Loading 308

I have a LNL-AP and Redding Boss II SS press. The only rifle ammo I load on the LNL is 223R. All sizing is done on the SS press. As far as powder dispenser I use the RCBS Chargemaster 1500 for most all rifle loads except my general plinking on the 223R. Once the brass has been sized you could use the LNL to dump the powder and seat the bullet. If you elect to size on the LNL a Good case lube will be required to minimize flex in the base to get consistent sizing. I have used the LNL for sizing Rem 7mm mag, it works but die setup is critical, and this is the only function I did at that time. The powder dispenser will give a +- .2 gr on stick/extruded powder in general. So if you want precision you will be weighing the loads. Use the dispenser to get close then dribble up to desired charge.

No experience with a LNL, but if the other choice is a Lee... not knocking Lee per se, just that I like it better for straight wall cases... get a Rockchucker. Much easier for the bottleneck cases.

I tend to deprime, size, clean primer pockets, trim to lenght, and tumble clean rifle brass so a progressive press is not that much faster.

And a lot of rifle powder doesn't meter well by volume.

Pistol on a progressive yes, but usually a single stage for rifle. And the biggest strongest press you can, Like a Rockchucker as recommended above.

Like Walk, I assemble my .308 blaster rounds on my ProJector (predecessor to the LNL.) I size and deprime on my single-stage, tumble them to get the lube off, trim them if they need it, and then they go on the ProJector for assembly. I use IMR stick powders, I'm not at maximum so if my charge weights are off a wee bit, it doesn't matter. If you really want to tighten up your charge weights, you'll have to go to a ball powder like H335, TAC, BL-C2, W748, etc. These I load for my M1a.

For my other 2 .308 rifles... a bolt gun and a lever, each with their own ammo requirements, I assemble them on my single-stage, and hand weigh every charge. That would be match bullets for the bolt, and cast bullets for the lever.

I had excellent results to 400 yards using CFE223 and a 150 fmj.
Since it's a ball powder, it meters well.
Another plus for me is it runs a few dollars per pound cheaper than all my other rifle powders.

I prime all cases by hand and examine the primer to make sure it below the case head, but other than that, these rounds were loaded on my Dillion 550B



and so where these:




so where these:





I have absolutely no problem using the Dillion 550 B powder system for IMR4895/AA2495/H4895, IMR 3031 (the new short cut version) or any rifle ball powder. I also threw IMR 4064 with excellent success, but, when you get into the long grain powders, such as IMR 4350/AA4350/H4350, I weighed those charges. Those powders throw plus or minus a couple of grains, they are really awful and the makers should be ashamed they have not, or did not, come out with short grained versions sooner. It was only by accident that I found new IMR 3031 was short grained, that stuff was long grained since before WW2. The only way to go is with short grained stick powders, in my opinion, I am not a big fan of ball powders.

I learned this the hard way, set up your sizing dies with cartridge headspace case gages. This is the cheap version, it only measures base to shoulder distance on a fired, or sized case.



This one is more expensive, but you can see what is going on. And it is cut to a SAAMI minimum chamber so you can see if your sizing die is correctly sizing everything in all directions.



Notice the clearance between the case neck and the throat. That is why you trim rifle cases, to keep the case neck from getting pinched in the throat and causing pressure problems. Only needed to happen once to me to figure out that cases needed to be trimmed each and every time after sizing, which was faster than sizing the cases and measuring them all to figure out which cases needed trimming.

Reloading rifle cases is easy.

Full length size the case. Use a good lube like RCBS water soluble so the case does not get stuck in the die.

Set up your sizing dies with a cartridge headspace gauge and occasional check to see that the die has not unscrewed. Happens to me I size my rifle brass on my Redding T7



I have buds with expensive Dillion 650's and 1050's which have the trimmers on the press, and they just crank the handle, and cases gets sized, trimmed, primed, powder dumped, bullet seated, all in one crank. I size trim, prime, rifle cases off the Dillion. Just a preference.

After sizing, trim your cases. I also bevel the case mouth so bullets don't shave going in.

I recommend priming by hand and verify that all primers are below the case head.

Dump the powder in whatever way you want and seat the bullet. But you better have a powder scale. Don't trust scoops or any device without checking that the weight is right.

Gravity seems less affected by cold temperatures than electronic scales. So, I have both. I use this one in the winter.



Only crimp lever action bullets or elephant gun bullets. Or cast bullets. But, there is absolutely no need to crimp a jacketed rifle bullet if the case neck tension is right. If it is not right, you cannot fix the problem by crimping.

And for powder, use IMR 4895/AA2495/H4895. Choose by price, hard to tell there is much of a difference between any of these on paper or over the chronograph. This round was developed in WW2 with IMR 4895 as the propellant so that powder is a darn good choice to start with. And end with. Varget seems to be an improvement, so that is my other recommendation.

The 308 Win is so easy to load for. It is not finicky like other rounds. The standard target load was a 168 SMK 41.5 grains IMR 4895, LC cases and any primer. You can win the National Matches with that load, if you get your wind right. It moves a bit at 600 yards, which is why I used 190's and 175's past 300 yards.

peterk1234 said:

The rifle will be a bolt action (Howa 1500). Short range target for now (I only have a 100 yards to play with)

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What length of barrel?

peterk1234 said:

22 inch

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Reason I axed... I initially started with IMR4895 in my .308 loads, where it works very well, but as I tailored loads to the 16" barrel on my M1a, I moved to the slightly faster IMR3031. As I started to develop loads for my 24" Savage bolt gun, using 168grn SMK's, I found IMR4895 inconsistent so I went to IMR4064. Any one of those 3 powders would work well enough if Varget doesn't turn out, and particularly IMR4064 with heavier bullets.

