What powder do you like for your 308 semi auto?

[BillB204]

I also have 4064, but I would really like to stay with a ball powder. If I can get it down to 1" groups @100 yards I would be happy, I would suspect that if I load some 165's with the 4064 I have, I would come up with some fairly accurate loads. I am just wondering if the combination I have is just not meant to be for my rifle.

With all of the combinations I've tried using both ball and stick powders, I'd be surprised if you can find a ball powder load that can shoot 168+ accurately. I'd like to hear about it if you can. I can generally get 1 moa out of TAC, AA2460 and 748 with 150s and 155s. But can't get close to that with the 168s or 175s.

 

[grubbylabs]

That is what I was wondering, if I might not be able to make it happen with a spherical powder and a 175 grain bullet.

 

[Robert101]

Another vote for Varget for the 308. My other fav powder is H4895 for mid velocity and low velocity launchings.

 

[rogn]

Varget, the 4895s, CFE, ARcomp, 2460, 2230--------all work well. 2520 is a great powder in some guns, but the batches vary somewhat. The last 3 shot group at about 310 meters was a trifle under 1". Rifle is a FAR308/110 variant. The load was in once fire LC brass, with Tula LRPs, 168 bthps( noslerCCs IIRC) and AA2520. I won't state the load because of batch variance, but it has been very accurate in more than one caliber for me. Its one powder that I can't make it vary 0.1 grain from a measure, fine grains are like water. The best powder today is the one you can get!

 

[z7]

Billb204, how is the 8208 going for you, I am in the infant stages of load development with that and 165g gameking for hunting, looking good so far. I am also in the planning stages for a 168amax with it

 

[BillB204]

Z7, So far I've only tried one complete cycle of 8208 using 4 bullets with three charges on each. I had them all loaded too hot. So it didn't go well. But I like the powder and believe it can be tuned a lot better. I'll be going back to it. But for now RL15 is giving me the best results with the 168s and 175s. So I'm really trying to fine tune those loads.

 

[up 2 snuff]

Imr 4895.

 

[Level10]

ARComp, 2000MR

 

[BillB204]

Billb204, how is the 8208 going for you, I am in the infant stages of load development with that and 165g gameking for hunting, looking good so far. I am also in the planning stages for a 168amax with it

z7, I took a look back at my 8208 targets and remembered that I didn't start the loads as hot as I had remembered. I started at 42gr (w/168mks) and got a .40" group. (See photo) It didn't feel too hot in my rifle. I then moved up to 43gr and 44 gr. Still got .79" on each. But they were showing signs of over pressure.



Here's how the RL15 is working for me (also with 168mks)

 

[grubbylabs]

Well I have about 100 test loads made up for my 175g SMK's and IMR 4064. I am almost done loading up some 150g Hornady's with BLC-2 I will see how that goes.

I did not realize it, but I have just over 1lb of Varget so I will load up some 175's with that also and see how they do.