308 Ruger American accuracy.

Try working up the load to your rife maybe it does not like that load ?
Try premium factory ammo and compare ?

I don't know where to start. Something is bad wrong with the either the rifle, scope, mounts, or ammo. My best advice it to start isolating each of those components to eliminate each of them.

I'd double check the mounts 1st to ensure everything is tight. Same with the rifle,make sure it is in the stock correctly and everything is tight. I'd go with a proven scope next. It wouldn't hurt to try another brand of factory ammo.

I've had a chance to shoot 3-4 of those and own 2 of them. A 223 and 308. Every one has been able to shoot near or under 1" with just about any decent ammo. Cheap bulk 223 ammo is closer to 2", but good stuff right at 1".

Like JOJO said, I would try some premium factory ammo and see how it does. I know it stinks to buy factory ammo when you reload, but hey.. Once you've shot the box, you have 20 perfectly good fire formed pieces of brass to reload.

I havent been reloading for decades like some, but there are so many variables when reloading and some times the smallest things make the biggest difference.

I had a .243 savage shooting like garbage at 100 yards with handloads. Took the same bullet, primer, powder and brass, seated the bullet .020" further out, added .3 gns of powder(still well below max)... BOOM! 3/4" groups instead of 3"-4" groups.

Take a look at Hodgdons Reloading Data on their website. It doesnt list a load for H414 and a 150 gn bullet. I'm not saying its not possible, but their website doesnt offer a load for it. They only show 414 being used under heavier 160-190 gn bullets.

"Hornady 150 grain boat tail FMJ loaded over 49 gr of H414"
did you ladder test or work up this load ?
Hornady book does not show H414 for use in 308 , Hodgdon has data but you need to work up the load
safety first never guess when reloading

castile,
The best things you can do to maximize your accuracy potential is:
1) sort your brass according to headstamp
2) work your load up from staring load to maximum load.
3) take best grouping powder charge and adjust seating depth (OAL).
4) Shoot at least 1 box of match grade factory ammo to use as a baseline. Multiple boxes of ammo from multiple manufacturers would be better for comparison sake.

The tiny amount of data you have gathered so far only tells you how the particular recipe you are shooting is behaving in your particular rifle, nothing more.

Also, is the shooter capable of shooting .1 MOA or .2 MOA with a .308?

It's possible you have a lemon for a rifle, but at this early stage and with the minuscule amount of testing so far, I really doubt it.
In my personal experience, I have had rifles that were easy to load for that shot tiny groups, rifles that made me work to find their favorite fodder, and a few, very darn few, that would not shoot no matter what they were fed.

IMHO, some quality time at the loading bench and at the shooting range will pay-off.

Mixing headstamps/brands/military/commercial, will not give you your best groups.
If you're going for accuracy, that's an issue to correct right there.
Denis

H414 is not one of the favorite powders that competition shooters use in the .308 for accuracy. IME, the best powders for 150 grain bullets in the .308 for me have been RL15, WW748, BL-C(2), IMR4064, IMR8208, IMR4350, IMR3031, AA 4320, H4895, H335 - not necessarily in that order. My go-to-powder for 150 grain bullets is IMR4064 and for the 165/8 grainers is IMR4350.

This may not work for you, but it is a starting place if you want one. Expecting MOA in a budget priced rifle using a recipe and powder that is not used by the guys that shoot competitions is expecting way too much. I'm not saying it can't happen, but expecting it to happen is just asking to be grossly disappointed, IMHO.

I hope this helps.

I assume that your shooting your rifle enough to foul the barrel a little, and not cleaning it every few rounds.I have some rifles that don't get to shooting good till they have had 10,or 12 rounds thru them.5 inches is still a lot though.Is it shooting randomly around the target,or is it shooting in arc shaped patterns,or strings Iif it is it's a good indication of an incapatable load.

If all the shots were made without any adjustment being made to your scope between shots,then If your confident that you were having a good shooting day I would guess that you have a bad spring,or something loose in your glass. The guy that suggested trying a prooven scope is probably right..I have had loads that don't shoot good in my guns,but never just randomly all over the paper..

