Hello all,
I'm in the process of developing a hunting load for my Remington 700 SPS in .308 Win with the factory 20" 1:10 barrel to be used primarily on blacktail deer, pronghorn, and/or black bear. I've had consistent sub-MOA groups in this rifle when using factory Remington loads with the Barnes 168 gr. TSX, and being a California resident, I'm restricted to lead-free bullets and have thus settled on using Barnes for developing this handload.
In regard to overall accuracy switching from the TSX (1.318") to the TTSX (1.406"), I'm not too concerned about the TTSX being .088" longer because the twist on my rifle should theoretically be more than adequate to stabilize the longer bullet. I've read tons of great things about the TTSX, but I've recently heard about a few other hunters' issues using it in .308 Win for lack of optimal expansion. Given the already reduced case capacity of the .308 Win compared to other .30's, the increased length of the 168 gr. TTSX, and Barnes bullets liking a good jump/deeper seating, I'm wondering if the 168 gr. TTSX limits the charge capacity and simply can't be pushed fast enough out of a .308 Win to get ideal expansion. Has anyone else had any similar issues to this, or are these just some anomalies I've read?
I've considered loading up the 150 gr. TTSX for the same purpose to see if pushing it faster would result in better terminal performance. I don't foresee any problems with my twist being too fast for the 150 gr., it's only .018" shorter than the 168 gr. TSX that shot very well out of my rifle, but in the realm of ballistics that .018" is a world of difference.
For further reference, I'm using Lapua brass with Federal GM210M primers; and have on hand Win 748, Reloader 15, Accurate 2520, and IMR 4064 to try for this load if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks in advance for any input and help!
I'm in the process of developing a hunting load for my Remington 700 SPS in .308 Win with the factory 20" 1:10 barrel to be used primarily on blacktail deer, pronghorn, and/or black bear. I've had consistent sub-MOA groups in this rifle when using factory Remington loads with the Barnes 168 gr. TSX, and being a California resident, I'm restricted to lead-free bullets and have thus settled on using Barnes for developing this handload.
In regard to overall accuracy switching from the TSX (1.318") to the TTSX (1.406"), I'm not too concerned about the TTSX being .088" longer because the twist on my rifle should theoretically be more than adequate to stabilize the longer bullet. I've read tons of great things about the TTSX, but I've recently heard about a few other hunters' issues using it in .308 Win for lack of optimal expansion. Given the already reduced case capacity of the .308 Win compared to other .30's, the increased length of the 168 gr. TTSX, and Barnes bullets liking a good jump/deeper seating, I'm wondering if the 168 gr. TTSX limits the charge capacity and simply can't be pushed fast enough out of a .308 Win to get ideal expansion. Has anyone else had any similar issues to this, or are these just some anomalies I've read?
I've considered loading up the 150 gr. TTSX for the same purpose to see if pushing it faster would result in better terminal performance. I don't foresee any problems with my twist being too fast for the 150 gr., it's only .018" shorter than the 168 gr. TSX that shot very well out of my rifle, but in the realm of ballistics that .018" is a world of difference.
For further reference, I'm using Lapua brass with Federal GM210M primers; and have on hand Win 748, Reloader 15, Accurate 2520, and IMR 4064 to try for this load if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks in advance for any input and help!