Thread: How fast/effective?

Have loaded some 150g SST Bullets in the .308 for bush hunting Sika and reds for my boy,trying to emulate the 7.62x39 using the .6 formula from Hodgdon as a youth load to reduce recoil for him, using AR2206h,how fast would they be going?looking to get around 2200fps -2400fps as a table I saw in old nz hunter mag reasons only has about 6.8lb of recoil but they use a 125g bullet.would they be ok out to 100m max expansion wise? Thanks

Oh yea,16in barrel suppressed..

I can't help with the speed, but if you are worried about expansion use 30-30 projectiles, they are designed for those velocities.

Use some of those 170 grain cast bullets start at 27 grains 2206H and work up to about 35 grains or 1800-1900 fps they expand at 1500fps the recoil is light
at that velocity, The 151HP are dynamite at that velocity

Have some 150g corlokt and 150g interlock Bullets here as well,trying to use what I already have on hand at the moment,might give the 170g cast Bullets a go tho,no chrony so would only be guessing at speed tho.

no chrony = good
went down similar route except we did use the x39 and used 125-130 grain projectiles.
if you are down loading the .308 to 30/30 speeds using a 30/30 projectile makes sense...3 that worked well for us 130grn speer hp,125grn sierra hp 30/30 pills both dynamite and the 125grn ballistic tip bought cheaply off trademe as visual defect 2nds...they are awesome and work well on deer too. if ShootersNZ makes it I will shoot it as they are GOOD projectiles,if he says they work...well they work.

I use 150 and 165 SST in my 16" 308.

The 150s are doing around 2650 using ADIs 2208 , have been fine on Sika, neck and chest (front on)

I'm no expert but SST seems pretty frangible I can't see a few hundred fps making too bigger difference in bush ranges.

I haven't tried the 125gr options going fast but they will likely be nicer for youth to shoot and more flat so possibly inspire a bit more confidence.

Originally Posted by The bomb

Have loaded some 150g SST Bullets in the .308 for bush hunting Sika and reds for my boy,trying to emulate the 7.62x39 using the .6 formula from Hodgdon as a youth load to reduce recoil for him, using AR2206h,how fast would they be going?looking to get around 2200fps -2400fps as a table I saw in old nz hunter mag reasons only has about 6.8lb of recoil but they use a 125g bullet.would they be ok out to 100m max expansion wise? Thanks

38.5Gr 2206h will give you around 2200Fps from a 16in barrel
Assuming case holds 56gr water and 2.8OAL cartridge length

I think at 2300ish the ssts will still be fine. The 125 sst's would be another good option also

I’ve only had 150gr SST’s going full speed in a 308 and at subsonic speed in a 300 blackout. Nosler 125gr BT’s work really well on red deer at 2005fps so the speed your look at will be fine. Just started reloading 125gr SST’s at 1990fps in the 300 blackout it punch’s holes clean through goats at 30m, haven’t shot deer with the SST yet, maybe next week, can’t see them being much different than the Nosler 125gr BT just cheaper.

tikka....look on trademe,the 125grn ballistic tips come up as 2nds quite often $30ish for 50.

My hunting load uses 150 grain sst. Have had good results out to sub 2000fps impact velocities. If you're aiming for 2200-2400 then I would say your intended max range of 100m will be fine

Originally Posted by shooternz

Use some of those 170 grain cast bullets start at 27 grains 2206H and work up to about 35 grains or 1800-1900 fps they expand at 1500fps the recoil is light
at that velocity, The 151HP are dynamite at that velocity

Worth stressing that a 170 grains heavier boolit does not necessarily equate to bigger recoil. Cast non-jacketed bullets require a third less powder charge for same velocity, and the velocity run at is lower in any case (because of limitations of the strength of lead vs rifling grooves). As shooternz points out, cast HP boolits are good (better) at expanding, even at quite slowish velocities.

As an aside (I initially misread the post, thinking someone was considering heavy boolits in an 7.62 Soviet rifle). Heavy boolits in a 7.62x39 rifle. When the 7.62x39 round was adopted by the Soviets in the 1940s, they went for a 1:9.45" twist which was copied straight from the 7.62x54R Mosin rifle. Same rifling machines making different / same-same barrels. This fast twist was originally adopted to stabilise heavy 210 grain round nosed projectiles, but reincarnated in the x39s spinning 126 grain bullets it is just too fast - actually deleterious to accuracy, so some modern manufacturers offer 7.62x39's with slower twist rifling for that reason.
The traditional 7.62x39 barrel has an inherited/throwback ability to stabilise heavy, long slugs with a fast twist it has no need for with standard milspec ammo (except perhaps for longer tracer bullets). A heavier bullet will do just fine in the standard 7.62x39 fast twist barrel, in fact it will feel strangely and unexpectely at home with a just fine twist rate.

I have used the 150g SSTs with 43g 2206h on Sika and they were really destructive on the meat,turning the front shoulders to jelly at bush ranges,hoping the slower loads will expand well but not blow up,I like a blood trail as well so hoping for pass thrus.otherwise I will try the cast Bullets or invest in some 30-30 pills,short round ones don’t feed well in my gun tho.

The hornady blurb states the SSTs will expand down to 1800fps so there is some hope there.