Thread: 220 grain ELD-X in 308 win

I would play with 41-43gr of 760, around 2350fps might be on the edge.
With the 220gr I see you gaining more energy into the dirt but would be curious to see how it goes.
It should work fine and kill things.

Have you seen that in a manual somewhere @Cooper?

I heard that sierra used to publish data for their 220 SMKin 308, does anyone have an old Sierra manual they could have a flip through?

I saw on a yank sight somebody was getting some pretty impressive results with Reloder 17 but I don't think I'm that invested yet ha ha.

Originally Posted by Rated M for Magnum

Have you seen that in a manual somewhere @Cooper?

I heard that sierra used to publish data for their 220 SMKin 308, does anyone have an old Sierra manual they could have a flip through?

I saw on a yank sight somebody was getting some pretty impressive results with Reloder 17 but I don't think I'm that invested yet ha ha.

Ran it through quickload, RL17 could work fine too but you will struggle more with case capacity, a lot of the impressive results could be out of FTR setup rifles with long Barrels and throats?
If you really want to push a 220gr fast in a hunting rifle I would just use a Magnum however I have shot deer with 180gr .308 at 2400 fps and works fine so if you can get anything around that speed I don't see why you can't use them

Belmont 763 will get them moving fast.

Originally Posted by Rated M for Magnum

Have you seen that in a manual somewhere @Cooper?

I heard that sierra used to publish data for their 220 SMKin 308, does anyone have an old Sierra manual they could have a flip through?

I saw on a yank sight somebody was getting some pretty impressive results with Reloder 17 but I don't think I'm that invested yet ha ha.

Sierra data for you
This is max charge for Varget/2208

And Hornaday data

Originally Posted by Cooper

Ran it through quickload, RL17 could work fine too but you will struggle more with case capacity, a lot of the impressive results could be out of FTR setup rifles with long Barrels and throats?
If you really want to push a 220gr fast in a hunting rifle I would just use a Magnum however I have shot deer with 180gr .308 at 2400 fps and works fine so if you can get anything around that speed I don't see why you can't use them

Thanks for taking the time to put that through quickload @Cooper, I really appreciate it. W760 is one I'll definitely have a play with. I completely agree with using a magnum for sending them fast, this is more of a curiosity quencher than anything. Yes I believe they were a competition shooter with a 26 inch barrel sending the 220 smk at at 2600 fps I think it was (can't find the web page now).

Thanks again

I have a good load using 178gn ELDX over 42 gn AR2208/ Norma brass. 2620fps / 25" bbl. Knock about 30fps per inch reduction in bbl length. 2.86" COAL in my chamber.

am I wrong thinking these wont stabilise unless you have a faster than normal twist barrel or can manage a pretty hot load to get the speed up? Maybe not an issue for closer range bush hunting? I would've thought these were more for 300wm/300wsm/300prc etc. Not picking genuinely interested

Thanks @winaa interesting that Sierra list W760 but hornady don't. Nevertheless I'll start low and work up, I don't know if I'll get to 45 grains at that length though.

I'll use winchester brass as that seems to have the most capacity of what I have, cci 200 primers. Hopefully get some loaded today and test them out this weekend, weather permitting.

Looking forward to your results. Photos of groups etc would be most interesting.

@Shadowsol you're probably right, I don't think mr Hornady intended these for 308 but there's data there and I want to see if it will work

They would probably be amazing for bush hunting our larger deer species or even pigs.

For the stability issue, are the people shooting these out of the big 30s aren't having stability issues at longer ranges when bullet velocity drops? Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Again I'm not trying to re invent the cartridge, I just want to see what will happen.

@Driverman I'll have the chrony set up and will hopefully get on paper relatively quickly. Hopefully it's not a bust

About my 178 load. Rifle is 1:10 twist.

Originally Posted by Woody

About my 178 load. Rifle is 1:10 twist.

Cheers @Woody mine is a 20 inch barrel so in theory I'll be somewhere around 2470 fps? My intention is to use IMR 4064 with the 175 TMKs, that should hopefully yield a bit more speed in my set up. What are the 178 ELD-X like on game?

Ok but I vent used them enough on game to give expert opinion. I' m sure others on the forum will have had more experience with themthan I.