I am currently working on a .308 load. I am putting together a tracking/woodland rifle. It will have a short light sporter barrel, probably about 17 inches, a small 1-4 24mm illuminated scope an no bipod, worn on the back, backpack style, and hopefully not getting caught up whilst being dragged about by the hound.
I expect shots to be taken from PB to 100 yards, so I'm not fussed about BC, trajectories or wind. I also want to load it down to about 2200 fps, just achieving the legal minimum energy with a 165/170 grain bullet. Hopefully this will mean I don't have to moderate it which is another bonus.
The issue is which bullet. It has to expand at velocities from 2200 to 1800 fps, reliably. That seems to rule out the Barnes bullets and anything that is bonded. The ones that seem to come up top of the list on the reliable expansion at low velocity front are Nosler 168 BT, Hornaday 165 SST and 168 AMax (I know...but they do work well at low velocity for exactly the reason that they don't at high velocity) and Speer 165 BTSP.
In terms of load I am looking at a fast burning powder to try to burn all of it before the end of the barrel. Favourite at the moment having done a bit of research is H4895 which people seem to think is pretty accurate in .308's.
The rifle will probably work well on driven Boar as well with something like a 180 Partition at 2400fps, light, quick, pointable with the right scope on top.
Does anyone have any experience of having done anything like this before and if so what bullet/powder combination did you settle on? Any advice on other aspects of the project gratefully received.
Thanks for your help.
I expect shots to be taken from PB to 100 yards, so I'm not fussed about BC, trajectories or wind. I also want to load it down to about 2200 fps, just achieving the legal minimum energy with a 165/170 grain bullet. Hopefully this will mean I don't have to moderate it which is another bonus.
The issue is which bullet. It has to expand at velocities from 2200 to 1800 fps, reliably. That seems to rule out the Barnes bullets and anything that is bonded. The ones that seem to come up top of the list on the reliable expansion at low velocity front are Nosler 168 BT, Hornaday 165 SST and 168 AMax (I know...but they do work well at low velocity for exactly the reason that they don't at high velocity) and Speer 165 BTSP.
In terms of load I am looking at a fast burning powder to try to burn all of it before the end of the barrel. Favourite at the moment having done a bit of research is H4895 which people seem to think is pretty accurate in .308's.
The rifle will probably work well on driven Boar as well with something like a 180 Partition at 2400fps, light, quick, pointable with the right scope on top.
Does anyone have any experience of having done anything like this before and if so what bullet/powder combination did you settle on? Any advice on other aspects of the project gratefully received.
Thanks for your help.