Vanilla Ice Cream

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Recently the Hornady people sent me 500 of their .308 150gr FB SP Interlock bullets as part of the promotional they ran. I bought the press, sent in the UPC and a check for the cost of shipping and they shipped me a grip of their bullets.

While I think the Interlock is largely too soft to fling at .300WSM speeds- there's nothing wrong with plain cup and core bullets at .308WIN velocities- especially in a carbine barrel.

Loaded with a middling charge (44.5gr) of Varget, these are pretty much the "plain vanilla" sort of ammunition that I haven't used much of in several years. Since the bullets were basically "free"...the cost per box to load these (even at Interior AK pricing) is a whopping $7.13 if I can squeeze 10 firings out of the new brass I bought yesterday.

I compared that to $7.99 for steel cased TULA with FMJs and $14.99 for Serbian Prvi Partizan with whatever generic soft point they use...this is one of those things that makes reloading look like a really good deal. Even when buying the bullets at retail, I'm at $10.50 and I'm pretty sure the consistency at my bench (even with my meager skills) beats what the Eastern Europeans churn out. Even the low cost offerings from American makers are 3 times what I can load these for and they're not likely to be all that good.

For the "two box a year" folks, reloading doesn't make sense...for the rest of us who actually like shooting- it likely does.
 

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I agree! I reload so I can shoot more and usually can improve upon factory ammo accuracy. It just makes me feel good when I build it!
 
So...a few range results. 44.5 Varget gave 2675fps and landed right on the money in 1.6" and 2" groups.

While those groups are typically nothing to brag about, those are shot with my Scout- Leupold 2.5X IER with the heavy duplex reticle.

The thin part of the reticle is 1.76MOA wide and covers most of the white on the interior of the target. That's about as good as you can shoot the rifle from the bench without changing scopes. That's good enough for as far as I'd shoot it. 3" high at 100 with this load is a 225yd zero and reaches to 300 without holdover.
 

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Looks more than good enough to get the job done. On the interlock it's no accident that weatherby loads that bullet in factory ammo.
 
Very cool. Hard to beat the good old bullets at normal speeds. Plus, you can't beat those 500 Hornady bullets for free either. Not too hard to take at all!
 
OU812":29ftlmaa said:
Looks more than good enough to get the job done. On the interlock it's no accident that weatherby loads that bullet in factory ammo.


You are right. My first 300 Wby I shot factory was 180 gr Hornady and I see there still loading 150gr,165gr and 180gr Hornady.
 
Good old Hornady 150gr SP and Varget is the combo I used in my Rem. 7400 in 308. I used 43.3grs for a accurate load in it , not a speed demon for sure , just accurate.
 
I've heard great things about those bullets. They'll do fine from your 308 Win!

Guy
 
I have some load data from a Weatherby guide that they use to supply with their new rifles which had reloading info in it and 180gr Hornady's over IMR4350 is what they recommended. Their load data would produce 1/2" 100yd groups in my 300 Bee but the recoil was harsh.
My 300wm is a pussy cat compared to the 300Bee I had.
 
truck driver":328mgy9x said:
I have some load data from a Weatherby guide that they use to supply with their new rifles which had reloading info in it and 180gr Hornady's over IMR4350 is what they recommended. Their load data would produce 1/2" 100yd groups in my 300 Bee but the recoil was harsh.
My 300wm is a pussy cat compared to the 300Bee I had.

I'm really surprised the interlocks can hold up to Weatherby impact speeds- I figured they'd be a total grenade on anything close.
 
So is a grip of bullets akin to
A gaggle of geese
A pride of lions
A murder of crows
A pod of whales
 
hodgeman":9fvk5wm0 said:
truck driver":9fvk5wm0 said:
I have some load data from a Weatherby guide that they use to supply with their new rifles which had reloading info in it and 180gr Hornady's over IMR4350 is what they recommended. Their load data would produce 1/2" 100yd groups in my 300 Bee but the recoil was harsh.
My 300wm is a pussy cat compared to the 300Bee I had.

I'm really surprised the interlocks can hold up to Weatherby impact speeds- I figured they'd be a total grenade on anything close.

The 180’s probably stand a decent chance. But the 300 will start them at 3200+. No wayid willingly try and drive one into a front leg bone of a big bull at close range. I’m betting on a mess at the least.
 
hodgeman":1pm29qc1 said:
truck driver":1pm29qc1 said:
I have some load data from a Weatherby guide that they use to supply with their new rifles which had reloading info in it and 180gr Hornady's over IMR4350 is what they recommended. Their load data would produce 1/2" 100yd groups in my 300 Bee but the recoil was harsh.
My 300wm is a pussy cat compared to the 300Bee I had.

