Ramshot TAC is the short barreled 308 King

bluejay75 · May 16, 2021

Greetings Gents,

After load development and testing, I’m settling on 155 Scenar and Ramshot Tac as my 2021 deer season hunting load.

Load:
FC and LC brass mixed.
46.0 Tac
155 Lapua Scenar
2.815 COAL
CCI200s
2915 FPS
3.0 SD
Barely MOA. But round and consistent groups.

BreechFace · May 16, 2021

Those 155 Scenars breathe a lot of life into the 308 for distance. Like why bother with the 6.5 Creedmoor life.

What length barrel?

bluejay75 · May 16, 2021

18.5 inches. Book max load of 46 grains of Tac. I went up to 47.5 and down to 45.

Tried two different primers. CCI 34 and CCI 200.

200s were more consistent. CCI 34 had better accuracy at 45.7 but wasn’t as consistent.

bluejay75 · May 16, 2021

TAC will fool you. Primers won’t flatten. Never got heavy bolt lift. But an ejector mark told me 46 is the max. With a little room for temp fluctuations.

BreechFace · May 16, 2021

I need to play around with Tac and Scenars with my Ruger GSR 18.5”.

AJC1 · May 16, 2021

Your running them a lot harder than I do at 42.5. My paper dies a humain death every time

bluejay75 · May 16, 2021

BreechFace said:
I need to play around with Tac and Scenars with my Ruger GSR 18.5”.

It’s the 5r rifling in the factory savage barrels helping with speed. I’m getting 2840 in a 20 inch factory Remington. But more accurate. I tried a lighter charge in the Savage hoping it was a speed node in that range and it didn’t work.

bluejay75 · May 16, 2021

Burns clean and consistent too. No flash either. 45.7 with mag primers wasn’t terrible just not as good as standard.

jmorris · May 16, 2021

I would pick a different bullet for deer. Apparently Lapua would too.

https://www.lapua.com/reloading-components/bullets/

bluejay75 · May 16, 2021

It is a proven killer on game big and small. I am going to run 4-5 through jugs and post the results soon.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/16061528/1

jmorris · May 16, 2021

I guess I have killed lots of hogs with stuff I wouldn’t use on game animals, even though more than a few were larger than deer around here. Not doubting they can kill, I’ve killed many hogs with standard velocity .22lr’s. They would likely be my test bed, if I were to pick a bullet the manufacturer didn’t feel suitable for hunting.

It is your choice though.

bluejay75 · May 16, 2021

Understood jmorris. I neck shoot mainly and the hard bullet with a fracturing nose is appealing to me.

jmr40 · May 16, 2021

While the Scenars are marketed as a target bullet I've seen too many photos of dead animals and read too many positive reviews. They are deadly on game. I've settled on 139 gr Scenars in my 6.5CM for everything and like how the 155's shoot in my 308 well enough that they have become my favorite 308 bullet too. I still have about 500 Hornady and Nosler 308 bullets though so I will continue to load and shoot them up, but the Scenars are all I'm buying anymore.

I'm using 46 gr of Varget for about 2850 fps in my 20" and 22" guns. With the rifles I own the 20" barrel is actually a bit faster than the 22" versions.

bluejay75 · May 16, 2021

JMR...46 grains of Varget is indeed more accurate. Ragged hole. If I could exchange the majority of my powders for Varget I would but even in good times Varget is kind of hard to find. So finding a good consistent load with a ball powder is a win in my book.

bluejay75 · Jun 13, 2021

From the range today...

I have not run this in my ballistic calculator to work out the drops, but with this group and speed this is a 5-600 yard killer.

