Thinking about trying it just for s&g. Mainly because that's all the bullets I have at the moment and don't recall anyone ever talking about the lighter bullets in ar10s. Powder available is varget, cfe223, and tac.  Thoughts? loads? criticisms? This would be for 18" and 1/10 twist with no real objective except experimenting!

I've shot gobs of 125gr TNTs through an M14.  Works fine.  I use the usual powders.

You could use any of those powders, but Id probably use CFE223.  Hodgon has data on their website.

Good evening PIDDLER--Everybody,

Really enjoy shooting light bullets through the various AR10s I've built for customers over the years.

My notes show 48gr of TAC provided good accuracy and cycled the action(s) with some really cheap .310 122gr FMJ bullets that I'd had purchased a boat-load of them 12 years ago, and

using range-pickup OFV brass.

My notes also show 48gr Varget under a 125gr Nos Bal-Tip in Rem cases showed great accuracy and 100% function in three different rifles.

My really fun loads are 110gr Hornady Zombie tips that I snagged a couple thousand for cheap when I started building 300BLK for customers that liked to use the caliber to hunt with.

I tried a few of those 110gr Zombie tips in the .308WIN for the same s&gs that you seek and was very pleased with the clover-leafs that I was getting with 48gr IMR 8208 using Sellier/Bellot LR Mag primers

and virgin Lapua brass.

Many thanks for the replies guys....looks like I have a project

Varget would be my choice of those listed. However I have a load from a bench rest shooter I know for those bullets in a 308 bolt gun. BR primer with 51.0 grains of win 748 iirc (haven't loaded any in a few years) shoots like a laser out of my 700 pss. clocked them doing 3200 fps out of that 26 inch barrel.  Varget works really well with the 168 match kings, but I don't have a gas gun to shoot them through.

Yes. .32 MOA

Nosler 125gr ballistic tip.

2.745" COL

47.6 gr varget

WCC 7.62 NATO brass 2x fired brass.

I would not use CFE 223 for the lighter bullets.


Velocity= 2,965 fps avg (6 shots) out of a 20" barrel ar308

[edit] those 125's from Nosler under 3,000 fps will tear things up. From my research over 3,000 fps they fragment. Under 3k fps they will mushroom nicely. I have some perfectly mushroomed bullets recovered from sandy dirt. Don't have the bullets with me but well over 1/2" is my guess. I was going to use the 125 BT's as my go to load. .366 BC and flinging the bullets at 2,950 fps, they can go 900 yards before they become subsonic. Many use same bullet for 300 BO and at 2,000 fps they cause massive wounds so if you are shooting the 125's out of a .308, you will get impressive wounds out to 400 yards what 300 BO would do at the muzzle.

WOW! Thank you sir!

Just anecdotal stuff.

I bought some of the 125NBT's with the hopes of them coming apart readily at close range.

LC12 brass, FED210 primer, 2.83"OAL, Varget from 43.5 to 46grs was safe in *my* rifle. (16" DPMS GII, adj. gas block)

Used up one of my vintage phone books for a rudimentary test, but went through two layers of sweatpant material, 3+" of wet paper, and continued through a 1/2" board, leaving a 1/2" hole through it. Didn't see hardly any lead fragments, so the bullet held together well.

I use TAC with my .308 Nosler 125BT loads. No issues, and fast as hell. Clean burn.

I like Varget, dont get me wrong.  But I tend to avoid using it except for loads that Im building purely for accuracy when Im scaling with my CM1500.  I use CFE223 as a stand in for it when Im looking for something about in that at same burn rate as Varget, but will meter thru a rotary drop on a progressive without drama.  You can also get 100fps, maybe more out of CFE223 safely because you can get more in the case without compression.  W748 is a decent powder, but would be my last choice for wanting accuracy because its very temp sensitive.  CFE223 is a little more stable, and Id bet you could see 3300fps on a 125gr bullet without issues.

Me too...........probably already have the projectiles too.  

I found that by seating the bullet in further (2.74-2.745" COL)  I got more accuracy and fps then seating to 2.80+ and having more powder. Using varget.

I ran some 125 GMX's (w/CFE223) and 130 TTSX's (w/Varget) through the gun last weekend. Looking to find loads that keep the bullets in their expansion envelopes for the longest distance. Only shooting through a chronograph, no grouping.

Neither powder/bullets allowed published max loads without showing severe signs of over pressure, but the TTSX/Varget combo got me closest to the max published load, and was faster before pressure signs started to show up. Got to 2900FPS (.mil brass, 16" barrel) before pressure signs/extreme variance in FPS started to indicate it was time to stop trying to go faster.

I may have to try the shorter OAL's, I notice Barnes (for one) does suggest shorter OAL than 2.8" with the 130 TTSX.

Do you mean loads specifically for those bullets? They're longer than lead-core bullets of the same weight.

Yes, although the GMX apparently has no published load data they suggest using SST data.

The Barnes 130 data is off of their site.

Jeez I wish I caught you earlier because I thought I was the only one working up a 125 load for the AR-10. Virtually no data out there.

Now, I chose to go with the accubond bullet as it will retain nearly all of it's weight. Assuming your in a hunting application. The NBT going at the speeds you'll achieve, as others have mentioned, will likely grenade. Initially I chose to work up the 125 for maximum MPB zero, but i've ditched that and chose to zero at 100 and stick with it for the flatter trajectory. MPB just isn't for me.

Powder burn will make a great deal of difference here. I ran quickloads for my 16" barrel and the top performers were H4895 with a 94%BR, TAC with a 90.75%BR and the best which i chose H322 with a 99.08%BR. That will vary based on barrel length. Varget is way too slow of a burn IMO, you're likely seeing well under 90% with the 18" barrel.

Here's where i'm at currently. Please note the case volume is EXTREMELY important with this load. If you were to put this in a Lake City case which has much less case volume you'd likely have problems. I've seen similar velocity with 41.2 of the same powder in a LC case, 3.2 grains difference!

Hornady 308 match case: 56.42 grains volume
44.4gr H322
2.790" COL
2,819 FPS from a 16" barrel. (QL predicts that 2,938 is max velocity for 16" barrel within sammi spec).
I've worked up to 2,920 FPS but the accuracy fell off much above 2,825.
I'm gettin 1/2" groups at 100 with this load
I tried TAC and was able to get 2,821 FPS with 47.1 in a Hornady Case, 16" barrel.


Let us know how it turns out.