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Wildcatting: Load Up

Wildcatting: Load Up

Some things are best left untouched or are they? The .308 Win is one of the all time greats of the cartridge world. Universally loved by the military as an accurate, powerful and dependable round and equalled enjoyed by the hunting world for its unique versatility for all manner of game species. Why then would you want to Ackley Improve (AK Imp) it? Why the hell not, this is a prime example where the customer is right and actually the visual looks may out way the actual advantage in ballistics but hey that’s fine with me.

The standard 308 cartridge has a length of 2.015” with the shoulder angle set at 20° and a water capacity of 54.4 mls. In the AK Imp version you have the characteristic 40° shoulder angle and the neck is slightly longer with a more parallel and longer body and the water capacity is increased to 55.8 mls. So on the face of it a small improvement on extra powder capacity, only 1.4mls but wow does it look good and that`s half the point with any custom offering.

This is a friends rifle build on a Sako 75 action by Paddy Dane of Dane and Co, 01892 864676 based in Kent and fast gaining a reputation for superb custom gunsmithing. A Krieger cut rifled barrel was fitted with five grooves and 1 in 10 rifling twist rate. The profile was a medium heavy weight i.e. Remington varmint, built further enhanced and weight reduced by some very nice fluting. Here there are six flutes that cover the central section and leaving a clear rounded barrel more to the muzzle that looks very nice. An invisible threading job and cap is seamless with an 18mm/1 thread.

Total length of barrel is 22” with a tight .299/.307 bore and groove diameter and when tucked into McMillan Sako sporter furniture in green/grey and black marbled stock it measures 42”overall length. It is non-bedded as of now and finished with a Swarovski 6-24x50mm target scope and MAE Compact sound moderator.

LOAD UP

You can easily just use factory .308 Win rounds in this rifle which is handy if on a hunting trip and you are separated from your reloads. I say this as the headspace is the same so the base of the neck sits in the Ackley chamber and stabilises as before. The only difference is that on firing the shoulder is pushed forward and fireforms into the new chamber dimensions. This is the beauty of any Ackley calibre meaning parent brass is easily produced while shooting!

Once fired formed I used a set of CH4d .308 Ak Imp 40° die set to de-prime, resize and seat a new bullet. The owner Charlie wanted to use bullets from 110 to 165-grains; no problems with the 1 in 10 rifling twist rate. I had 110-grain Barnes TTSX, 125-grain Nosler Ballistic Tips, 130-grain Barnes, 150-grain B Tips, 150-grain Nosler Partitions, 150-grain Accubonds, Barnes 150-grain TTSX, 165-grain Swift Sirocco and 168-grain Barnes TSX.

Although I did try some 180-grain Swifts but accuracy was iffy so I did not pursue these any further.

Powder choice again was easy, having shot a lot of .308 Win in my life I narrowed it down to Alliant Reloader (RL10X) for the lighter bullets and RL15 and Vit N140 for the heavier pills. All loads were primed with Federal match grade large primers. I entered the case dimensions into Quickload ballistics program as it was not there to start me off with typical loads, but any normal .308 Win reloads are a good starting point.

RESULTS

First up the rifle handled very well especially with the MAE Compact moderator fitted as the shorter 22” barrel did not make for an unwieldy package and the muzzle report was nice and mute as was recoil. The latter is always a result in a 308 as they can be a bit snappy! Charlie wanted a good light load for flat shooting English game and something heavier for use aboard - African plains game and that sort of thing.

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Best accuracy went to the lighter loads with the Barnes 110-grain TTSX shooting very well loaded at 2.81” OAL. Accuracy at 100 yards for three shots was a scant 0.35” with a top muzzle velocity of 3091fps for 2335 ft/lbs energy with 44-grains of RL 10X powder.

The Nosler 125-grain Ballistic Tips were also good with 2950 fps/2416 ft/lbs with a load of 48-grains of RL 15 powder, a bit slower burning but great 0.45” groups. Interestingly the 130-grain Barnes TTSX could only manage 1” with 47-grains of Vit N140 so maybe a faster powder as with the 110-grainer bullets might have been better?

Next up were the 150-grain bullets, the Partitions were favoured but only managed 0.75-0.95” groups, still good and best load was the top load of 46-grains of Vit N140 for 2760 fps/2538 ft/lbs.

The Accubonds were OK but the 150grain Barnes TTSX achieved sub inch groups with the best load being 44-grains of RL 15 for 2752 fps/2523 ft/lbs but one more grain at 45-grains for 2790 fps made for a sticky bolt so I backed off.

GETTING HEAVY

Best heavier bullets were the Barnes TSX 168-grain, Nosler 165-grain Ballistic Tips and Swift Sirocco 165-grainers. The Barnes TSX 168 shot sub 0.65” groups with a load of 45-grains of RL15 for 2646 fps/2612 ft/ lbs and shorter cartridge overall length (COL) of 2.778”.

The Nosler 165-grain B Tips shot a nice 0.50” with a load of 45-grains of RL 15 for 2703 fps/2678 ft/lbs. But Charlie wanted a tougher bullet for plains game so next up were the Swift Sirocco 165-grainers.

Here I started out low with Vit N140 powder from 40-grains up to 45 and also tried RL15 at a top load of 45-grains. Interestingly the top load of 45-grains for both powders proved best accuracy all hovering around the 0.5”. The 45-grain Vit N140 load produced 2667 fps/2607 ft/lbs whilst the same weight but switching to RL15 powder achieved 2664 fps/2601 ft/lbs, so take your choice. One more grain of powder would achieve near 2700 fps but you are compressing the load so not ideal.

The 168-grain TSXs from Barnes also shot well, again 45-grains of Alliant RL15 for 2646 fps/2612 ft/lbs energy and three shots of 0.45”! One thing to remember is that when using the longer Swift or Barnes bullets they protrude deeper into the case so can hamper the amount of powder you use without compressing too much.

CONCLUSIONS

Judging from his custom work on this rifle, I reckon Paddy is assured of a good future in front of him with a very finely made and executed piece. The build is what I would term as ‘just right’ as the length and weight is ideal for an all-round stalker and is totally complimented by the new calibre. Does the .308 Win AK Imp add any real advantage ballistically over the .308 Win , well 1.4 grs difference is not that much but that’s not the point here. This is a perfect example of I want that calibre because I can and I just like it, so there!

I can’t see anything wrong with that and that’s part of owning a custom rifle, those 308 AK case do look really good though and this rifle really shoots Geco or Hornady factory ammo also so you have the best of both worlds.

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