Loading the .308 finally.

[anothernewb]

After much thorough searching and haggling, I have finally been able to secure all the necessary components to load .308 - at "sane" prices.

Managed to scrape together a can of BLC 2, 200 rounds of 150 boat tail "blems" from midway, Winchester primers and about 250 cases, mostly rem but a few federal and lapua in there.

Looking forward to working up a load for a bolt action savage. After trying several types and weights of ammunition, it looks like my particular gun prefers 150 grain bullets. At least as far as factory ammo goes. Surprisingly, garden variety Remington 150 core lokts shoot as well as federal gold medal match168's for me. (within 225 yards - max length of my gun range)

Only have one gun in .308 so, at least tailoring a load is simplified to a degree.

Hope I get it dialed in before I run out of my lone can of BLC-2 though!

 

[velocette]

Beware as you work up loads, the various brands of brass you say you will use will have significant affect upon the pressures you experience.
Federal brass is the heaviest with the smallest internal capacity, even less than LC military brass!
Winchester and Hornady are the lightest with the most internal capacity.
I suggest when you develop your loads, that you select your brass from any brand, but stick with it. If you develop a load in Winchester brass that is perfectly safe and accurate, you may find that the same load in Federal brass is way too hot.

Roger

 

[jmr40]

I wouldn't call it a significant effect on pressure. I have several hundred pieces of 308 brass made by various manufacturers. Unless you are working right on the edge of a max load you won't see enough difference to matter.

I often use 47 gr of Varget with 150's which is a max load. With Winchester, Remington, or Hornady brass my loads all chronograph pretty much the same. I'll see 30-40 fps more speed with Federal brass which leads me to drop down to 46.5 gr when using Federal brass. This way velocity ends up being pretty close to the same.

This is with a max load. When I'm loading more middle of the road loads I don't worry so much about it.

I would suggest separating the brass though if you have not already. I don't always use the same bullets or bullet weights. I may load 150 Hornady's in Winchester brass, 165 Nosler Ballistic tips in Hornady brass, and 130 TTSX's in Federal brass etc. Keepng the same loads in the same brass helps with consistent accurcy.

 

[06]

Seldom load inferior calibers(LOL) but when I do 51s I usually use 150 or 168s.

 

[pilotlight]

Beware as you work up loads, the various brands of brass you say you will use will have significant affect upon the pressures you experience.

I'd only worry about this if you were working up close-to-Max loads with a chrono. I load for a DPMS LR-308 and always stay slightly above starting charge to slightly below medium charges. NEVER had a problem; only have had amazing results! Let the barrel do the work for you. I have loaded close to 10K rounds of 308 alone for 8 different semi-autos.

 

[MtnCreek]

My experience differs from some on win to fed brass (maybe chamber or my particular loads). When near max, subbing Fed for Win brass has given me obvious over pressure. Keep an eye on fouling. BC2 is a little dirty. YMMV.

 

[anothernewb]

for now I'm loading for fun, and of course, max accuracy. I'm assuming that I won't be bumping up against max pressures

I've heard that blc2 is dirty too - but its' what I got. When something else becomes available locally I will try that.

 

[Haxby]

46 gr blc-2, and if those bullets have a cannelure, try seating them there. Might not need any dialing in. I haven't used blc-2 for a while, but I don't remember it being especially dirty.

 

[Kachok]

I like Varget for my 308, but a word of caution though, that stuff can give you a nasty pressure spike well below max load, I cannot use more then 44.5gr in mine with 150s but it does shoot like a dream. Tried BL-C 2 with my 165gr but my rifle seems to not like that bullet weight for some odd reason, never tried it with my 150s because the Varget and RL-15 shot so darn good.