I have the 180 grain Nosler partition for an elk hunt. I don't have the Nosler book but Lymans list load data for the 180 gr BT but not the partition. I have Varget and Win 748 powder on hand. Can some one tell me if the data will be the same for the Partition? Or possibly a good load using the Varget powder. My rifle is a Savage 24" varmint barrel 1/10 twist 308.

TonyB6255

Welcome to the forum.

What are you shooting, 308 Win?

JD338

TonyB6255,

Welcome to the forum. You can use the same data for the Partition as for the Ballistic Tip with the proviso of working up from a safe minimum, watching for pressure signs. For the 180 grain, Nosler does not list Varget as one of the powders tested. QuickLoad projects considerably less powder than Lyman No.49 for Varget with either the BT or the PT. In fact, QL projects a grain less charge for the 180 grain BT than for the 180 grain PT.

Thanks for the replies. Yes I am shooting 308 Winchester.I think I may sell my friend the 180 gr for his 30-06 and go with the 165 grain PT, either that or go pick up some IMR4895. I listened to the guy at the sales counter and wish I would have went with the 165 from the start. I shoot alot of the Sierra MK with 42.5 gr of Varget in my Savage 308 Win and the 165/168 grain just seems to be the sweet spot for the 308

You likely will have far better performance from the 165 than from the 180 grain bullets. Varget will work very well indeed with the 165 grain Partition.

Try RL 15 with the 180's, im getting 2730 fps with 180 AB's and 1/2" groups consistently, I have a 26" barrel on my savage though. H4895 has worked with the 168s and 175 matchkings but not with the 180s, with this powder and 168s go into .25" groups. I know this means you will need some new powders, but maybe you will be lucky like me and have 3 or 4 powders that all shoot under an inch out of that 308, when picking my powder I was measuring differences of quarter or eigth inch at the 200 yard mark to so really I could shoot any of them in a pinch, hope this helps.

That is pretty good speed out of the 180 and 308. I was getting mid 2600's with W748 and 180gr BT's. Just figured the lighter ones shoot better and give a little more bullet performance out of the 308. 2700 is right there in 30-06 territory though. Sounds like a super load. Scotty

Yeah it surprised me also, its a very hot load but no sticky cases and maybe some slight flattening of the primers but I havent had any problems with brass life, I get over 2700 with the 175 match kings also. I have a 1-12 twist in the barrel, maybe the slower twist lets me get more velocity. I personally like the lighter bullets also but these shoot so good i dont want to change, the whole dont fix what aint broken thing.

Give RL-17 a try very impressive......
Loading 46.5 RL-17 fed brass, 210m primers, 180gr Speer spbt....2742 on a 22"
barrel, 03 action shot a sub group.....

That sounds like a great one Matt. If you are getting 2700 out of the 180, that is a keeper and probably worth holding on to for hunting. That 180gr BT is a pretty tough looking bullet, so it would probably do really well at 308 speeds on heavier game.

Nomad, never tried RL17. Sounds like it has some promise. Scotty

That is smoking! That 26" tube helps I guess!


Welcome to the forum!