Ya gotta love the 308

A couple weeks ago I was in Dillon so made a stop at the local gun shop there.   He had a table set up right in front of the door going in that has consigned items.   One of those items was a coffee can with just shy of 400 Sierra 30 caliber 190 grain match king bullet.   The price was $100.00 which seemed fair considering todays supply and demand situation so I bought them.
     I have several 30 caliber rifles that can make good use of them but so far I have only tried them in a 308.     This 308 is nothing special at all.   Its a plain old Stevens model 200 receiver with its original plastic stock but I have changed the barrel to 308 Win.      The barrel I bought from Midway about 25 years ago when they were closing out their ER Shaw barrels.  It is a heavy contour stainless 24" 1/10" twist that they were selling out at $80.00.      It has been a very good barrel for both cast and jacketed bullets.
It always amazes me how well mannered the 308 is and this experience  just reinforces that opinion.    The target shown was fired from 100 yards and not anything to rave about  however considering that it was made using three different powder charges, two different primers, and used two different elevation corrections as well as two different windage corrections for a total of 12 shots it seems not too bad at all. 
    The first shots were the lowest left  using 40 gn of IMR 4895 powder and a CCI # 200 primer.  The next shots used 41gn and had a windage correction.  Next shots went to 42 gn and had an elevation correction.  The next shots stayed with 42 gn powder but changed to a CCI # 250 magnum primer and had both windage and elevation corrections.    The final three shots the ones that are the highest in the group and clustering together were fired with  the finalized load of 42 gn of IMR 4895 with the Sierra 190gn Match King molly with the CCI # 250 magnum large rifle primer with a n OAL of 3.150 in my comparator for an average velocity of 2527 fps with extreme velocity spreads in the teens.
     Yup mild mannered and predictable is what the 308 is    Now here is something interesting about that load that it matches the trajectory of my coyote loads in two rifles that I have been working with for the up coming season  which are a 250 Savage  and a 6mm BRM.   The Savage is shooting a 120gn bullet and the 6mm a 100 gn bullet and all three cartridges are running right in the same velocity range just slightly over 2500 fps.
     Even though the 308 is too heavy for a carry gun  ( at my age ) it still may get used for a stand rifle when I can drive close to a stand location.  It is very handy to only have to learn one trajectory for the three rifles .
    When I bought these bullets I had my 30/06 Ackley in mind and with its 30" heavy varmint tapered barrel it too is a stationary rifle for drive to stand shooting.    So far the only bullets I have tried in the 30/06 Ackley are some 190gn bullets I have been swaging using Sierra jackets.    I can make boat tails but these bullets were swaged with a flat base and open tip.     I can say unquestionably that the 30/06 Ackley likes them as it has made some incredibly small groups with them.       Just how well it will like the Sierra MK bullets with a boat tail I cant say but if it likes them as well as the 308 Win does it should make me smile when I connect on distant targets and possibly some having fur.