Question....308

[jwrowland77]

Question here, based off some deductive reasoning.

My .308, I've used 4 different bullets so far for match shooting. Each bullet, seemed to have a sweet spot of 2620-2750fps of where it had the best accuracy.

Assuming I use a like weight bullet, the sweet spot should be in that 2620-2750fps velocity.

Looking to start a hunting load for my .308 using Partitions.

Am I off base here on what the sweet spot should be?

Don't get me wrong, I'll still be doing a complete workup. Just thinking out loud is all. This is more of a barrel harmonics/like results than it is a hunting bullet question.

 

[gamestalker]

I don't load .308, which I assume your already aware of. But I do load for the 30-06 and 300 WM, so .30 cal. is among my base of experience. Most if my shooting revolves around hunting and punching paper, so I think I can probably help out here.

Most likely another bullet of like weight should produce similar velocities, maybe not identical, but similar. Obviously you'll still need to print a new bullet to know what it's doing in terms of POI. And pressures can vary, this will be due to olgive variances, being that different profile bullets will engrave at a different angle to the lands, thus requiring exclusive work ups to match other common profiled hunting bullets.

Now as for an excellent bullet that has produced similar or near identical external ballistics, the Speer Hot Core line has been very predictable in this regard for me with every cartridge I've loaded it in.

Additionally, the Hot Core is an amazing hunting bullet when bullet integrity is high priority on big game. Don't get me wrong here, the Partition is a fine bullet, but it cost significantly more, and with regard to ballistics, it doesn't usually perform similar to other lead core hunting bullets. The Hot Core will produce very dependable penetration, while maintaining it's integrity, very little fragmentation on bone and heavy tissue.

I once shot a bull elk straight up the spine with a .270 using a 130 gr. Hot Core back in the 1980's and the bullet at over 3100 fps, ran straight up the spine, smashing through every single vertebra from the butt to the base of the neck. When I retrieved the projectile, is displayed very consistent expansion and mushroom, and when I cleaned the bone and tissue off, it had retained over 90% of it's original weight, and both the jacket and core were fully intact. I have since used it in every high powered hunting cartridge I load for. It has performed flawlessly on elk, deer, antelope, oryx, bear, and everything in between for more than 25 years. it costs about half as much as a Partition, and IMHO, it will out perform the Partition in every aspect.

GS

 

[jmr40]

You don't mention bullet weight. I load and shoot 165/168's at around 2650ish and get sub MOA. I load 150/155's somewhere between about 2850-2880 fps with about the same accuracy. With the right combo I usually keep 3 shots between .5-.75" at those speeds. Guys who are interested in shooting the smallest groups possible often find loads 100-200 fps slower and may reduce those groups by .1-.2"

On a rifle meant to be used for hunting the extra 200 fps is more useful to me than .2" smaller groups. From hunting positions it is almost impossible to take advantage of anything shooting much under 1 MOA anyway.

But if you already have loads developed at slower speeds I'd be tempted to use them for hunting. You won't have to change scope settings and they will most likely do just fine.

 

[jwrowland77]

175gr being pushed at 2650, some being pushed at 2750 (SMK, not for hunting)

 

[BillB204]

I load for .308; but only for paper. With that caveat, I would guess that, because of the differences in ballistic coefficient and sectional density in match and true hunting bullets, the powder, charges and optimal fps for hunting loads would be significantly different from match loads.