Working on the 308

[Ole_270]

Decided to switch the old JC Higgins 51-L 308 from plinking loads to deer hunting loads for the upcoming early doe season. As I've posted here in the past I've been using the NOE version of the #315, gc'd, pc'd and water dropped out of the oven the last few years. I've thought a few times that I wasn't getting much expansion since the deer usually ran about 80-100 yards. The original alloy was roughly 3% Sb. Last year I put some of the bullets back in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour and air cooled them. Never had tested them. This morning I dug some out, loaded them in LC cases with S&B primers, 34 grains of N202 for a load that a few years ago tested at 2050 fps. Had to adjust the scope some.

https://imgur.com/MouqILd

Made the adjustment.

https://imgur.com/yRr62dC

Guess it will work, no leading when I cleaned it. Didn't think it was too bad considering I was fighting Wrist braces(for carpel tunnel) on both hands and the trigger finger has a pretty good buzz going.

 

[Spindrift]

That looks really good to me!
Any deer presenting a decent angle would be in serious trouble!

 

[Ian]

You don't need it to expand, being a truncated cone design. Quite respectable and consistent groups you have going on there.

I've seen a lot of whitetail run 80-100 yards with nothing left in their ribcages, so I wouldn't sweat it much. If you want to improve your results you could bump the velocity up to 23-2400 at the muzzle, that little extra makes a big difference with cast bullets.

Here is a 13.5 BHN spire point at 2460 fps fired point blank into lightly oiled softwood sawdust, and a 100-yard target from the LR-308:



Here's what the HP version does to a pig shoulder going in:



Coming out behind the other shoulder:

 

[Ole_270]

I never did a postmortem on any of the deer I took with that bullet. Just did the gutless method of dressing and got it on ice quick. I always got an exit, even on the pair that were full on straight away facing shots. One of these days I need to do some digging in one of them.
Just got in from digging in the backstop. It's made out of ag lime and packs real tight after shooting into it for awhile. It's got particals about like flour, some about the size of sand and some larger. Had to use a long rock bar to break it up so I could sift it. Found lots of good looking mushrooms from the 38-55 cast I've been shooting into it. The 308 cast was mostly about 3/8" length of shank with the rest missing. Thinking the higher velocity in that hard media was pretty rough on them.

 

[CZ93X62]

4 words--

Bruce

B(annister)

Soft

Point.

I wish I could hunt with them in California.

 

[fiver]

I get a lot of short shanks with gas checks on them from our dirt and rock berms.
there's no way to tell what happened in between the barrel and the dirt.
it doesn't matter if it's a long nose or a short nose and long shank I only pretty much get the drive band section back when I find them.

now at the 50 yd. berm where it's mostly low velocity handgun stuff I get whole dinged up and bent bullets back..
usually at the bottom or the backside of the berm, and rarely in the berm itself.
at the 25 yd. pistol only berms I can dig some of them out, unless someone is shooting the metal plates or falling rack, then I only get back flat discs from hits on the steel.

anyway, all that typing is only to point out that the media the bullet hits makes a huge difference in how the bullet behaves.
the only other thing that will change it is the meplat size and the speed it makes contact with the intended target.
after that you can manipulate the outcome with your alloy selection.

it ain't gonna matter a whole lot once you break 1700 fps and shoot into dirt, that's why they use sandbags around machine gun and hand grenade pits.

 

[Ole_270]

This backstop is an upright box about 4 ft square made of 2" lumber filled with the ag lime (ground limestone). After shooting into it for awhile it ends up with a few inches of loose material and then a wall of packed, near rock like deeper section. The well mushroomed 38-55s were from a softer alloy, at a much slower pace. Some at 1225fps, some at 1440. I would imagine the 180 gr 308s @2050 hit that hard wall quite a bit harder than the 38-55s. The added Sb may of added some brittleness to the developing mushroom causing it to break off as it swelled much past the circumference of the bullet shank. I'm not all that worried about it, haven't lost a single deer hit with the harder water dropped version.

 

[fiver]

your pretty close to the alloy and speed I use when I get the chance to be a brush beater.
I'm kind of a spaz about bullet performance though.. LOL

I don't care 'how dead' the deer is, if the bullet doesn't do what I want it to,,, I consider it a failure.
probably why I got a 2-K die set to make my own copper wrapped hunting bullets.

 

[Ian]

I want two holes big enough to stay open and mush in between. Lots of ways to do that depending on caliber, velocity, and distance.

 

[fiver]

yep bullet size or so going in and silver dollar~ on the way out is my preference.
I know the rest will take care of itself if I can see that pretty regularly on a broadside [ish] shot on a good sized [200+lb.] deer.