307 win and heavy bullet loads

[danny pay]

Hi
I wonder which kind of velocity can be acheived with 200-220 ge bullets in 307 win within pressure and OAL limitations of this round?
cheers
danny

[Rocky Raab]

This is a pure guess, Danny, but I'm going to say that somewhere between 2100 and 2300 fps sounds about right.

That may sound wimpy to somebody who owns one of today's superultraholymoley magnums, but it ain't chicken feathers. Those big slugs don't seem to notice when they hit something at moderate speed - they just keep right on truckin'. If that "something" is the boiler room of a big Swedish elk (that's moose to us Yanks), the result will be a full meat locker.

The difficulty may be in finding load data, and also fidning bullets that can be crimped correctly for overall length. Since the .307 is a lever-action rifle, you MUST crimp the bullets, and you also MUST have an exact overall loaded length to cycle the action. My suggestion would be to buy a Lee Factory Crimp Die for the .308. It'll work perfectly with the .307, and will put a crimp wherever you need one.

And, it's probably not needed, but I'll also remind you to stick with roundnose bullets for that tube-fed design. Some of those famous "blue whistler" 220's originally meant for the .30-40 Krag would be perfect.

[danny pay]

Hi Rocky
Thanks for the reply. concerning loading data , there are some reloading data for 308 and assuming that 307 is a kind of rimmed 308 ( if i am right these 2 rounds have identical capacity ,but 307 is loaded at somewhat lower pressure and is rimmed) wouldn't be possible to use the same data for 308 and drop a 3-4 grains for the pressure's sake?
regards
danny

[Rocky Raab]

Yes it is. Use the Start-level loads, and work up to no more than halfway to the Max ones.

Generally speaking, Start loads are right at 10% less than Max (regardless of the actual charge) so you can work in the range of 90 to 95% of Max.

Maximum pressures are lower than the .308 due to the slightly weaker actions (even with the reinforcing that was done to Winchesters) than the .308 is used in.

[William Iorg]

Danny,

The .307 is my favorite cartridge. As Rocky pointed out COAL is a problem with heavy bullets. The problem is heavy bullets such as the Hornady 180 RN begin to taper immediatly ahead of the crimp groove. The bullet must to be seated deep for an overall length of about 2.55". Even using a a Lee Factory Crimp die you will encouter a few problems with crimp.

Using the 180 grain Hornady bullet 40.0 grains of IMR 4895 gave me 2479fps in my 20" Model 94BB with very good accuracy. This is a maximum load.
I have shot the 250 grain Nosler using 42.0 gr of IMR 4895 for 2088 fps. I consider this load over-maximum for my rifle - there were no extraction problems but there were other indications.

In my experience the 170 gr Speer, 170 grain Nosler RN Partition and the Barnes 150 gr X bullet are the best available for the cartridge. Accuracy and terminal performance is right where you want it to be.
The Hornady bullets are good but the meplat is large and the Hornady bullets must be seated deeper. The velocity potential in the cartridge is not as great with the Hornady bullet.
I do not favor light bullets in the .307. The 150 grain bulletsn and the Speer 130 grain bullets work well for deer. You may find the 130 grain Speer to be one of the most accurate bullets for the Winchester rifle.