.308 Win "cowboy" load

[Ruber]

Hey all,

I have a 30-30 load I like to plink with that's a 173 gr RN over about 10 grains of Blue Dot. In my 94, it can be a very fun load with reasonable accuracy.

I'd like to work up something similar for a 308 Win levergun. Anyone here ever use a comparable load in 308?

Thanks!!

 

[Precision32]

Never used Blue Dot, but 10 g of Unique behind just about any bullet makes a great plinking load for almost any rifle out there. I use it for my 30-30s behind a 170 grain cast bullet.

I sure you can Google it to confirm this info.

 

[SweetWilliam]

Found this on Hodgdon's page.


Cartridge: 308 Winchester
Load Type: Rifle
168 GR. SIE HPBT Hodgdon Titegroup .308" 2.800" 8.0gr. 1080fps 25,000 CUP

168 GR. SIE HPBT Hodgdon Clays .308" 2.800" 8.0gr. 1060fps 26,800 CUP

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Seems I've used a couple grains more Unique than Precision32 suggests, but that's in .303 British and .30-06 cases. 180-185 gr LRNs... I'll have to dig out the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook and see, cuz that's where I got the recipe.

For now, I have the out of print RCBS cast bullet book close at hand, and for the .308 it suggests 12.5 to 13.5 gr of Red Dot for velocities in the 1500-1600 fps range. That's w/ a 175 gr bullet they call a "30-180-SP" but looks a lot like a flat nose for a .30-30. They also show another "30-180-SP" that's got more lube grooves and a wider flat nose, weighing 187 gr., over 11.3 to 13.3 gr of Green Dot for velocities from just under 1300 fps to about 1500 fps. (These would be RCBS molds if you want to research them.)

They don't say anything about this, but I've had better results w/ these faster shotgun powders using gas checks. Both my Lee molds and the RCBS molds mentioned are gas check designs.

Rick C

 

[Iron Mike Golf]

You might look into a load using 2400.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I would like to try a light load in my 30-30. Does 10.0gr of Universal sound about right with a 125gr bullet?

 

[Ruber]

Hey all,

Thanks for the posts. My load for the 30-30 was actually a bit under 10 gr, and I found a formula for Blue Dot in '06 and '08 class cartridges that gave me between 8 and 12 grains for the range I was looking for (there were much higher loadings, but i was trying for a load for kids to get into larger silohuettes, stepping up from rimfire).

Well, I went with 10gr Blue Dot and was very pleased. I went with GC and PB, on paper there was a noticeable improvement with the GC, but the silohuettes haven't noticed yet and I haven't shot enough to see a difference in leading either... time will tell.

For the 2400, yes, 16gr under the same pills is a great load, but still a bit more than I was looking for in this case, thank you though!!

For the lighter bullets, I've only ever used jacketed varminter bullets over an IMR powder, can't remember which, but it was out of the Speer manual. But I see folks starting out with 8gr Unique with the lighter cast bullets in the 30-30 over at the Cast Boolits site, search on 30-30 plinking loads.

Thanks again everyone, enjoy!!!
8)