@DanielOwenLynch,
Just curious?
Why that heavy a bullet in the little 308 case?
You're going to be seriously hampering case capacity and velocity.
Have you loaded much with all copper bullets?
Just asking. No offense intended.
No offense taken.
All else being relatively equal, sectional density trumps all when it comes to penetration. Yes, I'm aware that Hammer is a novel design, and that theory may go out the window with them, but it has worked for me for 40+ years.
I shoot heavy-for-caliber in everything except my 9.3x62, and only because Woodleigh is still recovering from their fire and the 325 gr Oryx are so hard to come by. And even the 285/286 gr bullets in .366 come in at a skosh over 0.3 SD.
In my 6.5x55, I shoot Woodleigh 160s (I had bought several boxes before the factory fire) and 155 gr Lapua Megas.
In my 280 AI, I shoot 175 gr Partitions. I have a good load for 160 gr A Frames, but I don't know what's going on with Swift. Last thing I saw available from them was .410 for 450/400. I haven't seen anything else available from them in more than a year.
In my 45-70, I shoot 425 gr and 525 gr Beartooth Piledrivers (and they're out of business, so I don't know what I'm going to do when I run out).
Still debating on what I want to load in my 404 Jeff. I'll probably end up going with the 400 gr Shock Hammers, but North Fork makes a 430 gr semi Spitzer. Somebody makes a 450 gr bullet for it, but off the top of my head, I can't remember who.
The 308 load I started this thread over is for my youngest son. He's a lieutenant in the navy (helo pilot). He isn't at the point where he can buy guns for a specific purpose, and since I reload, I thought I'd take a stab with these 180s. I really only need to get this load to somewhere between 2650 and 2750 fps for him to have a 400 yard rifle for high elevation hunting. Even if I could push the 166 gr Hammer Hunters to 2900 fps, trajectory and energy at any given distance are nearly the same with the heavier, slower 180 grain. And like I said, SD trumps velocity on penetration. Out to 400 yards, there's just no practical difference in ballistic arc between the 166 and the 180, assuming a 200 yard zero.
I was messing around with COAL last night, and it looks like somewhere around 2.96 to 2.97 will fit the mag and still give me 0.02+ a bit off the lands, and be just at the edge of the shoulder. I've always had good luck with Varget in my target 308, but given the length of these bullets, I'm going with a spherical, CFE223 and Win748. I have about 10 lbs of 2000MR, so I might give that a whirl, too.
I'm headed to South Africa in August, so I need to get some reloading and range sessions done with my 9.3x62. May be a month or 3 before I get to LD for this 308. But, my son is deployed to the sandbox until October, so I have time.
jbmballistics.com
