.308 Win - Pet loads?

Any further load development? Enquiring minds want to know....

M118LR brass
Winchester WLR primer
Lapua 170gr D46 bullet
42.5gr IMR4895 pulldown powder
2.845 OAL
2785fps

Rifle is an FN SPR with 26" barrel and McMillan A5 stock. 5 shot 100 yard group below measures about .39MOA. Quite happy with this load.

Don

In five different rifles I've tried the following with excellent results.
FC Cases, FC210M Primers
44.4g Hodgdon Varget
168g Nosler J4 or 168g Sierra MK.
2.800 to 2.825 OAL

I've loaded the same load in RWS, Norma, Lapua and Hirtenberger cases with excellent results.

Shoots better than FC Gold Medal Match in every rifle I've tried it in.

Pet .308 load

My go-to load right now is 44 grains of Varget under a Speer 150 grain SP with CCI primer. Case is a surplus marked "CAVIN 92" and loaded to 1.807" OAL. I'll have to play with the charge and perhaps OAL soon as I'll need to switch to Winchester cases after the last of my mil-surp cases get tossed out. I've only got 90 left.

The load you worked up is real close to the one I use at the range. Excellent accuracy. Sub moa.

win cartridge
44.0 grains of Varget
coal 2.80
primer WLR
168 grain Sierra HPBT.
Rifle: Savage
I also use one of those electric digital PAC powder feeder and scale. Varget feeds perfect on each load.

I have begun to experiment getting closer to the lands but so far no any real difference in accuracy.

175gr BTHP Sierra Matchking #2275
39.0 Alliant Reloader 15
WLR winchester primer
OAL 2.80

Rifle: Remington 700VS

My match load is a 155gr Lapua Scenar (bc 0.508), 45.2gr Varget (or N140) in a Lapua case and a 210M. 2830fps, duplicates the Lapua factory load. Otherwise you can run it up to 2900fps in a 24". (Or 2910fps with 45.6gr IMR4895)

I guess I'm the odd man out on powder...

168gr SMK or Nosler HPBT or Nosler/Win Ballistic Tips (the Ballistic Tips shoot about 1" higher at 200 yards for some reason. BC?)

Rem brass

Win WLR primer

43.7gr Win748

OAL exactly the same as FGMM (I set the seating die on one)

No chrono data, but consistent 3" groups at 200 yards from my Savage 10FP.

S/F

Farnham

In my 26" Winchester model 70 I first tried Federal 168gr Gold Medal match ammo which shoots very accurately and runs at 2700 from this rifle.

After trying various loads with varying sucess, I decided to try matching the velocity of the Federal ammo with the same Sierra bullet. I find that my rifle likes this bullet at around this velocity.

168gr Sierra Matchking
45.0gr Varget
2.845" OAL This is as long as will comfortably fit the magazine.
2750 feet per second.

Groups are a bit smaller than with the Federal ammo.

Hi guys,

I made loads for my CZ550 :

Sierra 168gr HPBT
39,5 gr of 2015
OAL 2,87" or 73mm (I know that recommended is 2,8")

I was trying to make lenght about 72-72,5mm but nothing changed in accuracy.Then I decided to make a bit longer and got much more better.

What do you think about this OAL, isn't to long I mean regarding safety ?

thanks

A lot of guys are having good results with 43 grains of Varget and 168 grain bullets.

As long as the round will feed thru the magazine, and you are not jamming it into the lands, there's no danger associated with exceeding the OAL. The remaining case volume will be increased, which will affect pressure and other factors. I have had great success with H380 and the 168 SMK. My load delivers right at 2600fps out of my 26" 700VS.

150 gr. Noler BT (or Accubond), 47.5 gr. Varget, Fed. 210M, 2.830"OAL, Winchester brass. 2820 fps out of a 22" (Kimber) barrel. 5/8" groups @ 100 yds.

Thanks for getting this thread going RugerOldArmy. I also just bought a CZ 550 Varmint (Laminate) in .308, and am developing my fist batch of reloads. I'm new to reloading, so I'm interested in hearing opinions as to what I've come with at this point.

I used a hacksaw to cut into the neck of a case, and then (after deburring the neck/mouth) placed a Nosler 168 gr. Custom Competition HPBT in the mouth of the casing. Using this concocted gauge it would appear that the bullet comes into contact with the rifling at 2.861". I repeated the process five times to ensure that I got this measurement consistently. So, I'm thinking of starting off with an O.A.L. of 2.831".

