Easy noob question...

D

DeadeyeLefty

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I recently got a good deal on a whack of 125gr Sierra .308 bullets. Right now I just load 30-06, so these are a bit light.
I buy powder a pound at a time and right now I have Reloder 19 and won't have anything else till my next trip into town.
I ran across a load for that, but it caĺled for 61 grains of the RL19.
Is it me, or does that seem pretty hot for such a light bullet ?
My best load to date for this gun has been about 50gr of Varget pushing 150gr of bullet.
Barrel's 24", 1:10

Thoughts ?

TIA
 
Based on what I can find, RL19 is too slow for 125gr projectile. 150 to 200 gr bullets seem to be well suited for RL19.

Wait to get some RL15 (or similar) to load up the 125s.
 
DeadeyeLefty said:
I recently got a good deal on a whack of 125gr Sierra .308 bullets. Right now I just load 30-06, so these are a bit light.
I buy powder a pound at a time and right now I have Reloder 19 and won't have anything else till my next trip into town.
I ran across a load for that, but it caĺled for 61 grains of the RL19.
Is it me, or does that seem pretty hot for such a light bullet ?
My best load to date for this gun has been about 50gr of Varget pushing 150gr of bullet.
Barrel's 24", 1:10

Thoughts ?

TIA
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61 grains of RL19 behind a 125 grain bullet sounds mild to me, actually.
RL 19 is definitely a bit slow for the 125. I have loaded 61 grains of 19
behind a 165 grain bullet without any issues in my 30-06. Dave.
 
TrevorJ said:
Based on what I can find, RL19 is too slow for 125gr projectile. 150 to 200 gr bullets seem to be well suited for RL19.

Wait to get some RL15 (or similar) to load up the 125s.
Click to expand...

This. The Reliant website load data for 30-06 starts with 150gr bullets for RL19. The max load for a 150gr bullet is 62gr. Either buy a different powder for your 125gr bullets or get heavier bullets. You could work up a load with your 125gr bullet and RL19 but I would start at 55gr and then work up.
 
TrevorJ said:
150 to 200 gr bullets seem to be well suited for RL19
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That's what I've read too - I bought it specifically for some 178 gr Hornady bthp's I picked up on my last trip into town.

Eagleye said:
61 grains of RL19 behind a 125 grain bullet sounds mild to me, actually.
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Shows what I know...:)
I'm only using the bottom half of the load ranges from the Lee book right now as I'm learning, so 61 grains of anything seems like a lot to me.

RifleDude said:
Either buy a different powder...You could work up a load with your 125gr bullet and RL19 but I would start at 55gr and then work up.
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Been sitting on these bullets for a while. I do have some 4395 left over as well, but I was wondering if this would work. The 55gr suggestion is what I was looking for.
I've got about 50lb of old catalogs that need some holes put in them, so I figured I'd load up some of these and see how they do.

Thx gentlemen !
 
The Sierra 125 is a very accurate bullet. It has been used as a 200 yard match bullet in the USA.

When my son was 10, I made him match ammo with the 125 Sierra with about 38 gr of 4895. This light load was good to about 600 yards for target shooting.

I would use 3031 or 4895 for the 125.
 
Mauser98 said:
Go to the Hodgdon site
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Thanks for that, it's one of my bookmarks. I actually printed out a whack of pages from there to keep on the bench.
When I do look for a powder specifically for these bullets, I will definitely use that resource. Thx !

Ganderite said:
The Sierra 125 is a very accurate bullet.
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Given the price, I doubt these are those ones. They were cheap enough that two boxes were an impulse buy while picking up something else.
I just went downstairs and checked - these are Sierra #2120. I think I paid something like $15/box.
Was your son shooting 308 ? That seems really light for 30-06 but again, I'm still on the steep part of the learning curve on this stuff.
 
D Given the price said:
Yes, those are the ones. They American 200 yard match is shot standing and rapid fire. A super match bullet is wasted.

I bought them as a 308Win target bullet for the kids, and they easily grouped a minute, but were more wind sensitive than 155s.

For the 3006 they will make accurate plinkers. 4895 would be an excellent choice.
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No, Hodgdon doesn't list Alliant powders but fortunately the Lee book does.
I remember seeing a bunch of different powders listed for 125gr, but I'm looking to use what I have on hand till I can get to town.

When I do, I'll keep an eye out for some 4895. These are going to be paper-punchers and for 'yotes. I did a little bit of looking around and yeah, it seems they're a decent bullet for that.
Good to hear others have had good results with them. Didn't expect much but it seems I lucked out on the buy.
 
Alliant's 2005 Edition Reloader's Guide shows a few 30-06 loads using Sierra 125gr. Spitzer bullets with Federal 210 primers in Federal brass.
It lists a maximum load of 65.5gr. of Reloader 19 as giving 2,995 fps out of a 24" barrel at only 47,300 psi., so your load should be fine.
 
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Is RL the same as RX?
RX doesnt show up in the Lyman book until 150 grain.
IMR 4320 55 grains is the powder they listed as the most accurate laod from there tests. It is also the max load in that powder.

Hornady has RL 15 for their 125 load.
Varget is in there too. I can see it being good for 125
 
Mauser98 said:
Another source of loading data, including 30 cal/125 gr, is the Speer site.

https://www.speer-ammo.com/reloading/rifle
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Thx, I'll add that one to my list as well!


Talltimber1 said:
Is RL the same as RX?
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Couldn't tell you, myself...though I wouldn't think so. I've seen other powders for this round and I can probably load about 50rds with the Varget I have left from the last session (should use it up anyway). Then I was loading 150 gr fmj - I was amazed at how much my groups tightened up vs the factory ammo (PowerShok & CoreLokt) I had been shooting

I have a fresh pound of RL19 to load some 178 bthp's so I'd figured I'd see if I could use that powder specifically.
Lee doesn't list RL19 until about 150gr or so either.
Just got shipping confirmation that my new scale is on the way, should be here next week woohoo!
 
Al Bear said:
No shortage of potential recipes here. Have a Chrony? If not, get one. And yer off to the races.
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Just checked in and saw this. I'm actually starting to look into chronos now, lol. As I reload more, I'm seeing that grouping at different ranges and felt recoil aren't enough to compare loads.
When buying stuff like this, I tend to go cheap at first and then upgrade as I see features or quality that are lacking.
Are the ones on Amazon etc any good ?
Being electronic, I'm reluctant to buy used.
Any other suggestions from the hive mind ? :)

But first, to figure how to turn on notifications...
Any suggestions ? Is there a standard unit that pretty much everyone uses ?
 
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