Thread: 150 vs 165/168 in 308

Originally Posted by Woody

Try 178 grain eld-x @2600fps.

Yup. What @Woody says.

Ended up buying 165gr speer Spitzer as they do amazingly well in the federal blue box. $59 for 100 and apparently easy to source. Will load some up and if they shoot will bu some more and put them away for later. Abandoned the multiple weight projectiles ideas

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings Superdriver,
I played with getting different projectiles to shoot to the same POI in the .308 in the 1980's but found it almost impossible to achieve. By fiddling with the velocity I could get the 165 and 150 grains to shoot to the same elevation at 100 but the 150 grains shot left. Recently I ran some tests with 125, 150 and 165 grains and different powders that produced similar results. Longer range would just make things worse. My 6.5x55 and .223 rifles tend to shoot different projectiles close together. These days with better scope adjustments different loads shooting to different POI is less of a problem.
Regards Grandpamac.

had the same off to one side issue going from 357 mag to 38 special in the marlin lever . 38 went to the left around an inch and a half or so at 25 mtrs when sighted with 357, but strangely after fitting a suppressor it stopped doing it and now both rounds shoot straight ( height differs though obviously ) . just use the hash marks in the scope for elevation going from 357 to 38 now.

If you subscribe to the theory of accuracy nodes normally linked to velocities, you will find that in normal barrel length you normally can’t reach the next node in a 308 with the 150gr, in which case the 160gr bullets will be better with a higher BC.

Originally Posted by Woody

Try 178 grain eld-x @2600fps.

My Sako 85 loves them, but can't achieve the magic 2600, what length of barrel & powder are you using?

Hornady 165ssts easilly shoot moa at 750yds on a good day.Factory ammo all i use.

Originally Posted by flock

My Sako 85 loves them, but can't achieve the magic 2600, what length of barrel & powder are you using?

The data here is developed for my rifle and you woukd need to work up a safe load carefully for any other.
Case NORMA
Primer cci200
Bullet ELD-X 178grain
Powder AR2208; 42.4 grains
C.O.A.L. 2.860".
MV 2620'/sec
0.7 moa groups @ 300. and 0.2moa @200
Schultz and Larsen Classic DL.
25" bbl.

Originally Posted by superdiver

Have a 165 (speer btsp)and 168 (eldm)load that both shoot well and near enough same speed. Poi has the 165s sitting an inch below the 168s but both pills are getting too hard to find or no longer come into NZ(i believe). I also shoot factory corelokts but they shoot 2.5-3" lower than my main loads. Would reloading 150s at a higher speed bring them up to the same POI as the other two or not that simple?

Greetings Superdriver,
I tried for years to get different projectile weights to shoot to the same POI in the .308 and came up empty. You can read my two articles on this on the NZ Guns website which is now open access. Recently I tested 125, 150 and 165 projectiles in my now suppressed .308 and found that the 150 grain projectiles shot left of the other two even at 60 metres. I believe that you may have better success sticking to one weight, as close in BC as possible. The BC of the Corelokt is much lower than the two other projectiles you mention so would likely shoot lower. The factory loads will likely give less velocity as well. Its always best to get your premium load sorted first then tinker with any other load to get it to match. In my rifle an extra grain of powder would put the Speer projectiles in with the ELDM's. This is assuming you are not max already.
Regards Grandpamac.

Ok so updating this thread. Have ditched the speer 165btsp and loaded the speers 165gr HCSP(federal blue box bullet). 45gr of 2208 loaded to 2.75" coal has these shooting sub inch @ 100m with the same POI as my remington corelokt factory rounds then by using my ballistics calculator worked out my 168eldms are zeroed @ 250 so pretty happy. Need to shoot the speers at distance to verify speeds but guessing 2600-2630 which means they are good on reds/rusa size animals out to 400m~ which will cover basically all my hunting.

Originally Posted by superdiver

Ok so updating this thread. Have ditched the speer 165btsp and loaded the speers 165gr HCSP(federal blue box bullet). 45gr of 2208 loaded to 2.75" coal has these shooting sub inch @ 100m with the same POI as my remington corelokt factory rounds then by using my ballistics calculator worked out my 168eldms are zeroed @ 250 so pretty happy. Need to shoot the speers at distance to verify speeds but guessing 2600-2630 which means they are good on reds/rusa size animals out to 400m~ which will cover basically all my hunting.

Cracked it then. Well done.
Grandpamac.

Have you got a link to the articles @grandpamac l can not find them

Originally Posted by bunji

Have you got a link to the articles @grandpamac l can not find them

Greetings Bunji,
I'm a bit of clutz when it comes to computers and haven't mastered links yet. The articles are called Forty plus years with the .308 Winchester and are in the Guns section dated 28 October and 4 August 2020. The older one is on page 2.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by Dusty Fog

ill take the speer btsp off your hands

Already sold mate. They are back in stock at reloaders though

Originally Posted by Woody

The data here is developed for my rifle and you woukd need to work up a safe load carefully for any other.
Case NORMA
Primer cci200
Bullet ELD-X 178grain
Powder AR2208; 42.4 grains
C.O.A.L. 2.860".
MV 2620'/sec
0.7 moa groups @ 300. and 0.2moa @200
Schultz and Larsen Classic DL.
25" bbl.

Thanks for that info, its the 22 inch barrel in the Sako 85 that's stopping me and I'm using 44g AR2208 which is hot, but the accuracy is there.