Questions about .308

[Joshboyfutre]

Hey fellas. I have a Ruger American with a 1 in 10 twist rate, I'm getting ready to start reloading and have some questions that I'm hoping you guys can answer.
- opinions on the best powder for .308
-opinions on the best overall powder, something I can use in a number of calibers. (.44Mag,.223,762×39,762×54R,.308)
-recommended bullet weight for 1/10 twist.
Keep in mind that I'm a rookie here, but heres what I'm thinking of at this point.
168g bullet on either varget or IMR/H 4895 (depending on availability). Just wanted some input from guys with more experience than me. Thanx in advance!

 

[Bartojc]

There's a large selection of powders (and bullets too) that will produce satisfactory ammunition in .308. It is one of the more popular calibers, and along with 30-06 there are many, many choices. You mentioned 4895, and that can work. I'm working with 4895 right now in 30-06. The 4350's are another powder that many prefer. Are you loading for hunting, plinking, or bench rest type shooting ? The only way to know what works for you is to start low, work up, and test. What works better for you may not work as well for someone else. The only thing that I would say is you will likely end up with different powders for smaller calibers vs the larger. Due to the burn rates, etc you'll likely not be able to find magic in just one.

Happy shooting.

-Jeff

 

[PCCUSNRET]

Varget with 168 gr. Nosler BT's work great in 3 of my 308's and several Swiss K-31's. Don't have my logs handy but believe I settled on 44.9 grains (you might want to check latest data on Hodgdon's website for latest data).

 

[VoodooMountain]

Lots of powders work well in 308 but I'm not sure how much crossover there is for the other calibers you listed. 4064 is a classic for 308 and h4895 will work with heavy 223 bullets and 308.

I think you'll find through load development that you will end up with a few different powders on hand.

1/10 twist should handle 150-180gr. bullets quite well. Some barrels will also be accurate with heavier or lighter bullets.

 

[hdbiker]

After trying this powder and that powder for 40 years,I'm back to the one I started with, IMR 4064. It also works very well in my .270 and 30-06 . I just bought a 8 pound jug of it. hdbiker

 

[Slamfire]

Hey fellas. I have a Ruger American with a 1 in 10 twist rate, I'm getting ready to start reloading and have some questions that I'm hoping you guys can answer.
- opinions on the best powder for .308

The cartridge was developed with IMR 4895 as the propellant. I consider IMR 4895 as the standard and any of the 4895 powders, that is AA2495, H4895 and IMR 4895 as first choice for experimentation. IMR 4895 was the powder used in the National Match cartridges.

I have used kegs of IMR 4895 and AA2495 in competition with 168 SMK's and now am using H4895. They are all good, buy by price.

A good alternative is IMR 4064. It is a long stick powder so you have to weigh, but it is also an outstanding 308 Win powder.

I think the best overall is Varget, but Varget is hard to find.


My match load was a 168 Match, (Nosler, Hornady, Sierra) with 41.5 grains IMR 4895/AA2495/H4895 LC cases, CCI #34 primers. OAL was LT 2.800" Most of my ammunition was 2.750" OAL. For new barrels, I would start out at 40.5 grains and work up.

-recommended bullet weight for 1/10 twist.

I have seen 1:10 twist rate barrels shoot everything well from 125 grain to 190 grain in the 308 Win.

 

[gotboostvr]

Varget is a very good powder. I use RL-15 alot. It's just as versatile and easy to find in my neck of the woods.

 

[Nature Boy]

For versatility, H4895 and Varget.

In my nascent reloading career, using those powders, I've found mutiple accurate loads with a variety of bullets, across .223, .308 and .30-06

 

[Orcon]

I have found that amongst bolt-gun .308 reloaders Varget is King, 4895 equivalents serve as Arch Duke and 4064 the Prince Bishop of reloading powders. I have a few friends that run CFE-223 for both 5.56 and 7.62 AR platforms. BL-C (2) gave good accuracy in my .308 and is acceptable for 5.56 as well.

I would be surprised if you found a single jack-of-all trades powder for your bottle necks. I know a guy with two savages with consecutive serials that offer vastly different performance with identical loads.

One more thing:
If a certain component combo doesn't produce the desired results, just move on. I wasted hundreds of dollars trying to get a certain bullet to shoot but just wasnt meant to be. I figured a bullet is a bullet, right? Well, turns out finding what a gun "likes" isn't the superstitious nonsense I thought it to be.

 

[Grumulkin]

For all except the 44 Magnum, RL-15 would work. In fact, it's my preferred powder for the 223 Remington and 204 Ruger. My preferred powder for the 308 Winchester is IMR 4064 which I use with 110 and 165/168 grain bullets. I think bullet weights from 155 to 168 grains are optimal for the 308 Winchester. If I were to have one powder for both the 223 and the 308 it would be RL-15.

