Need a really soft 180gr .30 cal

[Confederate rifleman]

Gonna start loading my 722 Remmy .300 Savage soon and I'm looking for 180's that expand well at the low( ish) velocities possible with the .300.For most of my shooting I'm gonna use 150 and 170 gr fp's and rn's designed for the .30-30 and at that velocity level.However, its nice to have a bigger stick available hence the 180's. Most .30 cal 180's are designed for more velocity than the .300 can muster ( 2400 or alittle better) and this is a concern to me.Round noses and spitzers are equally useful so my question is ;what's the softest 180 out there? Thanks!

[Siskiyou]

A little field experience with the 300 Savage in the Remington 722 has me loading a number of 165-grain bullets.  I am loading just short of the maximum listed for IMR4064 in the Hornady manuals including the latest.  I am loading this weight because of bear encounters but have avoided shooting one up to this point in recent years.  My wife and kids will not eat bear meat.

Hunting partner says he will take a bear so I will budget for a tag this year; I passed on a nice bear last fall because I did not have a bear tag.  Stopped at Fish and Game office to get one but the Governator had furloughed the employees and the office was closed due to his order.  I have used the Remington, Hornady, and Nosler PT 165-grain bullets.  I really like the Nosler PT because the front is rather explosive and the rearend keep penetrating.  I have used the Nosler Partition in two low velocity rounds the 300 Savage and the 6.5X55 and the expansion has been great on deer with both rounds.

A hunting partner normally carries 165-grain Speer bullets in his 30-06.  Because of work load he was using factory Winchester 150-grain Power Points.  We traced the path of one in a bear he shot in the ribs angling into the chest.  The bullet penetrated around 28-inches and was a classic mushroom.  The point being is that you may not need a 180-grain bullet.

I have a few factory 180-grain Silvertips and Remington C-L 300 Savage loads.  I have seen them work rather well on deer at close range.

Speer claims their Mag-T bullets will expand at modest 300 Savage velocities but hold up at 300 Magnum levels.  The large flat tip might offer a clue.  Speer Part #2059.  I think Speer has dropped most of this product line but it might be found.  I agree  the 180-grain, 308 diameter bullets bottom effective velocity is around 2400 fps and that is just about the maximum velocity you can load a 180-grain in the short .300 Savage case.  You can still buy factory 180-grain loads.

I believe the 165-grain, flat base bullets offer the best balance in the 300 Savage case.  Interesting tidbit is the 24-inch barrel on my 722 in 300 Savage produces higher velocity than some loads in 308 rifles with a 22-inch barrel.  Our goals are a little different in that I am factoring in the opportunity to take a deer at 200-300 yards or a bear at fifty yards.



I believe these three rounds will do the duty on a deer or black bear.

[Kurt L]

I have used the Hornady 150 SST and they worked well in a 30-30
I would think the 180 SST would work also if the bullets in the above post do not interest you.

[mcwoodduck]

Reminton 180 grain Soft Points.  big round nose.
They work well in my 308.
Not too much faster than your 300.
Or any of the 170 grain round nose will work as the other guys said.

[Cheesehead]

I would bet on 180 Ballistic Tips.

Cheese

[shot1]

Most of the load data that you find for the 300 savage is done with the Savage 99 lever gun in mind which will not handle the pressure of your Rem 722. In the 722 you can almost equal the 308 Win safely. I have a Ruger 77 24" barrel in a wildcat caliber called the 30X47 HBR. It was used for hunter bench rest class target shooting but I turned it into a hunting rifle. It is made by taking the 300 savage case and moving the shoulder back 10 thousands inch but leaving the case the same over all length. It makes the powder chamber a little less but the neck is longer to hold the bullet better. With 42 grs IMR 4895 (all you can get into a case and seat a bullet) I get 2650 fps with 150 gr Sierra bullets and 2850 fps with 125 Nos BT. You should be able to get at least 2500 fps or better with a 165 Nosler Partition or the Accubond and it will handle any black bear with ease and if you put it where it is supposed to go it will handle anything in North America under 200 yards with ease. Black bear are not any harder to kill than a deer. Put one through the lungs and he is dead. From my limited use of the Accubond bullet I think it is the best of both worlds. Flies and starts to open up like a ballistic tip but holds together and keeps on trucking like a partition. It is cheaper than the partition and it shoots much more accurate. I used the 130 gr in my 264 Win mag to take 4 deer from 98 to 275 yards this past fall and it worked perfectly. Bang flop. I recovered one bullet from a deer shot at 111 yards angled facing me. The bullet entered the front edge of the left shoulder and destroyed it and made soup of the vitals and while cutting up the meat I found the bullet in the right ham. It was a text book mushroom and weight was 87 grs. This bullet exited the muzzle at 3350 fps and had to still be doing around 3200 fps on impact. To smash bone and go all the way through a deer from stem to stern and hold together like that it is a supper bullet in my book. By the way for deer the 125 ballistic tip is a real deer killer.

[Pop]

180 Ballistic Tips.

[nicholst55]

I would bet on 180 Ballistic Tips.

Cheese

+1; all the Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets that I've used have expanded rather dramatically, even at modest velocities.

[Confederate rifleman]

Thank all for the feedback! I had thought about the Noslers and the Speer Mag tips as well. The 180's will be a rather specific load for me and not a general use thing. My regular loads for this rifle are actually factory .30-30 level as most of my hunting is rather short range and those nice soft bullets drop deer like you put a grenade in their chest. I agree that the 165's would be the best general purpose loads. I like my 722 ALOT and its gonna be very rewarding to get these loads figured out. An odd thing though.My rifle allows me to use rounds loaded to a much longer length than the listed max of 2.6. However, when I seat bullets closer to the rifling accuracy suffers.Never had  a rifle do that before.I've loaded a fair number of calibers and rifles and the  closer I got the bullet to the rifling ( without touching it) the better the groups.I dont know, maybe its a .300 thing?

[john keyes]

I don't have anything against the NBT except the price. seems like is plenty out there that will hammer a deer just as well.

[Dinny]

Maybe these are a bit on the softer side.   It says they're plated, not jacketed.

http://www.berrysmfg.com/product-i14671-c34-g8-b0-p0-30_30_Cal_150gr_RS_.308.aspx

Thanks, Dinny

[Lloyd Smale]

ballistic tips or sierra spitzers.

[Curtis]

Maybe these are a bit on the softer side.  It says they're plated, not jacketed.
http://www.berrysmfg.com/product-i14671-c34-g8-b0-p0-30_30_Cal_150gr_RS_.308.aspx
Thanks, Dinny

The Berry's plated pistol bullets that I have are really, REALLY soft.  I cut one in half with some regular 6" diagonal cutters with very little effort.  I wouldn't trust them to stay together or perform well terminally at ANY reasonable rifle velocity.  I didn't know they made any rifle bullets, so maybe they're different if they do.

Curtis

P.S.  After I posted I checked out Dinny's link (I know) and found this:

When loading these plated rifle bullets do not exceed a max velocity of 1700 fps

which seems to indicate their rifle bullets are no harder than their pistol bullets.  Ok for thos "cat sneeze" loads though, Dinny!  

[Siskiyou]

A "+" on what Curtis said about berry's bullets.  I loaded a bunch of 9mm ones this spring, and then pulled a couple to see what effect the process had on the bullet.  A groove was created around the bullet where the mouth of the cases was.  I did a little poking at the bullet and found it to be soft.

I suspect that it would have a splat effect at 2400 fps, and very shallow penetration.

[mechanic]

Might be a good use for the "eraser" tips from Hornady.

[wareagleguy]

How about the Sierra Match Kings.