[bogie]

Does anyone know of a cartridge out there that can efficiently push a .308 240 grain matchking at around 1500 fps? Looking more toward efficiency and compact size than toward "what can do it" - I _know_ a .300 Win Mag will do it - what's the smallest available package?

[Delmar]

Bogie-that sounds like something JD Jones has made or makes. I don't have my Cartridges of the World with me, but I think its the 300 Whisper (a blown out 223 case) or slightly bigger. If the Whisper won't do it, I suspect the smallest case would be a 308 Winchester or 300 Savage.

[bogie]

Yeah, the Whisper tops out, with the 240 grainer, at about 1300fps or so...

[Jim Watson]

I bet a .30-30 would do it.
I don't know if a .300 Whisper - .221 Fireball necked up, not .223 - would; it is intended for a 240 at 1050. J.D. Jones says you have to be careful not to inadvertently load it supersonic and defeat the supressor, but I don't know if it would make 1500 fps.
If not, a .30 Apache, which IS a .223 necked up to .30 cal might make it; its normal load was a 190 at 1900-2000 fps.
Next larger would be a .30 Rem Benchrest or the .308 x 1.5" Barnes.
Then there was a slightly longer version of the Barnes built up by someone who insisted on getting 3000 fps (with a 110 gr bullet) in as short a case as possible. Something in that family would probably deliver.

Of course you would be on your own for developing loads. I think there is a ballistic calculator program somewhere on the Net, and I know they can be bought on disk or CD. Or even the old Powley computor.

A 240 gr boattail at 1500 fps might call for a faster rifling twist than the usual 10" .30-06.

Just curious, what is a 240 at 1500 FOR?

[bogie]

I know a guy who shoots some sorta three-gun matches, and he wants a "thumper" round that'll make major ((velocity x grains)/1000 should equal >350) - Looking for terminal ballistics to knock over steel on the first hit...