I'm really surprised the interlocks can hold up to Weatherby impact speeds- I figured they'd be a total grenade on anything close.
I never found out because I sold the rifle before it got to hunt.
It killed two scopes and was trying to detach a retina before I sold it. :)>)
 
hodgeman":34s28xvw said:
Recently the Hornady people sent me 500 of their .308 150gr FB SP Interlock bullets as part of the promotional they ran. I bought the press, sent in the UPC and a check for the cost of shipping and they shipped me a grip of their bullets.

While I think the Interlock is largely too soft to fling at .300WSM speeds- there's nothing wrong with plain cup and core bullets at .308WIN velocities- especially in a carbine barrel.

Loaded with a middling charge (44.5gr) of Varget, these are pretty much the "plain vanilla" sort of ammunition that I haven't used much of in several years. Since the bullets were basically "free"...the cost per box to load these (even at Interior AK pricing) is a whopping $7.13 if I can squeeze 10 firings out of the new brass I bought yesterday.

I compared that to $7.99 for steel cased TULA with FMJs and $14.99 for Serbian Prvi Partizan with whatever generic soft point they use...this is one of those things that makes reloading look like a really good deal. Even when buying the bullets at retail, I'm at $10.50 and I'm pretty sure the consistency at my bench (even with my meager skills) beats what the Eastern Europeans churn out. Even the low cost offerings from American makers are 3 times what I can load these for and they're not likely to be all that good.

For the "two box a year" folks, reloading doesn't make sense...for the rest of us who actually like shooting- it likely does.
I also got the 500 free .308 150gr FB SP bullets from Hornady. They shoot fantastic out of my .308 Win SPS TACTICAL AAC-SD 1-10 twist. I use 44.9 grains of IMR 4064, seated at the cannelure with Winchester Large Rifle Primers. (This is a safe load in my rifle, always work up for your rifle). They generally shoot better than .5 MOA groups at 100 yards consistently. This appears to be a "sweet icecream load" for my .308 Win. I shot the below target on 3 different days with 3 shots each day as my "fouler shots," before shooting a 178 bullet I was loading for. On one shot I forgot to minus - 2 MOA because the gun was zeroed for the heavier 178 bullets. As you can see, very consistent results! I like this bullet alot.
efb7587d38a002f1dcb76e4507625b01.jpg


Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
dd.payson1018":n31wd1kk said:
hodgeman":n31wd1kk said:
Recently the Hornady people sent me 500 of their .308 150gr FB SP Interlock bullets as part of the promotional they ran. I bought the press, sent in the UPC and a check for the cost of shipping and they shipped me a grip of their bullets.

While I think the Interlock is largely too soft to fling at .300WSM speeds- there's nothing wrong with plain cup and core bullets at .308WIN velocities- especially in a carbine barrel.

Loaded with a middling charge (44.5gr) of Varget, these are pretty much the "plain vanilla" sort of ammunition that I haven't used much of in several years. Since the bullets were basically "free"...the cost per box to load these (even at Interior AK pricing) is a whopping $7.13 if I can squeeze 10 firings out of the new brass I bought yesterday.

I compared that to $7.99 for steel cased TULA with FMJs and $14.99 for Serbian Prvi Partizan with whatever generic soft point they use...this is one of those things that makes reloading look like a really good deal. Even when buying the bullets at retail, I'm at $10.50 and I'm pretty sure the consistency at my bench (even with my meager skills) beats what the Eastern Europeans churn out. Even the low cost offerings from American makers are 3 times what I can load these for and they're not likely to be all that good.

For the "two box a year" folks, reloading doesn't make sense...for the rest of us who actually like shooting- it likely does.
I also got the 500 free .308 150gr FB SP bullets from Hornady. They shoot fantastic out of my .308 Win SPS TACTICAL AAC-SD 1-10 twist. I use 44.9 grains of IMR 4064, seated at the cannelure with Winchester Large Rifle Primers. (This is a safe load in my rifle, always work up for your rifle). They generally shoot better than .5 MOA groups at 100 yards consistently. This appears to be a "sweet icecream load" for my .308 Win. I shot the below target on 3 different days with 3 shots each day as my "fouler shots," before shooting a 178 bullet I was loading for. On one shot I forgot to minus - 2 MOA because the gun was zeroed for the heavier 178 bullets. As you can see, very consistent results! I like this bullet alot.
efb7587d38a002f1dcb76e4507625b01.jpg


Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

It would be sacrilege not to like that load. Fine riflery. I should imagine that load will work for about anything a person might want to hunt.
 
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