.308 Win Velocities In Short Barrels

31 July 2001, 10:24

<Bruce Gordon>

175 grain Sierra Matchkings, 43 grains of Reloader 15, Federal Match primers, Winchester cases.
Load as long an overall length as will feed properly in the magazine. For the ones I single load, they are considerably longer than max. listed Overall Length in order to get the bullet to nearly kissing the lands.
This load gets me 1/2 MOA all the way from 100 yards out to 600 yards and the one time I did an actual chronograph check, my 20" barrel was doing 2590 fps 10 ft from the barrel with less than 10 fps velocity variation for 10 shots.
I have no idea of a good hunting bullet, because all I load is paper punching ammo.

31 July 2001, 11:48

Paul B

Roger. You did not say which bullet weight you were interested in. I have three loads for the .308 using W-760 powder. The one with the 165 gr. Speer SPFB was the most accurate in my Ruger International RSI, that is the one I use most. Velocity is 2550 FPS from the 18.5 inch barrel. FWIW, the same load produces 2610 FPS from a 22 inch barrel on a Winchester Model 70. Supposedly W-748 will give much higher velocities, but none of my .308 Win. rifles like the powder.
I don't post load data on the forums, but I will E-mail the data if you're interested.
Paul B.

31 July 2001, 12:01

Paul H

I had a ruger M77 Mk II ultralight, w/ 20" barrel. I haven't shot any handloads in it for some time, as my wife claimed it, and the only thing I've put through it lately has been milsurp.

Anyhow, Reloader 15 produced steller accuracy w/ 150 gr balistic tips, though velocity was ~2700 fps for the accurate load. As I recall it was Noslers noted most accurate charge weight, and less then max. I also played with some 220 gr sierra rn, and got 2100-2150 fps w/ RL15, N550 and H4350, all produced 3 shot moa or less groups.

I did get 2750 fps w/ 165 gr w/ VV N 550 (primers fall out at 2850, first experience with too hot loads), but then factory rem 180 gr did 2600 fps and shot sub moa, so I gave up on handloading it.

Anyhow, I'd say subtract 150 fps off 24" data, and 80 fps off 22" data, and you'll be in the ballpark of what it'll do, and where to start.

31 July 2001, 12:32

<Eric Leonard>

my sons model 7ss shoots the 165 gameking at 2725 with 46 gr RL 15.small groups.

31 July 2001, 22:23

Big_R

My Savage 99 loves Speer 180 grain spitzer boat tails in front of 42 grains of AA2520 with a CCI standard large rifle primer.

01 August 2001, 01:07

<Rifleman7>

quote:
Originally posted by Eric Leonard:
my sons model 7ss shoots the 165 gameking at 2725 with 46 gr RL 15.small groups.

I load 47.5 of RE15 in Lapua cases with WLR primers and 165 Moly Coated Hornady BTSP and get 2910 FPS out of a Rem 700 VSSF with a match grade chamber. It's probably MAX or a tad over. You got to use fresh cases that have tight primer pockets. I've had a problem or two with old cases and loose pockets - blown primers. It shoots OK and gives good energy to 400 yards.

01 August 2001, 03:27

Brad

I've had six 308's with bbl's of 18.5, 19, 20, 22 and 24"s. My most recent was a Win 70 Stainless that had the bbl. shortened to 19"... the bbl. was typical Winchester in that it was a four land and groove tube. Whether that contributes to velocity, I don't know. However, with RL15 (which I think is THE 308 powder in terms of best accuray with velocity, though I haven't tried VV powders). I was able to achieve 2,820 with 150'2, 2,750 with 165's and 2,590 with 180's. I generally stay with 165's. I've never found WW748 very good in the 308, as It gave much less velocity in this rifle... I'd have to go dig out my records to give more detail. However, the new Varget that is "temperature insensitive" produced only about 20-30 fps less than RL15, and is much more consistant in hot/cold weather. That's the powder I'd be using anymore.

Brad

01 August 2001, 04:21

<Don G>

Roger,

I like 165 gr. Noslers and 43 gr of IMR4064. 43 gr IMR4895 is good, too, and meters better, but IMR4064 seems to be worth the difference in lower SD. I get 2650 fps from a 20" tube with 3" of BOSS-CR on the end of it.

Don

01 August 2001, 13:22

Nitroman

Gentlemen,
Thank you all for your responses. The reason I asked: I am reloading for an FN-FAL, which is an "Evil Black Gun" with a 20.1" barrel.

My choice in powders was simply supply, I have several pounds of IMR-4064 so I picked up the Nosler #4 reloading manual and looked at 150 grain loads. I started with 43 grains and have increments of 1 grain up to 46. I did not shoot all my loads because my wife was in a hurry (we were both tired from picking berries) and I was being eaten by mosquitoes.
My three shots at ~12 feet with my Shooting Chrony: 2703, 2696 and 2719 fps. SD of 23 (!) and average of 2706 fps with Sierra 150 grain HPBT match bullets. I have these seated to an arbitrary length that fit the magazine with room to spare. I have made no effort to fire for accuracy.
I needed real world data as I have come to view the manuals as "Rule of Thumb" excellent though they may be.
The Nosler book doesn't even list 43 grains, they have 44 with a velocity of 2740 from a 24" barrel. It would appear my FAL is running a little hot. I do not believe this is the case though as Remington factory ammo with 150 grain Power-Point would cycle the action reliably on gas setting of "3" while these handloads would only cock the hammer, meaning I needed another 0.75" of bolt movement to complete a cycle.
I am going to finish firing these loads and will post to this thread to maintain continuity.
Paul B. I would be interested in your W-768 loads, I am going to Fairbanks at the end of August and can pick some up there. My email is: fsrfr@uaf.edu
Thanks again for all of your help.

01 August 2001, 17:38

<Super 88>

My favorite load for my Model 7 with 18 1/2inch bbl is 44gr IMR 4895,CCI lg rifle primer, 150gr Barnes XBT XLC. 2770fps and sub-1/2 MOA accuracy!

06 August 2001, 23:28

Nitroman

Here are my velocities from my 20.1 inch barrelled FN-FAL. Remington once-fired cases, 150 grain Sierra HPBT, IMR-4064 and CCI-250 primer. Gas setting 4.5.

43 grains: 2703, 2696, 2719 Ave. 2706
44 grains: 2734, 2673, 2668 Ave. 2691
45 grains: 2736, 2732, 2754 Ave. 2740
46 grains: 2803, 2816, 2846 Ave. 2821

Remington Factory 150 grain Corelokt:
2571, 2542, 2536 Ave. 2549

What gives? I don't get this. Either Remington is severly underloading or I am severly overloading which I do not believe is the case. My primers are just showing the rounded cup edges being sharpened up with the 46 grain load, none have any sign of splashing and ejection is very positive. The interior of the cases are carbony with less than 45 grains and clean up with 45-46 grains. I think 2800 is excellent with this short barrel but am I over. The Nosler book (from which I pulled these powder weights) uses a 24" Lilja barrel and I am supposed to LOSE ~26fps with each inch. I should be getting 100fps less shouldn't I?
I think I will load up some with RL-15 and see what happens.
Any comments welcomed.