120 grain 308?

dfraser

dfraser

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Edmonton
Hey all,

Was just at the range yesterday, A guy had a bunch of handloads 308 going through a tikka T3, Since I am new to reloading, I asked him what he loads. He told me that he uses Barnes 120 grain and 130 grain bullets.

I was always told to use 150 - 178 grains for 308 for the 500 - 600 yard mark.

How does 120 grain stack up for a novice reloader like me?

I use a Rem700 AAC-SD

Regards,
 
Barnes copper bullets are a different animal compared to lead bullets. The 120's are likely as long as a 150g, they also retain close to 100% of there weight so there is plenty of weight to penetrate after contact.
 
I load 130gr TTSX's for the wife's .308 Ruger M77 Compact - they still get up to 2850 ft/sec out of the 16.5" barrel with H4895 - not a great long range cannon with that short barrel no matter what, and yes, typically the heavier bullets do have better BC's for long range. These shoot well, recoil is lighter, with good speeds and energy to over 300 yds, long enough for what we want out of it, so the 130's seem to be a great all-round fit.
 
Nosler 125gr ballistic tips were a fun range bullet on water jugs! Had planned to use for coyote few years back but have long since gone a different direction.
 
Loved the accuracy & slight reduced recoil of the 125gr Ballistic Tips. Used to load them a long time ago, when bowling-pin shooting was still popular, & we could still take FNs to the range. They'd slam a pin off the table as if hit by a car, & tear a fist-sized chunk out of the backside on exit. Fun days...
 
Completely different if you are hunting or wanting a target load. (no need to get into the ethics of longer range hunting here..)

For mid range stuff you'll want high BC to retain velocity and reduce wind drift. Two theories with this, generally heavier have higher BC, but low velocity. The mass retains this velocity. The lighter bullets are faster, so they have less drop and drift to a certain extent, but lose velocity quickly due to their mass.

Exceptions can be had with bullet design. Generally longer bullets have higher BC. Ie, the 155 Lapua Scenars, which have exceptionally high BC for their bullet weight. The exact opposite of that would be the 208 AMAX's which also benefit from a very high BC.

Pick you poison. I shoot 208's at approx 2550 FPS and it slams the target at 600-1000yards MUCH harder than a 175 SMK. A 155 (still an awesome round) would be laughable in comparison. Is impact force a necessity for targets? Absolutely not. Is it a necessity for hunting? Yes. (None of the three projectiles mentioned above are hunting projectiles).

FYI, the 208gr at 1000y retains over 1000 ft-lbs force. That's closing in on 300WM territory.

So for target shooting pick which direction you want looking at bullet design and BC (actual, not advertised). Then develop the load you want. Keep in mind twist rate. Heavier projectiles require it. 208gr's can be run in 1-11. 1-12 may be an issue, 1-13 is not advisable.

Good luck. As they say, lots of ways to skin a cat...
 
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