Heaviest weight .308 factory load

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tim_up_north

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What is the heaviest grained bullet offered in .308 Win, that is commonly available?

Also, are there any solid bullet (not mil. FMJ) .308 loadings available in Canada?

Thanks



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While there used to be 200 grainers available, I believe all that is available now are 180's as the heaviest in .308 Winchester.
Factory solids, no but Lois at the Bullet Barn in B.C. has some hard cast suitable for reloading in .308.

Ricky
 
"...any solid bullet..." As in Barnes bullets? Or a commercial FMJ? Ain't the same thing. Epp's carries Barnes bullets. Don't imagine they'd be cheap though.
.30 calibre commercial FMJ's should be easy enough to find. Not heavy bullets unless you get into match grade HPBT's. Hornady, Sierra(Gameking) and Speer make a 150 grain FMJ bullet. Lapua makes several weights in .30 cal FMJ's in their Scenar line. I'd really hate to think what they're worth though.
 
i got a load( 20 rounds) of 200 grain psp cils a while back and every one of them backed out the primer- don't know what they were using for a powder charge,but i went back to 180s- savage 99 rifle
 
"...cils..." As in C.I.L. Dominion brand? That'd be antique ammo. CIL Ammo became IVI in the late 60's. The stuff you had may have deteriorated to the point that the pressures increased.
 
i'm pretty sure they were much later than that- i didn't have the rifle until at least 73, my first 308- got them from woolco- we didn't have a canadian tire out here at the time think they were called sabre-tips or something like that-there was a dressing/field book that cil was giving out with each box of ammo at the time and it had a few bolts in it along with that pump action 30-30( think it was a savage)
 
Goes like this...

While me and the family are out frolicking in the vast borreal wonderland, I always think about a local bush pilot and camp operator that got his ticket punched by a black bear not too long back...

I was looking for something with weight/penetration to stoke the .308 with...really, for my purposes I ony need, say, maybe 30 rounds.

I believe firmly that penetration in such an encounter is vastly more important than expansion, and in fact, an expanding bullet may be detriment.

Its illegal here, as in most places to hunt with solids...if I ever had to pin a bear, I'm confident using solids in such a scenario wouldn't be hunting in the strictest sense...and I'll take my chances with ENR

In any case, finding the bullets will likely not be the problem....as I don't handload, firing them however, is another story...:confused:

.
 
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Load any 200 gr softpoint, and you should be fine (assuming you handload). If you just buy factory ammo, you'll be restricted to 180s, I haven't seen any 200 gr 308 in years (except old boxes at gun shows). Barnes makes solids as mentioned. Again, a handloading proposition. As an aside, I had the same thing happen with my 300 Savage with old Dominion ammo, scary stuff. The ammo was from the 60s, if memory serves. - dan
 
i remember back in the 90's i think my dad picked up some 220 grain but they r too much to shoot
 
sunray said:
"...cils..." As in C.I.L. Dominion brand? That'd be antique ammo. CIL Ammo became IVI in the late 60's. The stuff you had may have deteriorated to the point that the pressures increased.
Click to expand...

That would be old ammo all right, but primers backing out are NOT a sign of high pressure in a rifle, but rather of LOW pressure. Not enough pressure to force the case head back into conatct with the bolt/breechblock. I remember some of that old CIL ammo, even when newly manufactured (dates me, right!), tended to be on the mild side. I had 5 rounds of CIL Dominion (pre IVI) 30-06 180 gr KKSP ammo laying around, so decided to chronograph it a couple of years ago. In my 24" 700 SSDM it made 2422 fps avg. plenty slow. Regards, Eagleye.
 
On my Hornady reloading poster I see a 220gr RN #3090 InterLock. I am not sure if thats available in a factory load. I've been meaning to ask about that myself - it looks about as evil a bullet as one could get in a .308 - has anyone made or shot this puppy?
 
it's kind of pointless going heavier than 180 in a 308 anyway, esp if you have a "short " action- the likes of a savage 99 or whatever- i saw a cut away in a magazine a while back that showed that you got bullet actually sitting in the powder when seated for "standard" mag length- now if you've got something on say a 30-06 length action, you can seat it out there where it needs to be- i tried this on some of my reloads with 190 grain matches and sure enough, there was a powder line on the bullets = i was using ww748,
besides the velocity drops away off and the pressure gets too high, or so i found with my stuff- there are loads listed for 200 grainers in my speer manual, but you also have to consider the twist of your barrel- the 308 comes in both 1/12 and 1/10 according to manufacturer- if it's a 1/12 the max according to a chart i have is 180- the 1/10 is good right till 220, but by then your velocity has dropped off considerably- the 190, 200, and 220 are better suited to the 06 where it has the case capacity and proper twist to take advantage of the heavier bullet
 
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