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Posted: 5/26/2008 6:45:19 PM EDT
| what are some good light .308 loads for a 16" barrelled bolt action. Just bought my young son a ruger 77, and regular308 loads might be a bit stiff on him right now. Just looking for a load that is accurate and will kill a deer at 100 yds and not give too much of a kick. |
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Take a look at some minimum charge weight loads with a light bullet. I've had some great success with 90 grain bullets in .270 Win loads, the 110 grain .30-06 loads haven't been shot yet. The recoil of the .270 loads is about 60% of full house 130 grain loads. A 110 or 130 grain bullet running at 2600 or 2700 fps will kill a white tail with no problem. I can't give a specific load, but I'll bet you'll have no trouble finding one with a good bullet and IMR 4895 or RE-12. If it was my boy, I would load up some light 110 gr loads just to let him get aquainted with the blast and recoil. If the accuracy is good, then you're set. If you need to bump the charge a little to improve accuracy, he'll get a chance to toughen up to the rifle and loads without getting beat up. Every fall I see a dad buying his kid a break open rifle chambered for .243 Win, thinking they are buying a rifle for a light recoiling cartridge, and I cringe. Sometimes it's all they can afford, but if I get a chance to recommend a different rifle or cartridge I'll jump in. Some kids are tough enough to take the beating and aren't going to admit the recoil hurts no matter what, some are going to just quit, and others might not complain but they will make excuses to avoid shooting the rifle again without saying why. In the end, we probably lost 2/3 of the potential new hunters. |
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Hodgdon lists light/youth loads on their website. hodgdon.com/PDF/Youth%20Loads.pdf |
Try the Speer 125g TNT. I did some experimenting with this try to come up with a load that felt more like a 7.62X39 than a .308. Accuracy capability is easily sub-moa in a good rifle. The powder I used was win748, 45.0 grains. Velocity was about 2600 fps. There are also some softpoint sierra bullets in 125g that work the same. Reloading Legal Disclaimer: The load above is not guaranteed to be safe in your rifle and may cause your rifle to explode violently causing serious bodily harm, death or profound long term mental impairment. |
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Speer used to print some reduced loads,let me see if I can find them. Ok this is speer # 12. Caution should be used as not all powders are suitable for reduced loads but these are printed so they should be good to go 308Win 110gr spire-sp col 2.550 IMR 4198-26gr-30gr vel 1927-2268 308win 130gr hp col 2.615 imr 4198 25gr -29 gr vel 1969-2185 308 win 150 rn sp col 2.490 sr4759 21.0-25.0gd vel 1632-1925 almost every bullet on up to 200gr has a "reduced load" with at least one powder. Watch the oal as I would believe the pressure would change greatly if the bullet is seated shorter or longer. Watch the rifle length carefully. If you try to fit a too long rifle stock to a too short kid the mismatch can make recoil seem worse. If you end up sawing a piece off the rear of the stock save the cut off as it can be glued back on later. A good soft recoil pad can make a world of difference also, start the kid offhand to get a feel as sitting at a bench will pound him harder than standing up. Many times the lightweight "youth" model guns are brutal as the weigh little, A standard rifle with a cropped stock many times is much the better deal. Good luck! I kind of like the looks of the 150 RN-SP as I would believe the lighter pointed bullets are not going to preform well at the low velocities (no expansion) The 150 still has a bit of weight and the blunt soft nose will mash out some even at lower velocities. Sort of old school but should work at your shorter ranges (that you have wisely planed for) I have often wondered when I see some of the guys at my club beating themselves up with their newest wonder magnums if they wouldn't have more sucess with something more sedate and mild along with a bit more practise? More decent useable meat to boot! |
| thanks for all the info. Gotta pull out all the reloading stuff and get it cleaned off and ready. I think I'll try the 110s and work up to the 125 or 130gr bullets. The rifle I got my son, who is 9 yrs old, is a Ruger M-77 Mark II, with a 16 in barrel and the length of pull on the stock is 12.5 inches. It fits him pretty good. He has been practicing with my fullsize .223 and shoots very well at 70 yds. I just need to get him something to hunt deer with this fall that won't knock his socks off. |
| I would think the starting loads for 308/150gr bullets would work well with 150gr flat nosed bullets intended for the 30-30. Velocities would be in the range of those listed with the Hogdon reduced youth loads. You might consider 150 gr partitions, at 2500fps they should expand well, and you dang well know they'll penetrate if there is a quartering shot, or follow-up shot on a wounded deer at a bad angle. |
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