For the 44 Magnum, I'd go with Blue Dot or H110/Win. 296.

 

[jmr40]

My go-to 308 powder is Varget. But I've also gotten excellent, and almost identical, results with RL15, 4064, and 4895. I chose Varget simply because of those it is generally easier to find and is somewhat less sensitive to temperature changes.

I don't try to use 1 powder for multiple cartridges. You end up with less than ideal performance from at least one and probably all of them.

The 1:10 twist will work just fine with any bullet 150-230 gr. You could probably do well even with lighter bullets.

 

[Joshboyfutre]

Hey thanks for the speedy responses and info guys!! I'm gonna write all these weights and loads and stuff down and start experimenting! Definately narrowed the powder options down, which can b overwhelming. One more question.
-what are the reasons for using heavy or light bullets, different weights I should say, for target shooting? Is there a certain way I want to go for accuracy? I know what the differences are when it come to defensive use of different weight (for pistols anyway) but not much else.

 

[Cheesemaker]

Not really much more to add. The fellas covered it well.

Another thumbs up for RL15 - but there are a lot of good powders mentioned above. 4064, H4895, Varget, BL-C(2) are all in my 223/308 powder closet.

My go to bullet is the Sierra MatchKing 168gr in my 1:10 Barrett MRAD 308.

 

[LiveLife]

what are the reasons for using heavy or light bullets

Many claim 168 gr bullets are more susceptible to transonic effects (as bullet slows down from supersonic speed to below 1126 fps and lose stability) and more suitable for 600-800 yards and 175 gr bullets for beyond 800 yards.

I like H4895/IMR4895 with 168 gr bullets and they are readily in stock - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=10274220#post10274220

With 175 gr bullets, slower burning RL-15.

Varget works well with both bullet weights but harder to find in stock.

168/175 gr HPBT bullets are more accurate in general but cost more than 147/150 gr FMJ which are cheaper for plinking.

 

[Orcon]

In terms of bullet choices, there are a lot for the 308. Military style FMJ bullets are fine for torso-size targets from 300 to 550 yards or so, depending on your ability. If you want to focus on accuracy your best bet is to look at match grade bullets. Sierra match kings are kind of the gold standard in terms of accuracy but Burger and Hornady Amax bullets are nothing to sneeze at either.

Before you go out and load up supplies though, pick a goal. Line out parametets that you want a load to meet and choose components base on those requirements rather than building a load and then trying to find a purpose for it.

Do some reading on ballistics and bullet design too!

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Like already said, you will be hard pressed to find a better powder for the .308 than IMR4064. Varget seems to work very well too but I have not personally used it. I'm not a fan of 4350 in the .308 even though it's my favorite powder for the 30-06. You are in luck because like the 30-06 the .308 is not a picky cartridge to load.

 

[Kaldor]

Im going to say IMR 8208 XBR

Why? Because it actually meters worth a crap. Varget and some of the other long stick powders are fantastic, but are a total pain in the ... to weigh if you want to reload in any volume without having a ChargeMaster or two. Works well for 223 and 308 for me for bullets from 50gr to 75gr in 223 and 125gr to 175gr in 308.

 

[gotboostvr]

I have very good results in .556 in a few rifles, and 308 win RL-15.
Very easy to find good loads for, seems to have a wide "sweet spot". Reports are of slightly higher velocity than Varget in 308, but that's not why I chose it.
I chose it, cause that was what the guy at the counter suggested when I first started reloading.
I've played with IMR3031 and 4064, and didn't impress me any over what I was already getting, but different primers or bullets may change that.
With 168gr SMK or 165 SGK and the same load of RL-15, I have the same zero. Good (SGK) to amazing (SMK)accuracy and good performance on any realistic game animals I'd be hunting anyways (SGK).
Big fan of those combos. Thankfully the bullets are visibly different, so I don't do anything different except seat a different bullet.
It's like I really do have one load that does it all

 

[Grumulkin]

This is my load for 150 gr. bullets. IMR 4064 would probably work as well but doesn't meter nearly as well.



A load for 168 gr. bullets.



This was a little experiment using the 150 Remington Core Lokt load pictured above. I wanted to see if by using the calculated trajectory I could adjust the MOA on my Nightforce scope for different ranges. I shot one bullet each at 200, 300 and 400 yards. The above was shot at 200 yards.



Three hundred yards.



Four hundred yards.



My load for 110 grain bullets. The above group was shot with 3 different cases. Interestingly, my gun shoots 110 grain to 180 grain bullets to about the same place at 100 yards.



I was skeptical when I heard about an alleged good load with IMR 3031 so decided to try it. At 100 yards it's great. At 200 yards, precision falls off quite a bit faster than it should but it's still good enough that a deer would easily be in the bag at that range.