I use my Dillon 450 to size, deprime and seat my rifle brass. Prime by hand and powder by RCBS Chargemaster. Not faster than single stage, just convenient for me.
I use both 4895 powders, but Varget and Hornady Amax 168gr work best in my M1A NM.
The Hornady manual has good loading info for the gas op M1A.

i load all my rifle on a single stage press. i use a rcbs charge master to drop the powder. just works better for me over trying to load them on my dillon.

peterk1234 said:

Okay. I am working on my reloading plan. I am going to use the LNL as kind of a single stage like @Walkalong. I do not have a priming tool, but figure that the Lee turret will work just fine for that. For now I am going to measure on my lee beam scale and/or my little digital scale. I often compare one against the other and the digital is always dead nuts on. My powder dump is on the progressive, so for now I am going to use a scoop and pickup one of those trickle things for powder. I am keeping an eye on a used powder dispenser on ebay though. You would think the Hornady powder dispenser for the LNL would come with a handle and mounting bracket; oh well.

Other purchases I need to make are: A lee three die set. My other dies are lee and they have worked well. You guys can talk me out of it though if you think I am making a mistake. A hornady case trimmer; a LE Wilson gauge; funnel to dump powder into the cases.

I have chamfer and deburring tools and case lube.

Sound about right?

Pete

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If you're on a budget, you can use a scoop to get there same results as using a trickler. It takes practice to drop one it two kernels though.

For my .308 Win Howa lighting with 22" 1-12 twist I use a rockchucker press with RCBS dies. With a Nosler 150gr BT and 45gr of Varget and GM 210 primers and 2.8" col, the gun shoots 5/8" at 100yds for three rounds. Not bad for a $350 rifle I bought twenty some years ago.

Ain’t 308’s great, so many good loads documented almost every one has success trying their hand at them.
I think you could just about use XX gr of garden dirt and shoot well.

My latest recipe is H4895 under 155 Lapua Senars producing about 1 3/4 vertical at 550 in a hunting rifle.

I even got a picture somewhere

I load for the 308s big brother the 30-06, 4895 and the Lee autodisk does not play well together for accuracy, if you want plinking ammo it will work. You can use the Lee Turret just use it as a single stage and index the dies manually, that's what I do for 62gr and 69gr 223. I deprime, vibra clean, trim, lube, size, ultrasonic clean, prime, charge, seat bullet, Lee factory crimp, then put in a box or bag with a load label. I usually only do 1 or 2 things at a time but I have enough brass that I never run low, with pistol rounds I usually do everything at the same time. The LCT advantage is the turret that you can leave the dies set in to make it quicker to set up. Get or make a good lube, I make mine with alcohol and lanolin, you can use too much lube and dent the brass. Don't get in a hurry and inspect each step and you can load cheaper and more accurate ammo

I started loading with my first center fire rifle. A Rem. 788 in .308 Win. I started with IMR 4064. After decades of trying this powder and that powder for 30 plus years I couldn't find a nickels worth of difference in any one of them for hunting or range shooting. I'm back where I started with IMR 4064. By the way I use IMR 4064 in .223, .243, 270, .308, 30-06, and a couple 30-30's. Over the chrono they all clock within 100 FPS of max published loads. THE game or paper targets never know the difference !!! hdbiker

If you are going to use any range pickup brass be wary of brass shot from an AR-10 and I have also heard from a machine gun. I only have first hand experience with AR-10 brass. Many of these have large chambers and re-sizing brass requires proper case lube, lots of force and a stiff press. Even when we did these things we had stuck cases.

Best of luck with what you are going to do.

If you anneal the brass first it will be easy all the way though.

I single stage load all my rifle except .556. My precision .308 load is 178gr. ELD Match with IMR 4064. Now that I have acquired more Varget, I'm in the process of tweaking that one out.
I decap, clean primer pockets, brush the inside of the necks and anneal before I size the cases. I want my brass as clean as possible before I run them I. The die.
I used to neck size but I full length size all my brass now. The difference is I don't bump .002. I chamber and set my shoulder by the feel of the bolt. I know that alot of the pros swear by bumping the shoulder back .002 but I try to work the brass as little as possible. Lapua brass ain't cheap. It works for me and the extra time it takes is worth it to me in the long run

tidebow said:

I single stage load all my rifle except .556. My precision .308 load is 178gr. ELD Match with IMR 4064. Now that I have acquired more Varget, I'm in the process of tweaking that one out.
I decap, clean primer pockets, brush the inside of the necks and anneal before I size the cases. I want my brass as clean as possible before I run them I. The die.
I used to neck size but I full length size all my brass now. The difference is I don't bump .002. I chamber and set my shoulder by the feel of the bolt. I know that alot of the pros swear by bumping the shoulder back .002 but I try to work the brass as little as possible. Lapua brass ain't cheap. It works for me and the extra time it takes is worth it to me in the long run

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Can you expand on that sizing method please ? I’ve not heard that previously it’s very interesting and seemingly more pressure on the bolt but you tell me.
I’m trying to picture the process in my mind.
Thx in advance
Jim