by Jorlcrin » 04 Aug 2023, 12:02 pm
"I wonder if I can get a Vmax in 130gr..."
I use Hornady 125gn SST pills for light game in my Ruger Precision .308, and it would be my go-to loading for anything up to medium-sized pigs.
Too light for larger deer, but for lighter game they are pretty devastating, and very predictable out to about 350 metres.
49.0gns AR2208 is giving me around 3050fps from a 20" barrel.
No signs of over-pressure on the fired cases(mostly OSA/ADI brass).
This loading seems to be close to the federal 130gn JHP factory loads, which were devastating enough to see if I could replicate them in a polymer-tipped projectile.
I've tried a few of the 110gn Vmax pills, and found that both the factory loadings and my own reloads, were great up to about 200 metres, but groupings spread out quickly past that.
The 125SST loads are (for me) much tighter out to my engagement limit(~350 metres).
I'm loading up some 150gn SST loads for larger pigs; I started out in .308 using 150gn Nosler Ballistic Tips, so I know they do the job for heavier game.
No deer where I am, so not much use for the heavier projectiles.
But when we had a feral cattle problem about 10 years back, also found the 168gn Z-max/A-Max loads worked a treat.
I still have about 1000 168 Zmax projectiles left, if we find the pigs arent responding to the lighter touch.