308 Win - TLC310-180-RF - Varget
Posted: 20 May 2016 08:53
One lot of TLC310-180-RFs that I cast last year where a little on the too much lead side of my normal Lyman #2 mix so they are too soft (13 BHN) for making the 308 Win a 308 Win. When I've tried to heat them in the oven for hardening they don't stand the test of time and melt so I decided to go light on the load and shoot them up.
Played a little with QuickLoad and figured the bullets would survive 2000 FPS and 27.5K PSI and they shoot pretty good. My Savage 10FCM Scout likes Varget and 35.3-grain delivered as promised. The velocity as measured with the Labradar is spot on so I suspect the pressure is as well.
Where this post is going is just the small stuff I played with while testing the load; the expander diameter and powder dispensing.
Rather than using the Universal Expanding Die, I like using Lee EzXpanders of different diameters. The stock 308 Win die set uses a .307" EzXpander and with a lubed .310" there really isn't any problems seating the bullets. There are problems closing the bolt, but it can be done, as seating the bullet causes the case neck to buckle slightly. The buckling isn't very visible with the eye but it is there and measurable. What is interesting is that when these cases that were expanded with the .307" plug & buckled necks are shot they produce an additional 100 FPS. A little playing around with QL suggests that the "stiff neck" fit also generates an additional 4500 PSI creating the 2100 FPS with the same charge! It is the same as adding an additional 2 grains of powder to the case.
So I messed around with the EzXpanders, what better way to shoot up bullets, watching velocities and a .310" delivers what was forecast by QL to the letter so that is what I will go with. All of them shot well but hey, I'm just burning up bullets.
Next up was powder delivery, I'm not going to sit and measure charges but use either the Perfect Powder Measure or Auto Disk as dropped. So to get started I compared the average of the charges dropped from each. I could set the PPM to the desired load with 2.57 cc but had to use a double stack of 1.09/1.46 cc for the Auto Disk Pro but as you can see it is very close. The PPM has the Titan Powder Baffle but the ADP didn't have one in it. The first run with ADP did not fare well so I put a Prairie Dog Powder Baffle in it and it did better.
So I shot the .310" expanded cases with the load dropped from the PPM and they were well within minute of gong (hog) at 100 yards. Really surprised me actually. I shot two on paper at 25 yards and they were right where they belonged shot one at a 6" gong at 50 yards and centered it and shot several at a 6" gong, centering it as well!
The ES & SD were large but in all fairness the cases had been "worked" quite a bit with the different expanders, pulling bullets, etc. It might also be the 78% case fill with the light load. I'm going to try a little bit of fiber batting on top of the charge to keep the powder up against the primer if I can find where I put the batting.
Today, I also have a new cycle on the cases so they are cleaned and annealed. They will also only go through the collet die with the next loading with the .310" mandrell.
Played a little with QuickLoad and figured the bullets would survive 2000 FPS and 27.5K PSI and they shoot pretty good. My Savage 10FCM Scout likes Varget and 35.3-grain delivered as promised. The velocity as measured with the Labradar is spot on so I suspect the pressure is as well.
Where this post is going is just the small stuff I played with while testing the load; the expander diameter and powder dispensing.
Rather than using the Universal Expanding Die, I like using Lee EzXpanders of different diameters. The stock 308 Win die set uses a .307" EzXpander and with a lubed .310" there really isn't any problems seating the bullets. There are problems closing the bolt, but it can be done, as seating the bullet causes the case neck to buckle slightly. The buckling isn't very visible with the eye but it is there and measurable. What is interesting is that when these cases that were expanded with the .307" plug & buckled necks are shot they produce an additional 100 FPS. A little playing around with QL suggests that the "stiff neck" fit also generates an additional 4500 PSI creating the 2100 FPS with the same charge! It is the same as adding an additional 2 grains of powder to the case.
So I messed around with the EzXpanders, what better way to shoot up bullets, watching velocities and a .310" delivers what was forecast by QL to the letter so that is what I will go with. All of them shot well but hey, I'm just burning up bullets.
Next up was powder delivery, I'm not going to sit and measure charges but use either the Perfect Powder Measure or Auto Disk as dropped. So to get started I compared the average of the charges dropped from each. I could set the PPM to the desired load with 2.57 cc but had to use a double stack of 1.09/1.46 cc for the Auto Disk Pro but as you can see it is very close. The PPM has the Titan Powder Baffle but the ADP didn't have one in it. The first run with ADP did not fare well so I put a Prairie Dog Powder Baffle in it and it did better.
So I shot the .310" expanded cases with the load dropped from the PPM and they were well within minute of gong (hog) at 100 yards. Really surprised me actually. I shot two on paper at 25 yards and they were right where they belonged shot one at a 6" gong at 50 yards and centered it and shot several at a 6" gong, centering it as well!
The ES & SD were large but in all fairness the cases had been "worked" quite a bit with the different expanders, pulling bullets, etc. It might also be the 78% case fill with the light load. I'm going to try a little bit of fiber batting on top of the charge to keep the powder up against the primer if I can find where I put the batting.
Today, I also have a new cycle on the cases so they are cleaned and annealed. They will also only go through the collet die with the next loading with the .310" mandrell.
