wanderinwalker
Member
I've very recently begun reloading for my inherited dog-leg bolt Ruger M77 in .308 Winchester. My goal is to load to approximately 2700-fps with a 150-grain class bullet. In keeping with reasonable expectations, I'm not chasing maximum velocity or every last fraction of group size reduction. What I'm looking for is to have something that's in a forgiving sweet spot, so I can do things like swap a 150 grain hunting bullet in in place of a 155 grain match bullet when fall comes. It should be noted that while I'm familiar with the possible risk of jamming bullets into the rifling when swapping types, it looks like the only way I can reach the lands in this Ruger .308 chamber might be with a .30-06 case...
My first .308 load using IMR-4895, CCI-BR2 primers and some 155 grain Nosler HPBTs looks promising, providing back to back MOA 3-shot groups for the first 6 shots. At the same time, I'm working up "new" loads for my CZ527FS in .223 Remington using a fresh jug of Winchester 748. Which naturally got me thinking about possibly using Winchester 748 for future loads in the .308.
Before you get on me, I've been searching the 'net, checking my manuals and consulting my experience using W748 in the .223. I'm very familiar with how temperature sensitive W748 is, having burned a firing pin and a bolt face in an AR-15 with heavy-bullet loads that were 100% safe in April, and were less happy being used in the July sun. I also know it works best with a hot primer, and generally needs to be loaded near the top of the recommended charge ranges. I restrict it to "light" 52-55 grain bullets in .223 loads for these reasons. While everything says W748 should work for what I have in mind, I've been at this long enough to know that sometimes real world experience shows there are more productive paths. (Ask me about good heavy-bullet .223 loads and I can come up with at least 5 combinations to short-cut your search.)
What does the experience of the board say in using W748 to throw 150-grain class bullets in the .308? Is it worth potentially burning a significant number of .223 loads worth of powder to try it? Or should I just stick to trying out different bullets and primers with IMR-4895?
My first .308 load using IMR-4895, CCI-BR2 primers and some 155 grain Nosler HPBTs looks promising, providing back to back MOA 3-shot groups for the first 6 shots. At the same time, I'm working up "new" loads for my CZ527FS in .223 Remington using a fresh jug of Winchester 748. Which naturally got me thinking about possibly using Winchester 748 for future loads in the .308.
Before you get on me, I've been searching the 'net, checking my manuals and consulting my experience using W748 in the .223. I'm very familiar with how temperature sensitive W748 is, having burned a firing pin and a bolt face in an AR-15 with heavy-bullet loads that were 100% safe in April, and were less happy being used in the July sun. I also know it works best with a hot primer, and generally needs to be loaded near the top of the recommended charge ranges. I restrict it to "light" 52-55 grain bullets in .223 loads for these reasons. While everything says W748 should work for what I have in mind, I've been at this long enough to know that sometimes real world experience shows there are more productive paths. (Ask me about good heavy-bullet .223 loads and I can come up with at least 5 combinations to short-cut your search.)
What does the experience of the board say in using W748 to throw 150-grain class bullets in the .308? Is it worth potentially burning a significant number of .223 loads worth of powder to try it? Or should I just stick to trying out different bullets and primers with IMR-4895?
