Best COL for 150 gr. Nosler partitions in .308 Winchester?

western woodsman

Well-Known Member
I am shooting a .308 Tikka T3 20" barrel and now about to reload 150 gr. Nosler Partition. The Nosler site seems to indicate a COL seating the bullet back a bit to 2.770. Of course 2.800 is standard for .308 Win. Is there any experience out there on this for best accuracy?
 
The T3 is usually not picky about OAL of a few hundredths of an inch. 2.800 inches is the standard OAL for a .308, to fit the magazine.
The OAL for the T3 magazine is 2.825". You could probably do well at 2.750", but do what Nosler says.

But let me ask:
What is the best shooting factory 150-gr load in your T3, and what is its length to an ogive gauge?
Have you tried a factory load of the Nosler 150-gr Partition and found it to shoot well? What is its COAL and ogive length?
That is where you should start with die settings: to the ogive on a known good load.
Find the best powder charge next.
Then, if you still feel a need to play with seating depth, do that.
 
In my limited experience it is best measure how big your chamber really is, then work out what jump you want Depends mainly if you are feeding them through a Mag or if you are going for an extra long round for a single shot (target rifle style).
 
Good advice, grab some factory and have a try. Of course it may not be that easy to get those exact rounds in the U.K. as so much has dried up coming from the States lately. This is mainly why I have got back to reloading, just to get a consistent reliable round that I can use over and over on the deer. It is true that T3 mags don't like long rounds so that need really to be 2.800 or only slightly longer for real reliability.

Anyway still good advice. Thanks I will try that as a starting point!
 
2.800" obviously cannot be that critical, or the more needle nosed bullets like the Amax, Palma, Nosler BT, and the Berger VLD would not work in the .308, because the distance between their copper and the lands is greater than a conventional bullet at the same OAL. But they do work.

Get the case prep, powder, seating and crimp right first, then try primer changes on the best powder and charge, next.
 
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