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Reloading for a youth hunter

Old 06-28-2012, 11:44 AM
  #1  
Fork Horn
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Default Reloading for a youth hunter

Hello, my Granddaughter will be hunting deer for the first time this fall. I have a remington model seven .308 , I'm going to reload some lite loads so as not to discourage here from shooting and hunting with grandpa. I purchased some nosler ballistic tips 125 grain. and I've picked up a pound of IMR4895. can anyone tell me how lite I can load these bullets, and still be effective out to 150 yards on Minnesota whitetail. thanks , Steve
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Old 06-28-2012, 05:37 PM
  #2  
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Honestly trying to go light on charge behind a light projectile while still trying to achieve effectiveness on game will not get you far. IMO what you should do is keep the 4895 and ditch the 125 for a 150. you can load much lighter behind a 150 and still get a great deal of effectiveness over the 125. the recommended charge for a 125 on 4895 is 47.5 to 52. I tried some 125 sierras a long time ago with 49.4 of 4895. they came out 3022. i like 150 grains pushed by 46.5 of 4895. they really dont kick as hard and hit 10 times harder. Its the differance with getting hit with a bb and a paintball. the bb might move 700 fps and sting for a little while where as the paintball being bigger and carrying more energy, will be moving at 350 fps and bruise the S*** out of you. hope this helps. you can load a heavier bullet lighter and still have a deadly load for a 'light' shooter. cant wait for my 2 girls to start shooting.
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Old 06-30-2012, 05:22 AM
  #3  
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First, good luck. My youngest daughter apparently told her grandpa this week that she doesn't care if she catches anything, she just likes to go fishing with him. That's priceless.

I think your success here won't be so much influenced by how much the rifle recoils, but by other factors (not knowing your particular relationship with her or her other interests and "distractions").

Has she been hunting with anyone before?

Are you hunting from a stand, walking/stalking, ... ?

The ONE thing I think I'd recommend you stress - over anything else - is how happy you are to have her going along with you. You might be surprised how much that can mean to a young girl, especially when they're taking on something unfamiliar to them.

As far as the rifle goes, I'm assuming that she's progressed through a .22 already? Mine started there, spent some time with a .223, then a .243. None of them needed to go beyond that caliber for deer. The particular rifle they used has probably introduced more kids (and most of them girls) to hunting than I ever imagined it might. Any chance you know someone who'd loan you a .243? You won't need to deal with the reloading proposition then.

As far as downloding the .308, I think you might be asking for an exercise in frustration there. It's not a hard-kicking caliber in the first place. A lighter bullet will help, but will that lighter bullet perform as it should when you also intend to reduce the velocity at which it's driven? You might consider instead something like Remington's "Managed Recoil" loads. Those for the .308 use a 125-grain bullet driven at a published 2660 fps, or about 180 fps less than what Remington publishes for a 150-gr standard factory load.
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Old 06-30-2012, 10:39 AM
  #4  
Fork Horn
 
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Hodgdon has youth loads listed for H4895. You got the wrong 4895. You can reduce H4895 all the way down to 60% of the max charge.

First, find your reduced load that shoots good. Then figure out what your velocity is (or estimate it, it isn't that critical). Then enter your bullet and velocity into JBM ballistics (free online ballistic calculator).

Try to keep at least 1000 ft lb of energy out to 150 yards. This is probably not critical, 750 will probably do the job.

If you shoot a 125 grain at 2500 fps or more, you should do fine. Just like always, where you hit them matters more than what you hit them with.

I ran the numbers myself, a 125 nosler ballistic tip at 2500 fps should be effective to twice your required distance.
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Old 07-27-2012, 08:43 AM
  #5  
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When my boy was 6, I started him off with reduced loads. I did load the minimum load for 125 grain bullets and that's what he practiced with. When we hunted, I used full-power 150 grain loads. He wouldn't know the difference when shooting at a deer.

The next year, he was shooting the full-power loads. Then, at 8, he moved up to 30-06 and has killed deer with that. This spring, at 9, he hit 8 inch target at 300 yards with my 300 Weatherby Mag.

Just start small so they get use to it and not startled by heavy recoil right away.
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Old 07-27-2012, 04:17 PM
  #6  
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My 2 cents. I'd get some 170 30-30 bullets, load them 30-30 levels (using the 168 data) mostly starting loads to get 2100-2200 fps. The bullet is designed for this velocity and will perform well on deer 150 yards in.
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Old 07-28-2012, 07:46 AM
  #7  
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Originally Posted by AP HD_Jake
Honestly trying to go light on charge behind a light projectile while still trying to achieve effectiveness on game will not get you far. IMO what you should do is keep the 4895 and ditch the 125 for a 150. you can load much lighter behind a 150 and still get a great deal of effectiveness over the 125. the recommended charge for a 125 on 4895 is 47.5 to 52.
A starting load of 4895 pushes a 125 gr bullet approx 2800-2900 fps according to IMRs website. That combination will easily kill any whitetail on the planet way beyond the 150 yards the original poster stated.
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Old 07-28-2012, 07:39 PM
  #8  
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I'll say it again: Load up with the lightest loads that rifle will shoot and have the kid get familiar with the rifle.

When hunting, put in a 150 grain at 2600-2800 and the deer dies.
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Old 09-04-2012, 03:30 AM
  #9  
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+1

Barnes has got the right idea. In a hunting situation they won't know the difference much. Check zero before trying to hunt with the more powerful load though.
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Old 09-04-2012, 03:54 AM
  #10  
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+1

Barnes has got the right idea. In a hunting situation they won't know the difference much. Check zero before trying to hunt with the more powerful load though.
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