[BWHookDrver]

I was looking at the Hornady load data for the Hornady 308 Win 198 Gr ELD-X & ELD Match ammo and it indicates that under no circumstances are you to load a round that is hotter than 2550 FPS. And that is only with one powder, Accurate 2460, the remainder are 2500 or 2450 FPS.

But with the Precision Hunter ammo, 308 Win, 178 Gr, the anticipated velocity is 2600 FPS.

The service rifle section of Hornady's Vol X indicates it should not be loaded for over 2400 FPS.

The round is going to be used in a bolt action M24, not an M1A. So how do I load this to get to 2600 fps?

- Bryan

 

[WaM14gunner]

Wont be easy I don't think. You are talking about 30-06 speeds there, if you mean a 198gr bullet. For a 178, sure, use R15, about 45 grs.

 

[Random Guy]

Bryan,
I think you meant 178 grain not 198 grain (typo). The Hornady loading manual is pretty conservative. I have used Alliant Power Pro 2000-MR with the 178 Horn Match ammo in my M24R to get the velocity I want for 800 and 1000 yard shots at Quantico, but the COAL = 2.880" (so its a single load round).

The Alliant Powder manual with 175 SMK max is 47.7C (compressed) with a velocity of 2760. The 178 gr should be downloaded a little bit relative to 175 SMK, but regardless I think that load data is probably too hot at magazine length, but its worth experimenting with 45.0 to 47.0 (max) grains in a ladder test of your rifle - just load it a bit long (2.85"+). I got 2763 fps with 47.4 in a Lapua case with Fed GMM primer at 2.880. (ES =31, SD =13). In fact I shot a respectable 183-2x (out of 200 possible points) at 800 yards last April with my M24R, but I think some fine tuning of the load is still in order. Here's a short clip at 800 yds that day.

http://vid289.photobucket.com/album...ntico April 2016/MOV_6537.MOV_zpseyh7faqp.mp4

...good luck and let us know if you find a magic recipe...but I recall the ES and SD with 47.0 grains was impressive with the 178gr bullet (single digit SD of 8 I think). 46.0 grains of PP-2000-MR should get you to 2600+ fps. I still haven't seen pressure signs with this load up to 47.4 at 2.880", but work up slowly - as it has lots of mojo...

Warning: I don't know the overall length of the 178 ELD/ELD-X bullet, but presumably its longer than the 178 BTHP match bullet that I used - so please download from what I stated as I suspect you are using a longer bullet that will displace more internal case capacity, even if its the same weight. Maybe start at 44.0 to 45.0 and slowly work up in 0.2 increments of 3 rds each to see what groups well. Also, I was not using CCI #34 primers with this load, which are mil-spec primers and are basically magnum primers, so don't use this data with that primer(!) I used Fed GMM primers.

 

[spsosicmcise]

Re17 will get you there. People have had good results with 2000mr pushing heavier 308 projectiles. Re17 worked well with the 208 amax in 308. During my load testing it wasnt hard to get a 208 amax over 2600 with re17 with a 24" barrel model 10 savage.

 

[wxl]

Couple points

You do have a chrony, right. Other wise you will never know.

The load manual is not always the velocity you will get with your rifle. Again why you must have a chrony.

Load manuals specify a particular barrel (length, twist, etc). Yours will be different. No 2 barrels will always perform the same.

If you need a specific velocity then you must work up to it, especially if using other powders that look suitable.

 

[Phil “Murphy” McGrath]

I was looking at the Hornady load data for the Hornady 308 Win 198 Gr ELD-X & ELD Match ammo and it indicates that under no circumstances are you to load a round that is hotter than 2550 FPS. And that is only with one powder, Accurate 2460, the remainder are 2500 or 2450 FPS.

But with the Precision Hunter ammo, 308 Win, 178 Gr, the anticipated velocity is 2600 FPS.

The service rifle section of Hornady's Vol X indicates it should not be loaded for over 2400 FPS.

The round is going to be used in a bolt action M24, not an M1A. So how do I load this to get to 2600 fps?

- Bryan

Bryan, two things come too mind. 1 is that a 198gr bullet is long #2 when seated too 2.82 COAL is intrudes pretty deep into the case. In my honest opinion this really is too long of a bullet for use with a .308 size case and the only way there going too have any chance of working is too seat them out longer and then you not going too gain much.

And them for the big Magnum...

 

[Random Guy]

BWHookDvr, the 50th Anniversary Lyman reloading manual has a lot of recipes for the 308W with a 178 AMAX for bolt action rifles, so that data may be useful for you:

(no data for PP-2000 MR unfortunately)

Phil, the original poster is most likely referring to the new 178gr Hornandy ELD-X and ELD bullets (they don't make a 198 grain version, so I deducted he had a typo..).

The reported BCs in these bullets is very high, here's the ELD-X (expanding bullet for hunting, here's the two flavors)

ELD (Extended Long Distance target bullet (178gr):

..just an fyi.