I wonder if the reason Hornady didn't include H414 load data was because it didn't work very well.

Another vote for changing the scope, maybe mounts/rings too.
I have a RA in 243 and was amazed by the rifles accuracy right out of the box with a not-expensive scope. just over 1" with factory ammo. I'm sure handloads would offer even more improvement.

The best load I have found for a Ruger Hawkeye .308 so far is a 155 gr. Sierra HPBT match bullet and 51 gr. of H414/Win760. They are the same powder. This load goes into about 1" for 5 shots @100 yards. I got this recipe off the Hodgdon web site.

Changing powders might turn a 2" gun into a 1" gun. If he is getting 5" groups at 100 yards there is something else seriously wrong and changing loads isn't gonna make up that much of a difference.

Look at the simple stuff 1st. Changing the load can help tweak accuracy, but there is something else going on for a rifle to shoot that bad. The RAR's have earned a reputation for excellent accuracy but it is always possible to get a lemon.

When you are shooting your groups are you resting the rifle on the forearm or on the barrel?

My first suspicion is the scope mounting. There are a lot of ways that can go haywire. You might want to make sure you have done all the following:

Check to see that the front screw on your base is not bottoming out against the barrel. Don't laugh. It happens, and is hard to find.

Do not attempt to mount the bases, rings, etc. without a torque screwdriver.

Use blue Loctite to secure the base mounting screws. If you do not, and torque them to spec, they will often work loose. You will lose accuracy before you can detect movement.

Insure that the rings are properly aligned. A short piece of 1" dowel works for this.

I'm not familiar with your particular rings, but if they are aluminum, the cross screws can easily be over tightened. The bond between the head of the cross screw and the ring will "pull through" and be below flush. This can easily be cured by gently knocking the screw back out, adding JB Weld to the head, and using the opposing nut to pull it flush. That's about what the manufacturers do in the first place.

Make sure the rifle is level, and the scope is level. Then add the top ring and gently tighten. Check eye distance, and when you are satisfied that the scope is properly positioned, secure the screws with blue Loctite and torque them to spec.

If you do all that, and it still shoots poorly, the next step is to use a known good scope. If it shoots poorly after that, then it's the rifle or ammo and not the optics.

Next thing to do is check the front and rear action screws to make sure they are torqued to spec, and you might secure them with blue Loctite. Beyond that, its things like barrel rubs.

And, as mentioned, shoot off a good rest and rest the forestock, not the barrel on the rest.

Good luck. Let us know how things work out.

Old Lyman accuracy load for 308: 150 bullet over 47 gr H380 (starting load)

Works fine in my semis, too.

M

My son bought a RA in 308 and it has a cheap Simmons 2-7x32 scope on it and it does 1" groups @ 100 yards with decent ammunition. I haven't started reloading for it (he's stationed overseas so I've taken custody of it for a couple of years) but that'll probably start in a couple of weeks.

With Federal 147 gr FMJBT loads, it's about a 2" gun. My guess is that something is wrong with the scope mounting as others have said. Something else to check is that the action screws are tight.

If the scope, mounts, and bases check out, try some off-the-shelf ammunition. It doesn't have to be premium, but avoid the bottom of the barrel loads. Some 150 or 165 grain hunting loads would work. And let someone else shoot the rifle for a couple of groups. Someone that you've seen shoot before. I made the mistake of letting someone shoot a "problem" rifle to see if the problem was the shooter (a.k.a. Me) and he could barely hit any of the targets at 100 yards. It wasn't just off-paper, it was off the entire target stand which was about 3' x 5'. He talked a good game and was good with handguns, but horrific with rifles.

What primers are you using with the H414? I had a 30-06 load with H414/W760 that I originally worked up with CCI-200 primers and it was ok, but nothing to write home about. I switched to Winchester Magnum primers, re-did the workup and the groups were cut more than in half. That usually won't turn a 5" shooter into a 1" shooter though. The problem is probably mechanical.

And try some IMR4064 or Varget if you can find them. IMR4064 is the accuracy powder in most of my rifles from 257 Roberts to 30-06 and 8mm Mauser.

Matt