Barnes .308 130 grain TTSX

[JimIsland]

I'm not a handloader but I thought this might be of interest to any of us old school hunters that still shoot a .308.

I went to the woods yesterday to try some factory Barnes copper bullets. I've heard great things about them, so I bought a few boxes and gave them a run. Rifle is a Savage Timberline that I actually bought from a member on the Forum here. After getting it zero'd at 200, I pushed out to 300, 400 and then 460 yards which is as far as I've got. After putting all the data into a ballistic calculator (True Data) I was able to make impact shots very accurately. The 460 yard was an 8" steel plate I had just bought. I'm no dialer but the MOA data provided from the Ap was very accurate. My 10-shot velocity avg was 3065 fps out of a 22" barrel. Box velo is 3125. I'm guessing with a 24" barrel you would get closer to box velocity. Groups were easily <MOA. I'm 61 and not as steady as I used to be so I'm sure someone else could do much better. Also, the scope was a Trijicon Credo HX 2.5-10X56.

I'm no LR hunter so 460 is nothing for a lot of guys, but I was pretty happy with the results from this ammo and the data that True Date provided.

For you hand loaders, what kind of velocity are getting with these projectiles?

 

[shmtastic]

About the same. If I had to guess I'd be close to your factory velocity with a case full of TAC. I loaded it up in my 18" and was getting 3000 fps,

 

[Thegman]

I loaded them (130 TSX) to about 3,100 fps in a 22" barrel 308, so you're right on with those.

FWIW, I used them for about a year on deer, black bear, caribou, grizzly and moose and they worked really well. They produced some very large wound paths on the deer and the best blood trail I've ever seen from a bear, on the grizzly.

 

[JimIsland]

That's good to hear. My son reloads and was so impressed with my velo and accuracy, he's going to roll some up with TAC powder. He also has a Bergara .308 in an 18" configuration and he's hoping to get north of 2900. Doesn't sound like that should be a problem. Thanks for the info.

 

[shmtastic]

I was right around 50gr if memory serves and Hodgdon lists 50.8 as a max, so if he works up to it, should be good to go.

 

[Wolfshead]

I shoot the 130s out of my Tikka T3X compact (20” barrel) with 50.4 grains of TAC, CCI 200 large rifle primers, Starline brass, and get approximately 3170 fps.

This is my buck from last season that was standing 270 yards from me and was DRT with one of my hand load 130s.

I think you’ll definitely be able to get north of 2900.

 

[cbuck516]

I was at ~3100fps with 49.6gr TAC and 130TTSX in my 18” 308Win. That was with Alpha SRP brass and CCI 450

 

[Ringbill27]

If I remember right I’m using bl-c2 powder and max load and getting 3150fps out of a 22” Ruger American. Accuracy was right around an inch. Haven’t used the 130gr on game yet and since finding this load I chopped and threaded the rifle to 16”. Haven’t tested the load since.

 

[Jeff_Gibbons]

I like the combo. 130 gr ttsx and 308 win shoot great. I haven’t taken game with it yet. Loaded a few combinations with imr 3031, bcl2, varget. In my Howa 22” sporter, all were above 3100. Accuracy worsened after 3175 from memory. I settled in around 3125 from memory. I remember thinking this an equivalent to a 270 out to 400 yards

 

[sdupontjr]

I'm like a few above, I used TAC and Varget. 49g of varget with my stock Tikka T3 was well over 3000fps, I have since cut it to 16.5" and added a Nomad TiXc and now my most accurate load is 48.5g of Varget at 2830 avg. Haven't retried TAC yet with the shorter barrel but I'm sure I could gain some Velo.