Looking for a reduced velocity 308 Win load.
- Thread starter StoneHorse
- Start date
Ganderite (not knowing who he was) was just a little thin on details. No slight intended.
Thanks for the info H4831, much appreciated.
Another powder/load to try, thanks Harold.
I recently wanted to make a reduced load to shoot in a M14. I wanted reasonable accuracy up to 50 yards and enough pressure to cycle the rifle reliably. I was using 147 gr surplus bullets.
My usual load is 42 gr of surplus IMR4995. I loaded 5 rounds each of 40, 38, 36, etc down to 26 gr. My assumption was that either accuracy or cycling would fail before I got to the lightest load. Nope. Accuracy and cycling was fine at 26 gr.
I selected 30 gr as the load and shot a CQB match with it. no idea what the velocity was, but the bullet punched holes in the target, and I was able to shoot the rapid fire without difficulty.
My usual load is 42 gr of surplus IMR4995. I loaded 5 rounds each of 40, 38, 36, etc down to 26 gr. My assumption was that either accuracy or cycling would fail before I got to the lightest load. Nope. Accuracy and cycling was fine at 26 gr.
I selected 30 gr as the load and shot a CQB match with it. no idea what the velocity was, but the bullet punched holes in the target, and I was able to shoot the rapid fire without difficulty.
I loaded up some rounds today, H4895 starting at 60% of maximum ending at 70%. Accuracy at 100 meters was so-so except for one load than measured at 0.95" 
. I'm going to tweak that load a little and see what happens. Recoil is light and no idea what the velocity is. Since I only putting holes in paper, velocity doesn't really matter.
I'm going to try out the 3031 powder tomorrow.
. I'm going to tweak that load a little and see what happens. Recoil is light and no idea what the velocity is. Since I only putting holes in paper, velocity doesn't really matter. I'm going to try out the 3031 powder tomorrow.
I loaded up some rounds today, H4895 starting at 60% of maximum ending at 70%. Accuracy at 100 meters was so-so except for one load than measured at 0.95"
I'm going to try out the 3031 powder tomorrow.
I'd use the same 60% approach with IMR3031. At 28.0 grs with that 125 gr bullet, pressure will be in the 12-15K psi range and 1700-1800 fps. It will be interesting to hear what happens.
Could try looking at cast bullet data. I've used it for reduced loads in many cartridges just swapping for a jacketed bullet of the same weight. I also often used .30-30 data in a .308 case (and .308 data in a .300WM) to very good effect. Most of my reduced loads use H4198 and H4895 because that's what I have on hand; mostly H4198. I've also been experimenting with reduced loads using BenchMark as I have quite a few pounds collecting dust on the shelf I figured I could try to use up.
There are various purposes.
-introduction for new shooter/recoil sensitive shooters/very young shooters
-make a small-game round for a big-game rifle (shoot a grouse with a .300WM and still have some meat left)
-save money for short-range plinking/fun without buying a new rifle
-just for the fun of it (this is my usual reasoning) - I get to experiment and learn a lot more about ballistics, reloading conditions, and my rifle and have fun
For me reduced loads make sense for a shooting. low recoil, low cost( with a cast bullet I made myself, and using Unique or Red Dot, a good target load can be made for about .12 per round. Very easy on the brass as well. as others said the Lyman Cast load books are full of light loads. Trail boss works well with jacketed bullets too. A can of trail boss last a long time.
Good idea
.
Last edited:
I think its about time I invested in a chronograph. It would be nice to know what the velocity is without the book guesswork. I've also just finished up some rounds loaded with 34.0 gr of 3031 as Ganderite suggested.
[Bold] That is my number one reason but reason number four is starting to take hold.
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
This is the reality of Trudeau-2-Canada. A place where the 308 is too robust and must be reduced to tolerable levels.
Any suggested loads or are you just trying to
?
Found a light load I'm happy with without taking a lot of time & fuss. 308 Win, Federal case, neck resized, Federal 210M primer, Sierra 125gr SP bullet backed with 33.4gr of H4895. Just under 1" groups (5 shots) @ 100 meters. I don't have a chronograph so not sure on velocity. The bench rest crowd wouldn't be impressed but this is a hunting rig with a sporter weight barrel.
I tried 20 rounds loaded with 34.0gr of IMR 3031 but they all came in close to 2MOA.
Edit: Things I learned. Small changes in powder charge (0.4gr) made a difference in group size. At least with my rifle.
Some groups looked like two different loads; a cluster of 3 rounds and two rounds touching some distance away, opening up the group.
I tried 20 rounds loaded with 34.0gr of IMR 3031 but they all came in close to 2MOA.
Edit: Things I learned. Small changes in powder charge (0.4gr) made a difference in group size. At least with my rifle.
Some groups looked like two different loads; a cluster of 3 rounds and two rounds touching some distance away, opening up the group.
Last edited:
burnt_servo
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- right in the middle of b.c.
first thing i'd look at is 300 savage reloading data . it has a slightly smaller case size , but is also loaded to a much lower pressure than 308 win .
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Dogleg has a cure for that. No nix that, Dogleg has many cures for that!
There is enough evidence to suggest that its risky to load small charges of slow burning, large particle powder in large volume bottleneck cartridges. But 3031 is not a slow burning powder, and the .308 is not a large volume cartridge. Its interesting that the message not to load light charges of H-4831 in a .300 Weatherby has morphed into a fear of reduced loads in any rifle cartridge. No doubt you could safely load 20 grs of H-4831 in a .308 without any concerns over safety, but performance would leave something to be desired, since you could pour unburnt powder out of the barrel, back onto the scale to try it again. By contrast, a case full case of H-4831 will result in a .308 load with reduced velocity, and an impressive muzzle blast, particularly from a carbine length barrel, if you enjoy such things. OP, as others have said, simply incrementally reduce the charges of 3031 until you achieve the velocity you're after.
