.308 Deer load - sorted!

stubear

Well-Known Member
Hey folks,

I was up at Ivythorn Sporting over the weekend to try out some deer loads and was pretty pleased with the results so thought I'd share!

The target below was shot at 100m with moderator on and I wasnt focussed on POI so much as the grouping. I definitely dont feel like I was shooting my best that day but it is what it is.

45gn load.JPG

The load was 45gn of RS52, a Hornady 165gn Interbond, Lapua brass and CCI primers seated to 2.795".

I'm pretty happy with this as a group so am planning to make a batch up to get some practice in with this load. Any tips at this point to how I could tweak the load/COAL to tighten the grouping up a bit?

I'm also off on a boar trip at the end of the year so I'll need to see how this load performs without the moderator on and hopefully its not all over the place! Any thoughts on how I can ease the transition to shooting sans moderator?

Cheers,

Stu
 
I came up with a load I was happy with using 47.5 grains of IMR4350 and tried three different OAL to see if it made much of a difference. Results can be seen below. View attachment 85539

It made enough of a difference to tweak the lengths. I've shot a few loads through a muzzle break and mod and they shoot to pretty much the same poa but the groups are larger and that was from a bench at 100 yards. For your driven boar I'd practice standing at 50yards and see what it's like. You won't get tiny groups so maybe practice on clays, as long as they break your accurate enough.

edit: when I said the groups were larger, they were but only by about 0.7 of an inch.
 
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Hey folks,

I was up at Ivythorn Sporting over the weekend to try out some deer loads and was pretty pleased with the results so thought I'd share!

The target below was shot at 100m with moderator on and I wasnt focussed on POI so much as the grouping. I definitely dont feel like I was shooting my best that day but it is what it is.

View attachment 85537

The load was 45gn of RS52, a Hornady 165gn Interbond, Lapua brass and CCI primers seated to 2.795".

I'm pretty happy with this as a group so am planning to make a batch up to get some practice in with this load. Any tips at this point to how I could tweak the load/COAL to tighten the grouping up a bit?

I'm also off on a boar trip at the end of the year so I'll need to see how this load performs without the moderator on and hopefully its not all over the place! Any thoughts on how I can ease the transition to shooting sans moderator?

Cheers,

Stu

why would you want to tighten that group? if you can shoot that ofhand at deer I would be very impressed :D as to shooting sans moderator? just take it off, and don't forget your ear protection , .308 isn't a monster especially if you are hyped up with adrenaline and shooting from a standing position
 
Unless you are unlucky, taking the mod off will only shift your POI. I worked up a really good load in my 308 before I got a mod - when I went to range test with the mod, all it did was lower my POI by about 4" (at 100 yards).

Other than that, your results look really good - I wouldn't bugger about with the load at all!
 
Cheers gents! 😄

Think I'll just load a bunch of these up, get some range time and 100m, 200m and 300m to see what the drops are like, mebbe chrono it and see how it performs without the mod.

Job done!
 
Thanks chaps! Sets my mind at ease a bit hehe :D

Getting into reloading has sent me down the slightly geeky search for the elusive one hole groups but you are all absolutely correct, this load should be more than enough for hunting purposes.

I'll load a bunch up over the weekend and then get some range time in so I know what my drops are like, and see if I can get hold of a chronograph for an afternoon to see what the velocities are like. Going off RS's load data tables I would guess somewhere in the 2600ft/s range which is exactly where I want to be.

Plus I need to get some practice in without the moderator and standing up as I'm going to be shooting like that come the end of November!
 
OK - Any other means of posting photos? Paying $399 to Photobucket doesn't appeal!

If you save the photo down locally then you can upload it direct to SD on the "Go Advanced" reply option. Theres a menu in there to load photos up and you can insert them inline where you want to.
 
Cheers - I've tried that but it rotates some of the photos 90 degrees and I can't rotate them back?
 
If you save the photo down locally then you can upload it direct to SD on the "Go Advanced" reply option. Theres a menu in there to load photos up and you can insert them inline where you want to.

Got that but they are still rotating through 90! Joys of a Mac!
 
For what it's worth - finally got out for a Sika stag with a guy who is just starting out on his stalking path, this was his first outing.

Happened across a group of males including one male with small antlers who was obviously past his prime. Time to test out the Barnes TTSX.....it floored him on the spot to a lung shot at 165m. So 1 from 1 it performed very well - it hit a rib which enlarged the entry hole slightly so more examples needed to see if it performs as some of the reviews suggest, but I'm happy with the first outing.
 
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