Thread: A few 308 questions.

Hi everyone, my new second hand first ever reloading kit arrived this week and like a kid at Christmas, I unwrapped it all with delight. The gear all looks in pretty good condition, some of it almost unused. Since I won the auction I reckon I have clocked up about 30 hours of reading and watching on the subject, and have managed to narrow down the list of questions before getting on here to bother everyone.



1. One of the main reasons for getting into this gig is the property I lease has a significant goat problem, and the amount of ammo I am getting through is getting pricey. I also provide ammo for friends who come to help me out, most of whom also have 308s of their own to use. Now I am bracing myself as I type this, as I know how a lot of you feel about throwing hand loads around varying rifles, but I would like to be able to load a nice mild round that will perform safely in most rifles within 200 yards. I'm sure I have seen the comment "if this bullet won't shoot, nothing will" somewhere, but I can't find it today. They would only be used on goats, so don't need to have massive stopping power.

2. This one should be a bit of fun. The box of bullets pictured below came in the parcel, and looks like none of it has been used. This wouldn't in itself be unusual, but the price written on the box, $3.50, would suggest they have experienced a fair bit of inflation since they were purchased! The box says 180gr Spire Point. Does anybody know anything about them? They look like an Interlock, is that what they are? I assume they will still be good to use? I reckon they would make an excellent bush round for the roar!



The wee powder trickle also has a price on it, a whopping $6.75! Looks like it has never been sullied by powder!

3. Last question, I also would like a nice 400-yard max hunting round for reds. I have read a lot about what will work for that combo, the question is, what of what will work is reliably available at the moment? Preferably locally, either Invercargill or Dunedin for powder. Happy to order projectiles through the post.


Another bit of kit that amused me was the 375 grain 375 H&H projectiles and dies that came in the package. Aside from the exercise of trying to figure out what in NZ would require a hunk of lead like that, I immensely enjoyed telling my wife that it would be silly for me not to invest in a matching rifle to use them up!

Buy yourself a powder thrower , my hornady one is 40 yrs old and loads in 223 and 308 will both shoot moa as thrown once sorted also you may find the sticker on the scales if like my lyman is slightly off but you just set pointer on right side of line , its like they are halve a line out . Some 2208 and you are good to go , enjoy more shooting .

A minimum to low charge of ADI 2208 under a 150gn pill will give you a very accurate round and moderate mv of arlund 2600 '/ sec. Coal about 2.75" with sgk sbt 150. 42-43 grain. That mildoad will still work well at 400.

Using powder weights around starting loads in multiple rifles should be no problem, but make sure you full length size the cases.
The Hornady interlock 150gr spire points (#3031) shoot well in my 308, but were about 10 times the price of your 180's when I last bought some in the late 1990's! The projectile is your major cost reloading, any reputable brand cup n core bullet soft point will do for goats. I'd go with whatever is cheap and available from Hornady, Sierra, Speer, etc.
At close range 30-30 style bullets are devastating with a mild load out of a 308 (usually going faster than out of a 30-30).

for mainly goats...not being recovered for meat where not every shot will be ideally placed...see if can find in order of preference one of these three...130grn speer hollow points,speer 125grn TNT and lastly 125grn nosler ballistic tips. as others have said bog standard 150grns are going to do the job just fine,the lighter options will just do it more explosively,better for skinny/small goats and may anchor animal faster if shot placement isnt ideal.
you will also have slightly less recoil and seeing as you want to load for multiple rifles with same load=minimum spec FLS every time you can load these more explody projectiles softer load for longer brass life and being lighter on powder charge slightly slower than max yet will still give more than enough expansion (understatement of year)spot on with the 180s...awesome bush load.

2206 -----2208------748 all work well and USUALLY .308s arent fussy

also look hard at what belmont can provide at not much more than reloading cost...if say you bought 2-500 rounds it would give you big lot of same brass to keep you going for years. powder throwers are great bit of kit ,but you can get by with LEE spoons for lesser cost,at lesser speed,you will weigh every charge over scales to begin with anyway...once you get into big batch loading its still 6 in one half dozen the other which is faster or more accurate as both spoons/dipper and thrower work same way,they throw volume not weight.

whats in winchester bullet box???

I also spy .270 cases and assumably dies??? gunworks currently still listing 110grn sierra....that would make good goat medicine.

and lastly your to 400 yard reds load......well if you can poke any of above into the right place they will work,the 150-165s are going to be best bet,but you could always carry some special loads for just that...federal bluebox factory is always pretty darn good accuracy wise,years back we just shot what we had on hand and it did the job if we put projectiles in right place,the animals havent changed. I wouldnt suggest the under 150grn loads for shoulder shooting reds,but slip one in the crease and its night night nursey quick smartly. if you shooting goats you will know what rifle/shooter is capable of hitting and a red hind is much bigger than a yearling goat. if you can cleanly hit goat at 400 you will do same to reds every day of the week.

Thanks everyone, I will sit down tonight and see what of your suggestions so far I can find in stock. A powder thrower is in the wee list of extra equipment i am still shopping for.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

whats in winchester bullet box???

I wondered if anyone would spot that, they are 130gr 270 silver tips.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I also spy .270 cases and assumably dies??? gunworks currently still listing 110grn sierra....that would make good goat medicine.

There is brass and projectiles, no dies. I dont have a 270, so unless my cousin splashes out on dies etc it may all end up in the projectile exchange or buy sell thread!

DO NOT get rid of them.....I have one loaded factory round left that gets used to set up my dies.
how many in box??? I will swap you for 125grn tnt .308s one for one

bugger...just re checked only have 7 of the TNTs but have more than full box of 150grn speer hot cores......will throw the TNTs in for you to trial and happily swap the hot cores as have on sold the .308.

shooting out to 200 at low cost with good performance on Goats . . consider buying a LEE bullet mold and load to 1600fps, it will pay for itself in a couple of trips

Greetings,
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having one load for multiple rifles. The factories do it all the time. For your goat load I suggest around 43 grains of AR2206H. This used to be called a middle load or half way between start and max for the 150 grain projectile. For projectile any 150 grain flat base soft point will do. For this the flat base is preferred as it is likely to shoot well in most rifles. For your longer range red deer load you could use a 150 grain boat tail projectile of your choice with the charge worked up to max assuming the boat tail shoots well in your rifle. Keep these loads away from your mates. I used this combination for years with IMR and milsurp 4895. With the faster load zeroed for 200 yards (this was a while ago) the lighter load shot close to zero at 100 yards. You can do the same thing with 165 grain projectiles with less powdwer to suit but your mates are likely using 150 grain projectiles. .308 rifles often shoot different weights of projectiles to different points of impact, something to look out for.
As far as good projectiles and loads for reds I can do no better to quote a friend we shall call The Great Guru who said "When you are using the .308 projectile choice does not matter". I can't improve on that.
Regards Grandpamac.

A quick look at the Gunworks website shows that most 308 projectiles are sold out or limited to 1 box per customer, so choices are currently pretty limited

Originally Posted by Cigar

A quick look at the Gunworks website shows that most 308 projectiles are sold out or limited to 1 box per customer, so choices are currently pretty limited

Reloader still seem to have plenty of 30 cal in stock fwiw