So I was going over my loads today, and remembered the .308 Win Reduced Recoil round I had made that reliably cycled the M14 rifle. I was at the time looking into a reduced recoil load that was accurate out to 100 yards, would allow faster re-aquiring the target after each shot and would function the semi-auto action of the rifle reliably.
I had plans to test this load out to 300 meters (maximum) but never got that far. My 'scout rifle' project got shelved and has since be turned into a 600 meter rifle.
So here it is:
125 Grain Spitzer (Sierra #2120) .308 dia
Winchester Brass
CCI Large Rifle Primer
43 Grains IMR 4895
Sierra's Manual shows this round to have a muzzel velocity of 2750 with energy being about 2100 ft lbs.
It was highly accurate 3/4" moa at 100 yards, but I was wondering what kind of game this round could take down. Would it still have enough energy for deer or should it be more of a 'varmit' round with the reduced energy. My normal 168 grain .308 loads velocity is 2600 and 2521 ft lbs of energy at the muzzel.
Anyhow, any comments would be appreciated.
EDIT: So to add, this was my 'replacement' for .223 REM during 'close combat' in a .30 caliber rifle. My only issues were that it took more time to re aquire the target between shots as well as the rifle was A LOT heavier. However, upon closer inspection to the data in the Sierra manual, it would appear as though a 55 grain projectile in .223 REM only has about 1000 ft lbs of energy at the muzzel. So in reality the 125 grain .308 WIN should be good on most game up to the size of a deer?
I had plans to test this load out to 300 meters (maximum) but never got that far. My 'scout rifle' project got shelved and has since be turned into a 600 meter rifle.
So here it is:
125 Grain Spitzer (Sierra #2120) .308 dia
Winchester Brass
CCI Large Rifle Primer
43 Grains IMR 4895
Sierra's Manual shows this round to have a muzzel velocity of 2750 with energy being about 2100 ft lbs.
It was highly accurate 3/4" moa at 100 yards, but I was wondering what kind of game this round could take down. Would it still have enough energy for deer or should it be more of a 'varmit' round with the reduced energy. My normal 168 grain .308 loads velocity is 2600 and 2521 ft lbs of energy at the muzzel.
Anyhow, any comments would be appreciated.
EDIT: So to add, this was my 'replacement' for .223 REM during 'close combat' in a .30 caliber rifle. My only issues were that it took more time to re aquire the target between shots as well as the rifle was A LOT heavier. However, upon closer inspection to the data in the Sierra manual, it would appear as though a 55 grain projectile in .223 REM only has about 1000 ft lbs of energy at the muzzel. So in reality the 125 grain .308 WIN should be good on most game up to the size of a deer?
