.308 all weather, all purpose FMJ round

[EBRDude]

I lurk alot, but don't post much. Anyway, here are the components I have:
WW brass
Hornady&Sierra 150 FMJ
Varget
H4895
Reloader15
Benchmark

What I want is a all purpose, go anywhere round for my DPMS AP4 .308
I was thinking about 46gr of Varget, but this needs a COAL of around 2.8 to be safe. Is Military ball around 2.80? Anyone have issues with long OAL and gas guns?

Thanks for the help people.

 

[Sistema1927]

"All weather"?

Do you anticipate dunking these under water?

 

[rbernie]

46gr of Varget is MAX, and I have a bunch of rifles that'll pop primers on that kind of load.

My pet 308 do-it-all load right now is a Hornady 165gr SP over 44.5gr of Varget, crimped in the canelure for an OAL of 2.750. It shoots well in anything I've got (including a couple of Savage 99s and an Encore barrel that all have really tight throats) and is knocking-on-MOA accurate. I don't yet have an AR10 to verify that it'll cycle the action reliably, but I have no reason to believe that it won't.

My AR10 should come in next week, in fact - we'll see how well this does in it.

 

[EBRDude]

No underwater, but I want to make sure it works OK in different temp extremes.

I have a recipe from a loadbook that lists Varget 44.0gr to start and 47.0c gr MAX. Pressure is 59973psi. That is with COAL of 2.800
Velocity is 2970 from a 24" barrel with the MAX load. 2700 with the start load.

Anyway, I will run a few with 45gr Varget crimped in the cannelure and see how they do. I will report back if they function reliably in my AP4.

 

[rbernie]

As an interesting aside - seating deeper (shorter OAL) does NOT necessarily increase pressure. With my Encore's short throat, I was getting higher peak pressure signs when seating 150gr-165gr bullets out to 2.80" than I did when seating the bullets to an OAL of 2.75". I can only presume that letting the bullet get a wee bit of a running start before engaging the rifling lowers peak pressures more than reducing the case capacity increases it.

Does this make sense?

 

[EBRDude]

Yes it does. Thanks for the input. I loaded 44.5gr Varget and seated them out to 2.775
They worked perfectly, and were on the stout side. A wee bit of muzzle blast with the 16in barrel.
So, now I will load 1000rds to plink with and store some.
I have to recommend the Lee Classic Turret Press. It works excellent and is way faster than a single stage. The primer feeder is nice too.


Anyway, thanks for the feedback. I appreciate those who are wiser than I sharing their knowledge.

 

[Pixsurguy]

"As an interesting aside - seating deeper (shorter OAL) does NOT necessarily increase pressure. With my Encore's short throat, I was getting higher peak pressure signs when seating 150gr-165gr bullets out to 2.80" than I did when seating the bullets to an OAL of 2.75". I can only presume that letting the bullet get a wee bit of a running start before engaging the rifling lowers peak pressures more than reducing the case capacity increases it.

Does this make sense?"

Roy Weatherby thought so way back in the 40's, which is why all of his magnum rifles have a far longer leade (freebore) than any standard, Remington, Ruger, Winchester, etc. bolt rifle. Of course, the benchrest fraternity will tell you that a long freebore will also hurt accuracy.

 

[Pixsurguy]

Primer and bullet sealant

Re the "all weather" aspect of this thread:

I've seen ads for some kind of a liquid that is supposed to seal out water, etc. when used on loaded rounds at the primer and the junction of the bullet and case neck.

This is supposed to be better than the awful tar stuff that some military bullets are sealed with.

Anybody have any experience with this stuff?

 

[Grump]

If "ALL WEATHER" Goes to 1,000 yards...

If "ALL WEATHER" Goes to 1,000 yards, I strongly suggest you either try out the M118/M72 bullets pulled from obsolete 7.62 and .30-06 match ammo, IF they shoot okay from your rifle.

IIRC, they are still running about $12/100 from Jeff Bartlett and his competitors. Overpriced in my opinion, but some bolt guns shoot 'em to MOA all day long.

My M1 was limited to about 1.75 MOA all day long with them.

As an alternative, try 175 MKs if money is no object (they penetrate almost as well as FMJ, but don't expect AP performance out of any of them!), or some 180-grain FMJBTs. Sierra's 180 MatchKing was originally FMJBT, rather than HPBT....Shop around...

The 173s and 180s will shoot NOT AS FLAT as your 150gr pills, but will drift a whole heckofalot less. Beyond 200 yards, that can make a huge difference, as long as you have your elevations down, too.

 

[EBRDude]

200 meters or less.
I have a dedicated 200 meters and beyond rifle in .308

 

[enfield]

Why don't you shoot NATO ball? It's weatherproof, cheap, reliable and available.

 

[EBRDude]

I prefer to roll my own. It relaxes me after a day of stupid people.

 

[Grump]

I prefer to roll my own. It relaxes me after a day of stupid people.

Boy, do I ever hear you on that one! The world can be going to the hot place in a handbasket, and I'll be happy as a clam to sit down and knock out a 'unnert rifle rounds in a nice 20-minute break.

Zen-like, this is.