175 gr Barnes LRX

[Colopatt]

Has anyone loaded these in 308 Win? They are LONG, wondering what OAL to load to. With standard OAL will there be enough room for enough powder? Have Varget, IMR 4064.

[Zombie Steve]

And there's the rub with .308. I'd load them as long as my leade allowed. What gun? They'll work, but the dropoff of velocity from a lead core bullet or a lighter bullet might be significant. Of course, it will be a compressed load, but that's no big deal.

Theoretically, you could jam it into the lands which would raise pressures and require less powder. Kinda throws the published load data out the window though...



Do you have a different .30 with more case capacity you could use them in? '06 or .300 win mag, maybe?

[Colopatt]

Thanks Zombie. Looks like nobody else has bothered fighting this combo. Picked up these thinking I would load for elk. Don't think I will use up powder to find out what works. Maybe someone will want to work a trade for some Interlocks or Partitions. :)

[Zombie Steve]

My issue was with Nosler e-tips. 180's, all gilding metal... when I first saw them, I thought they were 200 grain bullets. I didn't have a hard time finding an accurate load, but I never got the speed out of them that I wanted (and that was with a .30-06). These were given to me by a friend, and the main reason I never took them farther down the road of load development was they absolutely smeared the barrel with copper. Lands, grooves... nasty. At least the Barnes have skinny bearing surfaces if I recall correctly.

With tough bullet construction (grand slams, accubonds, partitions, trophy bonded bear claws, a-frames) I wouldn't hesitate using a 165 grain on elk. I did load an Interlock last year that took a 500lb cow at a funky angle (not my shot, just a load I helped a friend work up). Worked great. I guess my point is with 180's you certainly don't need a fancy bullet.

So you aren't going to give load development a try? It's a day at the range, anyway...

[Colopatt]

I don't think I will bother with them...don't have a lot to mess with anyway (only 50). As far as the range, I'm lucky, it's out my back door. Think I will just stay in the 165/168 grain range and keep the velocity up. :) Thanks again.