My Hornady, Lee and Lyman manuals have differing load ranges for this bullet weight using H-Varget though:

Lee - 42.0 to 46.0 gr.
Hornady - 32.6 to 44 gr.
Lyman - 41 to 45.7

I'll be using Winchester brass (yes, WildAlaska I'll be getting Lapua once I get the hang of it! ), Remington 9 1/2 primers, and I'm not crimping at this point. Soooo, I'm thinking I'll start at 42 gr. and work up to 44 gr. to see what shoots best in the CZ. Thoughts from other CZ users?
Thanks.

McCZDoesIt......

I don't know what the twist rate on the CZ550 is and that has a lot to do with it. The load I use in Rem 700PSS is:
168 Nosler seated .030" off of lands
Lapua brass, fire formed to chamber, trimmed to length then only partially neck sized thereafter.
41.0g Varget (weighed, not thrown)
Federal match primers
No crimp
Chrono: avg is 2560 FPS
VERY accurate. I use this load and FA in local friendly bench matches.
At 100Y, have shot a number of .3?? groups, .75? at 200Y

However, what works for me may not work for you. One thing I have heard and discovered to be true when using a powder drop is that it's not as important as how well a powder meters, but how consistently you work the mechanism.

I am currently using the following load, which delivers 1/4 MOA from my 40x and only has a drop of 32 MOA at 1000 yards

155gn Lapua Scenars
46gn RL-15
WW brass
CCI BR-2 primers

It delivers 2700 fps from my 20 inch barrel

Note that the 155gn Lapua Scenars have a BC of 0.505, about the same as the 175gn SMK, and can be pushed much faster. This load is suitable even for slow twist 1:12 barrels

to McGlockster :
hi buddy,
I have the same CZ as yours and I played with dummy catridge and I found out that 2,927" is getting touched to lands, I used 168gr Sierra HPBT on dummy catridge.

Anyway,
I´ve made a few rounds with OAL 2.874" or and it made bloody difference than 2.83" so you can go to 2.874 without problems.
Sure, there is only one problem, you can't put it to magazine.
I noticed 2.84" is the last length you can put to magazine on 550 varmint

to all : guys, what the minimal length of your 308 case do you use ?

My Rifle Loves These Loads

42.0gr...Reloder 15...2600fps
155gr Sierra "Palma" Match
CCI BR Primers




43.4gr...reloder 15....2700fps
155gr Sierra "Palma" Match
CCI BR Primers




44.8gr.....reloder 15......2800fps
155gr Sierra "Palma" Match
CCI BR primers

Thanks for the info Dan12. Time for me to buy a real OAL Gauge - I can't find one locally though. Anyone have a good on-line source for the Stoney Creek gauge?

I used to seat the rounds long but decided that I wanted my magazine fed rifles to feed the cartridges through the magazine. Someday I'll have a match grade .308 built with a minimum spec chamber, neck and a short throat I'll experiment with this again.

"I used to seat the rounds long but decided that I wanted my magazine fed rifles to feed the cartridges through the magazine. Someday I'll have a match grade .308 built with a minimum spec chamber, neck and a short throat I'll experiment with this again."

Amen to that notion!!!! I've been reading for the better part of the day "building" my fantasy rifle. Actually, it all fits together rather nicely - by the time my skills develop enough to become a proficient long distance precision shooter (2 years or so) I should have the $4,500 to buy one!!!!

ROA,

You did not specify the purpose of the load, I'll pass this one on to you.

As a former Remington dealer, back in the days when the custom shop at Ilion was producing really great 40-X match rifles, I would get these for people that really wanted to spend some money.

.308 rifles meant for hi-power competition usually came with three test groups that were shot at 100 yards. All of the bulls were on one target paper. Usually, they were test grouped at the factory with IMR-3031 and 168 grain Sierra International bullets (now MatchKings). The load was a really good one for 200 and 300 meter work and was around, IIRC 37.5 grains of 3031.

In its day, that load was considered a classic and the last pair of rifles that I got for two brothers-in-law both grouped around 0.35+" aggregate for all three groups. One rifle was around 0.3" and the other was around 0.4."

There is a "sweet-spot" for heavy-barreled .308s at about 2550 fps and many target guns and loads shoot their best right around there. I calculated the loads out in QuickLoad and 37.7 grains of 3031 estimates to be about 2550 fps and it calculates that you can go to 39 grains without exceeding 2650 fps, which is another point at which some find some luck.

Mild primers are in order here and commercial cases. Bullets were seated to 2.800."

42 grains IMR 3031
150 gr rem cl psp
fed case
cci large rifle primer