 is set up to expand at 30-30 velocities. A 170 gr. bullet designed to do it's work at 2200 FPS or less will come apart quite rapidly if it hits a deer at, say 2400 FPS or so. Makes quite a mess. Take a good lung/heart area shot though, and they are jacketed dynamite. Paul B.
Posts: 2814 | Location: Tucson AZ USA | Registered: 11 May 2001
I had a Rem 600 in 308 and modified it to a 30/284. I have been shooting 180 Hornady RN in it with great success for several years. I get good velocity out of the cartridge from the short barrel.
Steve
Posts: 439 | Location: Kansas by way of Colorado and Montana | Registered: 04 April 2001
I have loaded Speer 150 grain bullets with 44.0 grains of W748. At 100 yards they shoot very accurately out of my Mauser, haven't tried them father out. My son used this load to take a deer at about 50 yards this past season, really did a number on it's lungs, huge exit wound.
Posts: 598 | Location: Missouri | Registered: 16 June 2000
The bullets will work great. I see you've got several suggestion to down load your rifle to prevent the bullet from coming apart. This is a good idea as far as it goes. Doing the same thing you are, I found that reduceing powder in a case sometimes causes other problems. Some powders become position sensitive. About the only powder I've found that doesn't do this is H-4895. The cure I finally came up with was not to reduce the powder, but to fill the case with as slow a powder as practical. forty-seven grains of H-4350 worked great. It close to being a compressed load, so there is always powder against the primer and I got consistent ignition and good accuracy. Hope that this is of some help. It worked great.
The load I've been using is 50 gr of IMR 4350- a heavily compressed load, but gives good accuacy and is listed as one of the highest velocity loads in both speer and nosler loading manuals. WW cases are the only ones that I can get that much powder into though...
I was looking at a bullet that was in the bottom of the magazine last year after I shot my deer, and the tip was only slightly battered after three shots. I've never had a feeding problem with the load, so I may stick with it for hunting. I'm not interested in a load that might break up if I hit bone. Hunting in Maine, you often don't have the option of waiting for that perfect shot. 180s at modest velocity punches a hole right through them, and leaves two holes for blood the leak out of... DP
Posts: 115 | Location: Maine USA | Registered: 26 January 2002
I met a guy once who loaded 170 gr fn in a 30-06. I saw him execute a couple of deer, they drooped like struck by lightning! The bullet entered behind the shoulder and detonated! He would wait until he had a broadside shot, and wham!, down they went. I don't reccomend them at '06 velocities, but they should work in a 308.
Goos luck and good shooting
Posts: 849 | Location: Between Doan's Crossing and Red River Station | Registered: 22 July 2001
I've used 30-30 bullets (150gr) in a remington model 7/ 308win. Last year I shoot a wild boar and was one shot kill, stone dead. You can use them but of course there are some better options, just keep down the velocity.
After that I missed two different hogs (running) and I sold the rifle It was my fault...but I'm the boss Now I use a 300 win mag... BTW, a couple of months ago I also missed a wild turkey with my 458 wm., but I decide to keep it LG
Posts: 3085 | Location: Uruguay - South America | Registered: 10 December 2001
