308 Winchester Reduced Recoil Setup

Thought I would share a project that I’m going to start working on for a 308 Winchester reduced recoil set up that is good out to about 300 yards. This setup should recoil a bit more than a .243 Winchester, but less than a 30-30 Winchester, both of which are common starter rifles, but both of which have limitations. With the 308 Winchester, it can also be used with high power loads if that is desired, which provides some flexibility.

Technical Specs

• Rifle: Ruger American Compact All Weather
• Weight: 7lbs scoped
• Barrel length: 18″
• Twist: 1:10 
• Projectile: Barnes 168 TTSX (Minimum expansion velocity is 1,500 fps)
• Charge: 36gr IMR-4895
• Estimated MV: 2,168 fps
• Wind: 10mph / 90 degree angle
• Zero: 200 yd 
• Estimated Recoil: 11.5 – 13.5 ft-lbs, somewhere between a 243 and 30-30.

How I Did It

First, I used the Lee Modern Reloading 2nd Edition book to do the reduced load calculation. The end of Chapter 10, after the Powder Burn Rate Chart, shows how to use the formula with the one grain factor velocity and pressure figures that they provide in the book. The section for the 308 Winchester shows the load data that is needed to calculate the reduced recoil load using IMR-4895.

Using the data from the Lee manual and a spreadsheet, the calculations show me that 36 grains is the low end of how much to reduce the charge. Hodgdon also has the formula for H4895 which is reduce max load to 60%. This load is about 80% of the book max for IMR-4895.

To calculate the muzzle velocity based on the charge, powder, barrel length, and barrel twist, I use the QuickLOAD Ballistic Software. It shows that this load should be about 35,300 psi of pressure. To calculate the ballistics, I use the Hornady Ballistics Calculator. To calculate the recoil, I used three different calculators, with the same data to get the range. They were Shooters Calculator, Bison Ballistics, and JBM. Each gave me a different answer, which I expected, and I don’t want to rely on just one of them and have unrealistic expectations.