Got a purty BAR MKIII in .308 a couple months ago along with the corresponding die. I've been loading my .30-06 with 180gr boolits and 4350 powder. Crony'd a recipe out of my Lyman manual with those components for the .308 and plbth. Barely 2000 fps. Bullet drop after 200 yards is like a potato.

Looking at the manual and I need to go with much lighter boolits and start over with a new powder to get a decent velocity. Besides plinking, I'm looking at this rifle for pronghorn. I use the 180s for bison. 165s or 168s should do. Now to see what is available.

2000 fps? Might as well be shooting a pistol. Almost.

4350 powder, be it H4350 or IMR4350, is too slow for the .308 Win cartridge. It really does its best with the heavier bullets in the .30-06, as does Superformance.

For what you want to do, i. e. pronghorn, I would consider going with Varget or BL-C(2) or a similar burn speed with a 150 to 168-grain bullet. You also can use a 175gr bullet, but in the .308 Win, that's about as heavy as I would go.

I’m following. I recently joined the .308 club and have no Large rifle primers.


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Yeah, those can be a challenge at the moment. Just keep looking, and you will find them.

Also, consider looking for primed NATO brass. Every now and then, that comes up at MidwayUSA or similar.

INVICTVS138 wrote: Fri Feb 24, 2023 6:15 pm I’m following. I recently joined the .308 club and have no Large rifle primers.


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Are you looking at ammoseek.com?

Following as well.

CowboyT wrote: Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:20 pm 4350 powder, be it H4350 or IMR4350, is too slow for the .308 Win cartridge. It really does its best with the heavier bullets in the .30-06, as does Superformance.

For what you want to do, i. e. pronghorn, I would consider going with Varget or BL-C(2) or a similar burn speed with a 150 to 168-grain bullet. You also can use a 175gr bullet, but in the .308 Win, that's about as heavy as I would go.

Couldn't find BL-C(2) on the shelf, but there is Winchester 748, which is also on the Lyman table. Thoughts?

Sure, Win 748 is another good choice for that bullet weight. I haven't used it myself, since I use BL-C(2) and Varget, but I know another guy who does use it with fine results.

CowboyT wrote: Tue Mar 07, 2023 11:34 pm Sure, Win 748 is another good choice for that bullet weight. I haven't used it myself, since I use BL-C(2) and Varget, but I know another guy who does use it with fine results.

Crony'd some test rounds and got about 100 more fps per 2 grains. Holding at 46 and going to play with grouping for a bit. ATM, I've got to tune myself on the .30-06 for a spring bison tag. I've got a consistent heart shot on a 10" target at 400 yards. Need some practice to consistently hit the brain at 100. That thing moves around a bit more.

Winchester 748 is a fine powder in cooler weather, but pressure tends to spike in hot weather.