Of course there's
nothing wrong with the op's powder choice. He was merely looking for the powder that gave the highest velocities instead of known velocities. Couple that with expectations of getting 2900fps+ from a 22" bbl'd 308w pushing a 150gr bullet.
Yup tons of data out there for cfe223 compared to those old out of date powders like h4895 or 4064. Along with that old data about realistic/real world velocities that can be proved for decades in more reloading books, reloading guides & magazines you can shake a stick at.
I'm glad you think his "
die adjustment" isn't the problem.
Everyone uses a grinder on the shell holder to get the cases to size down enough to fit a gun. This might come as a
BIG surprise but I've never had to grind anything off of a shell holder or die sets to get them to resize a shell casing to the correct size to fit any firearm I've ever owned.
Hard to believe the op used too much powder with all that data out there. Hard to believe the op expected to get 2900fps+ with that bullet/bbl combo with all that data out there. Hard to believe the op had to use a mallet to open the bolt on that new/unknown rifle with all that data out there for that bullet/powder combo.
I know it's kinda silly to error on the side of caution and take a little time to measure the spent factory cases along with what comes out of a sizing die. But doing so tells the person measuring things like if the chamber is in spec & if the reloading dies are in spec. Myself I have a set of go/no-go gauges for the 308w & I check every new/new to me firearm with them before I take them out in the field. Even with the gauges I still measure the spent cases to find out the dimensions of the chamber in the rifle. And of course finding out the true max oal of a bullet/bbl combo is is probably being overly cautious but it's something that doesn't hurt anything either.
After reading your post it probably is a bad idea to take the time to measure anything. Spend $30 on a pound of powder that you can easily get 10+ data points from to read/compare/make an informed opinion along with realistic expectations. And if it don't work don't bother finding out if the new firearm might have a headspace issue file down the shell holder.
Not picking on anyone, just don't understand how anyone could think that grinding down shell holders is a good idea. Or using a powder with limited data and having to use a mallet to open the bolt on a firearm is ok.
Myself, I tend to error on the side of caution and for the 1st +/- 170 rounds in that new 308w I would of used a "70 year old powder", measured everything, checked the headspace, checked for max oal and used the starting loads from 2 different dat points for the 1st reloads I shot in that new rifle. Doing so would of gave me real world results to compare to the data I have on hand along with more cases to check/measure/setup the neck sizing die with.
Well good luck with it, try to be safe and not have to use a mallet to open/close the bolt on your new rifle. A new mold I ordered awhile back came in today. It's a copy of the Eagan mx4-30a bullet/mold that I already have. The new mold is a hp mold that will cast a +/- 170gr bullet for the 308w.
View attachment 822843
Don't know if it can hold up to the pressures of the loads with the weak point being the small core/center at the large lube groove.
View attachment 822844
Going to work loads up to the 2700fps range with this 170gr cast hp in my 308w.