Rifle Specs:
-Stock Savage Model 110 Tactical 308
-18.5 Inch 1:10 Twist Barrel
-Only modification was to have it headspaced to minimum spec AND Precision Barrel nut and Recoil Lug
-Ebay Generic Muzzle Brake
-Bushnell Engage 4-12 (shot at 12x)

Load Data:
-Lake City LR '08 308 Brass (near identical case capacity as Lapua)(do not sub for standard LC) 2.005 trimmed on a LCGW
-Winchester LR Primers
-Nosler Accubond Long Range Seconds (SPS)(COAL 2.800)(Bullet Likes jump- going to try 2.790 next)
-42.6-45.5 Ramshot TAC (45.5 is Sierra Recommended Hunting load)(In 1 grain jumps- I actually wanted the low speed node this time)
-Finished with a medium LFCD

bluejay75 · Sep 12, 2021

So after breaking my 16.5 inch Remington 700 out of gunsmith jail it is totally reformed and redeemed.

FC and LC brass mixed.
43.3 Tac
178 ELDm
2.825COAL
FED210
2600 FPS!!!! Only a 50 FPS loss to 20 inch barrel!!!
6.0 SD

Submoa. 10x scope. Some of this is me. There’s 2x 3 shot groups there. She’s ready to hunt.

FROGO207 · Sep 13, 2021

I find Tac works well in 55 grain 223 loads as well.

IALoder · Sep 13, 2021

I have yet to give TAC a try in .308, and have plans to, but after reading this I definitely need to get after it sooner rather than later! I was thinking just trying it with 150 FMJ's for service rifle and blaster .308... Thinking I may have to give it a try with some 168's as well! It works pretty darn well for what I do in .223(62-77gr)!

bluejay75 · Sep 13, 2021

To put this into context…I shot some factory ammo for the brass. It might have well been a 30-30.

Hooda Thunkit · Sep 13, 2021

I don't own a .308, and have never shot TAC in anything. But...

Something I did get from this thread: I found out Lapua makes .32 wadcutters !

Now to track some down...

Charlie98 · Sep 13, 2021

IALoder said:
I have yet to give TAC a try in .308, and have plans to, but after reading this I definitely need to get after it sooner rather than later! I was thinking just trying it with 150 FMJ's for service rifle and blaster .308... Thinking I may have to give it a try with some 168's as well! It works pretty darn well for what I do in .223(62-77gr)!

That's what I want it for as well... blaster loads in 5.56mm and 7.62mm, and if it works out OK... maybe even the M1 Garand.

bluejay75 said:
TAC will fool you. Primers won’t flatten. Never got heavy bolt lift. But an ejector mark told me 46 is the max. With a little room for temp fluctuations.

That's not the first time I've heard that, too.

armoredman · Sep 13, 2021

I just bought my first bottle of TAC, for .223, loaded some testers for when I can get some range time in. It meters very well.

Chuck R. · Sep 14, 2021

armoredman said:
I just bought my first bottle of TAC, for .223, loaded some testers for when I can get some range time in. It meters very well.

TAC is my go-to powder for .223 for the loads I don't want to bother weighing. I find Varget to be more temp consistent for the precision stuff though. Hers' 5 rds of a TAC load out of my WOA SPR build, PMC FL sized brass and BR4 primers at 100:

3rds at 307 yards and I was out a carriage bolt:

It's also supposed to be a heck of a powder for the .350 Rem Mag, but I'm still nursing 2lbs of IMR4320 before I get to it.

bluejay75 · Sep 14, 2021

@Chuck R. It works great in my 358 Winchester BUT it still has flash in my 17 inch barrel. It pushes a 200 grain NAB 2500 FPS. I opted for 4064 for that reason. Accuracy was there for both but I opted for the slower load at 2350 because of flash.

Chuck R. · Sep 14, 2021

bluejay75 said:
@Chuck R. It works great in my 358 Winchester BUT it still has flash in my 17 inch barrel. It pushes a 200 grain NAB 2500 FPS. I opted for 4064 for that reason. Accuracy was there for both but I opted for the slower load at 2350 because of flash.

THANKS!

Never even thought of that!

I've got 20 inches to work with and 16lbs of TAC...IF it doesn't work I can always stick to 4320.

Ramshot TAC is the short barreled 308 King

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