AusVarmint

Trying to set up a 308 sub load for 165gr nosler or 180gr lapua without having to do the science on mixed powders. I have been told that 12.5gr of 2204 can give the 165 a vel of 1100fps, but may need some lube not to stick. Sounds a bit how you going. Need something a bit more refined to be a succesfull repeater for field use. The lapua projectile is more designed for sub use with land grooves designed for better friction coefficiency. Any one got any suggestions for a safe mix without to much cup pressure ?

MY LGS has some,don`t know anything about loading them though

I thought a subsonic 308 was called a 30BR

Rinso wrote:I thought a subsonic 308 was called a 30BR

I have a mate that loads them ill see if I can find out.

Model70, see what you can find out mate. That would be great

ARGH sergical! I love this stuff. First up the powder you want is ADI's Trailboss. It seems they made it for exactly this use! Bloody sure it wasn't really for that western action nonsense. I've done a lot of testing in a 6.5 rig but don't have any experience in 308 except for the videos on youtube of guys using 10gns of trailboss to make subsonic loads.
From the many many hours of research I've done on subsonic centrefire loads the use of jacketed bullets seems to be more of a hindrance than a help. They say that the risk of the bullet getting stuck in the barrel is very real and the fact that no conventional soft points will expand at subsonic velocities makes them less lethal on game than a cast pill. Cast pills are very unlikely to get stuck in the barrel and apparently the optimum shaped nose for a projectile travelling at subsonic speeds is something similar to the 22lr pill.
Now I'm not sure what the twist rate of your barrel is but unless you have a very fast twist barrel you won't be able to stabilize long spire point pills either. I've got a very accurate program for calculating this if you need it.
I use a 140gn hawksbury river cast pill with excellent results.
If I can work out how to put it up here I'll post a sound byte of my 6.5 going off with a licensed "can" attached to the end.
Here is a link to a thread I started on the subject http://ausvarmint.kjd84.com/forum/viewt ... f=4&t=5975" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's another useful link. Actually you can download the twist rate calculator here too.

http://members.shaw.ca/cronhelm/DevelopSubsonic.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cheers Brett

Heres a picture of bullets designed to expand at subsonic velocities. Notice the long slots in the nose, large hollow point and narrow driving bands on the body. But again these have a BC worse than a cast pill.



This is the cast pill I use beside the 140gn speer spitzer. You'll notice the extra length of the jacketed projectile. That length is enough to make the difference between stabilizing or not. The speer will only stabilize out of a 1:7.5 twist at velocities just above the speed of sound.
The cast one is right on the money...... just.




Cheers Brett

Rinso wrote:I thought a subsonic 308 was called a 30BR

Nah, you cut the case in half, put a new neck on it and you have a 300 whisper.

Some interesting information here, but what about looking at it from a different perspective.
Both NSW National Parks and RLP Board use silenced .243's and .308's for certain culling operations, ammunition used is Lapua factory loaded sub-sonic rounds. Rifles are stock standard and accuracy is super-accurate. Some target shooters get hold of the .308' s for practice. Why not contact the Aussie importers of Lapua and get the name of a local distributor? Short cuts the entire reloading problem/process.