Thread: 130gr TTSX in 16" .308

Spent the last couple of weeks working on a load for my 16" Tikka .308 using the barnes 130gr TTSX, have a load which is shooting well but im down on speed compared to what seems to be the "normal" from reading information about others experiences/results.

Barnes book max suggests 46.9gr compressed for 3148fps in a 24" barrel, with a COAL of 2.735" Ive found more than a few posts with people saying they are getting to around the 3000fps mark with a 16 inch barrel using around 49.5-50gr of 2206h with a longer COAL than Barnes suggest.

At first i was using norma brass and loaded up a ladder from 44.5gr to 48gr at Barnes COAL, at 46.5gr i was at 2800fps (Magnetospeed), 47gr was ejector stamp/heavy bolt.

Tried again last weekend, this time with hornady brass. With the hornady, i got to 2890 with 47.5gr, 48gr was ejector stamp/heavy bolt.

So at this point my safe load is around 2740 with the norma brass and a little over 2800 with the hornady, however both of these have an average SD.

Ive since loaded up another ladder of charge weights but at mag length which is 89thou further out than they were at barnes coal, so going to try that and see if results differ.

Interested in peoples thoughts on if it would be worth trying different brass ie Lapua, or a different powder. Greg from terminator products suggested leverevolution works well in the short .308s but hes only tried it with around 150gr weight class projectiles. At the end of the day i realise 2800fps is going to be adequate for the sort of hunting ill use this rifle for, but being a copper monolithic projectile, when it comes to speed the more the merrier. So would be nice to squeeze some more out of it if i can.

Anyone played around with this combination and can offer some experience?

Cheers