307 win and heavy bullet loads

[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.