220 gn bullet in .308 Win

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ss1980

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Has anyone loaded a 220 gn bullet in a .308 Win? Any formula with Alliant powders?

I've got a Hornady manual and it does not go as far as 220 gn.

Also, if anybody knows what a good twist rate would be to stabilize this "slug"?
 
220 in .308 does work.

1-10 twist (pretty common) is fine for 220. 1-12 might work, but I can't say for sure on that one.

.308 is not real fussy on powders, but case capacity with large bullets may be an issue; most any medium - slowish (not too slow) powder that is not real bulky would work fine. Personally I'd try BL-C2 first and would likely find what I was looking for right there.

I've done 220's in 303 British using IMR 4895, and we're basically talking the same case here, just one is rimmed. IMR 4895 is just a little more bulky that some other ball powders, so you might not get that top end velocity, due to powder charge limitations.
 
Thank you for your answer. I was thinking getting 2000-2300 fps with 220 gn slug. No need to go much faster than that and risk blowing up the barrel.
I'll investigate the formulas on the powder sites directly because my Hornady manual limits me to using 180 and 200-something bullets but way below 220 gn.

Northman999 said:
220 in .308 does work.

1-10 twist (pretty common) is fine for 220. 1-12 might work, but I can't say for sure on that one.

.308 is not real fussy on powders, but case capacity with large bullets may be an issue; most any medium - slowish (not too slow) powder that is not real bulky would work fine. Personally I'd try BL-C2 first and would likely find what I was looking for right there.

I've done 220's in 303 British using IMR 4895, and we're basically talking the same case here, just one is rimmed. IMR 4895 is just a little more bulky that some other ball powders, so you might not get that top end velocity, due to powder charge limitations.
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ss1980 said:
Thank you for your answer. I was thinking getting 2000-2300 fps with 220 gn slug. No need to go much faster than that and risk blowing up the barrel.
I'll investigate the formulas on the powder sites directly because my Hornady manual limits me to using 180 and 200-something bullets but way below 220 gn.
Click to expand...

I believe that 2300 fps is not a real big deal with 220's in a .308, from what other handloaders I trust have told me, but I wouldn't try to get much over that.
 
I did some research online and in the books for powder formulas. Nothing in the books. Most limit .308 to 180-200 gn bullets. Little online as well, especially on official Alliant, Hornady, and IMR sites.

I kept on looking and finally found one very comprehensive resource that I wanted to share with everyone here -- http://stevespages.com/308_13_220.html

Northman999 said:
I believe that 2300 fps is not a real big deal with 220's in a .308, from what other handloaders I trust have told me, but I wouldn't try to get much over that.
Click to expand...
 
RL17. Some guys push 208s over 48 to 50 grains. 47 was the limit in my rifle. I've tried 225s over 45 grains in my barrel successfully. Caution 17 is said to be temperature sensitive. Standard disclaimers apply to my comments.
 
Yes, I still have some RL17 from the days of loading 300 WSM. Love the stuff!

rimfiremac said:
RL17. Some guys push 208s over 48 to 50 grains. 47 was the limit in my rifle. I've tried 225s over 45 grains in my barrel successfully. Caution 17 is said to be temperature sensitive. Standard disclaimers apply to my comments.
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My Hodgdon #26 manual lists 220 & 250 gr. loads for the .308. I was thinking about doing some experimenting along those lines myself. Post an update when you get some results.
 
You know, the 30-40 Krag was designed with the 220 gr bullet to work safely in Krag rifle with its the single locking lug. The 308 case has a tad more capacity, so easily exceeds Krag velocities, and does so safely by far in modern actions.

I have loaded 220s to almost 2500 using 4350 for quite a while, and more recently Re17.

Ted
 
Thanks a bunch for reassuring. I'm going to try with RL17.

Why not? said:
You know, the 30-40 Krag was designed with the 220 gr bullet to work safely in Krag rifle with its the single locking lug. The 308 case has a tad more capacity, so easily exceeds Krag velocities, and does so safely by far in modern actions.

I have loaded 220s to almost 2500 using 4350 for quite a while, and more recently Re17.

Ted
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ss1980 said:
Sorry for the confusion guys. They don't allow for .308 in Africa. The minimum cartridge for dangerous game there is 375 H&H.
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Did I miss a step?? What does Africa have to do with 220's in a .308?

In any event, Africa is a big place, not just one country, and the laws vary from place to place. In Zimbabwe, for instance, you can hunt leopard with a .308, but not lion. There may still be some countries without minimum calibre restrictions.
 
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