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Old April 9, 2008, 09:27 PM   #1
thing chris
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Very confused after shooting my first hand loads

Well they all shot just fine, but I don’t know where to go from here.

A am loading for a 303 savage and would like to use it for White Tail Deer.

The load I used was 26 grains of Hodgdon Varget with a Sierra Pro-Hunter .308 180gr Spitzer bullet.

This load shot fine, but how do I improve to the best load for deer hunting?

What is a good bullet weight for the .308 on deer?

What should I look for as I work up a load and how will I know I have gone to fare without causing damage to my rifle or self?

Does the depth that the bullet is set change the Ioad I should use? If so, how do I calculate this? (ex. The boat tail ballistic tip bullets are longer and therefore must be seated deeper to feed through the rotary magazine in my model 98. So if I use this bullet would I need to alter my load?)
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Old April 9, 2008, 10:16 PM   #2
mattamuskeet
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I don't know if you have a chronograph, but if you don't, consider getting one. Then, you can set a velocity that you want to achieve and try different powders until you reach that goal. I am usually surprised when I chronograph a load; its usually higher or lower than I expect. 150 grain bullets work good for deer in a 30 caliber. So for example, if you want 150 grain bullets at 2700 fps, you can vary the seating depth, change powders, etc. until you find the most accurate load at that velocity.
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Old April 9, 2008, 10:25 PM   #3
rwilson452
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in your rifle I would suggest the 150 gr bullet. It's more than enough for whitetail. The 150 gr bullet will give you more case capacity to play with. Other than that what kind of accuracy were you getting? By tweeking the load you may be able to get some more accuracy out of it. Yes I suspect your stuck with the max length your mag will hold. back of your load about 1 gr and work up loads .3 gr at a time I would say 5 each. until you hit the max published load Sorry I don't know what that is without looking it up. I don't do .308 I do a 30-06 it's a different deal. I can accurately move a 150 gr bullet at close to 3000 fps. Over that and it get sloppy.
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Old April 9, 2008, 11:39 PM   #4
UniversalFrost
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yes, 150 gr would be a good try. Also, you can mess with the crimp (more/less) and see how acuracy improves. Also, try different powders and also different charges.

you would be suprised to see what a difference a little change can make (worse/better). Never know until you try. Each gun is differnt. Ihave 2 700 ADL's in 06' made within a 1000 rifles of each other (when you compare SN's) and identical guns (they were anyway) but one would shoot 180 grain perfectly and the other liked the 168 and lighter stuff (same twist, etc.. thinking concentricty was an issue) so rebarreled both to different calibers and had more fun finding what worked best for each rifle.

Anyway, reloading is fun when you can twaek and tweak and tweak until it is perfect then try some more.

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Old April 10, 2008, 06:58 AM   #5
Crimp
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You might find some answers about load development at Dan Newberry's site and forum.
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Old April 10, 2008, 07:27 AM   #6
wncchester
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Hello Chris, welcome aboard.

You must be shooting an old Savage 99, a choice tool but not really suited to tack driving accuracy nor higher velocity loads. At the typical ranges for deer it should do quite well if your new loads are keeping them inside maybe three inches. ? Of couse, less is more in the case of groups but a three inch rifle will put them down every time out to 200yards.

I'd suggest you try a couple of loads around what you are now shooting. Load three rounds each at a half grain under and over your present load. If either shoots better, without pressure signs, go another half grain in the same direction. Continue until you get the accuracy you want or groups begin to open back up. Chronographing to attain a given velocity will do you little good at this point, what you want is accuracy.

Most any 150 gr. game bullet will do fairly well but I think you may like the round noses made for the .30-30 best. Remington Core-Locks are great and the price is right if you get them in bulk from MidwayUSA.

I envy you that 99! Take care of it, it's a jewel of a firearm that was way ahead of its time. To bad they priced themselves out of the market but that level of machining was just too expensive to maintain today.
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Old April 10, 2008, 07:33 AM   #7
wncchester
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Hello Chris, wellcome aboard.

You must be shooting an old Savage 99, a choice tool but is not really suited to tack driving accuracy nor higher velocity/higher pressure loads. At the typical ranges for deer in your part of the country it should do quite well if your new loads are keeping them inside maybe three inches. ? Of couse, less is more in the case of groups but a three inch rifle will put them down every time out to 200yards.

I'd suggest you try a couple of loads around what you are now shooting. Load three rounds each at a half grain under and over your present load. If either shoot better, without pressure signs, go another half grain in the same direction. Continue until you get the accuracy you want or groups begin to open back up. Chronographing to attain a give velocity will do you little good at this point.

Most any 150 gr. game bullet will do fairly well but I think you may like the round noses made for the .30-30 best. Remington Core-Locks are great and the price is right if you get them in bulk from MidwayUSA.

I envy you that 99! Take care of it, it's a jewel of a firearm that was way ahead of its time. To bad they priced themselves out of the market but that level of machining was just too expensive to maintain today.
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