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308 130g reduced load success

ccoker

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 2, 2008
1,183
39
60
Central Texas
www.tacticalgunreview.com
For youth/reduced loads Hodgdon recommends a starting charge of 38g of H4895 with a 130g bullet. I didn't have any but did have Rl10X which has published loads in a few manuals with the same starting charge of 38 . Since they are both very close on the burn rate chart, and after talking with Alliant powders, Sierra, Speer and Barnes I decided to go ahead and start with that load with the Barnes 130g TTSX

It should be around 2600 FPS with a 20" barrel which is my target FPS.
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Range time</span>
My start load was 38g of RL10x, I worked up some more at 37.5, 38, 38.5, 39, 39.5 and 40

Accuracy was found at 39.5, right at an inch, fine for my first pass, with a barrel that only has about 20 rounds through it and the intended range, will fine tune COAL later...

Got to test my load over a chrono at our lease on Friday

2754 average
nice, 150 FPS over my targeted goal and it feels about like a 243 shooting it..
I ran the numbers and I am good out to 300 yards with a 200 yard zero
.7" high at 50
2" high at 100
9 down at 300, still going 2200 FPS which is 200 over the minimum opening speed of the Barnes 130 TTSX

We hunted a few days and we got to test it on a 160lb boar on Sunday morning..
about 75 yards out, aiming for the neck and it took a step right as the trigger was squeezed it went down hard, DRT.

Upon inspection it hit the front of the shoulder, took out the heart and exit the neck far side (it was quartering away)

Textbook perfect performance and why I love Barnes bullets.
That shot may have been fine with a high stepping 243 SP, or, it may have blown up on impact which may have resulted in a tracking job, lost pig, or, DRT.... who knows..

What I do know, is that I have absolute faith in the Barnes TTSX

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