max grains with reloader 15 and 175 smk?

[Southernsorrow]

What is the min max using reloader 15 with 175gr. Sierra match king or similar bthp 175s in .308? Not trying to replicate damn military ammo I'm just using hornady brass cci benchrest primers oal of 2.801... some stuff says max grains 41.3 some show up to 45 grains....

 

[918v]

It depends on your case volume. Not all 308 brass is the same. The 45gr max is prolly for Winchester brass that weighs 158grs. If your Hornady brass weighs the same then you can use that data. If your brass weighs more, like 166grs, then reduce the max by half a grain. Of course, work up to it using a chrono cuz powder burning rate varies from lot to lot.

 

[USSR]

With Hornady brass, the Max sure isn't going to be 41.3gr. However, that would be a good place to start if you were using Lake City brass. What brass you are using is crucial with the .308. When I did load development work with the Hornady 178gr Amax in Hornady Match brass, my RL15 load was 46.5gr for 2750fps out of my 26" barreled FN SPR.

Don

 

[Southernsorrow]

I was thinking on playing with:

with horn brass 175 SMk and cci primers using:

Reloader 15 at 39.5 - 44.3gr. "I'll probably start around 41.3 grains and work up from there" which will give me about 177 - 158 loads per lb of powder. I should be good pressure and FPS wise about 43.0-43.5 grains since my .308's usually perform better closer to high med to max grains.

unless there is any advice against using my suggested above min-to max ?

 

[Southernsorrow]

I finally broke down and ordered new gen reload manuals from amazon but won't deliver until july 11-14. I ordered a hornady, sierra ,lyman. book. for Vihtavuori and hodgdon I just use there yearly updated online database.

just wanted some load data so I can get started with my new powder I got fedexed today and hit the range tomorrow or the next day

 

[Southernsorrow]

so am I good 39.5 -44.3gr RL-15 with 175 SMK ? also I just weighed my cases my hornady match cases weigh 173 grains ea and the 20 owinchester brand I have weigh avg'd 160 grains ea. both were spotlessly cleaned before weighing

 

[918v]

Your scale must be off. Win brass does not weigh 160grs unless you're weighing them with primers. Hornady weighs 166grs empty unless you have an early lot which weighs the same as Win.

 

[FLIGHT762]

I have some newer lots of Winchester cases that do weigh 165 grs. (without primers). My older lots of Winchester brass weighs 158 grs. like the earlier lots of Hornady brass. Newer lots of Hornady brass with crimped primers weighs 168 grs. (without primers).

 

[Southernsorrow]

will re-clean and weigh them again I guess. was using cheapass $30 digital powder scale from midway, I use my boom type rcbs 505 aswell maybe I'll stick the brass in that somehow and see what they weigh haha

The hornady brass is 1x brass from 6 20 round boxes of hornady 168gr. match ammo I shot I saved brass from. the 20 winchester brass is new unfired brass I got from a friend

Edit: are you guys weighing trimmed brass ? this scale can't be off that much and the cases look pretty spotless. unless I just forgot to zero it or something.

 

[Southernsorrow]

back on main topic am I good at 39.5 -44.3gr RL-15 with 175 SMK ?

 

[USSR]

Southernsorrow,

Don't know why you keep mentioning 39.5gr of RL15, as that is going to be an incredibly low velocity load. I would suggest you start at 43.0gr and work up from there while checking the results on your chronograph.

Don

 

[Southernsorrow]

my sierra book 4th edition says 35.7 - 42.2 where as online info goes up to 45+ grains of RL-15 is why I need some updated load data

 

[joustin]

Sierra is known to have lower loads, they test until it is good enough and they don't pressure test

 

[Southernsorrow]

that's what I was thinking

 

[Southernsorrow]

going by online data I should be good 39.5 -44.3gr "some people list up to 46 grains" but not even going to bother loading that high. I was gonna just load 4-5 rounds each in .3 - .4 increments and wait for it to cool down some outside and go test "it's literally 101 degrees right now with wicked high humidty"

sierra start load lists in the 35 grain range but only get about 2200fps from that I've loaded smk's and nosler custom comps with varget and n140 already and they always like to run med-hot to hot.

Next thing I'm buying is a chronograph to save myself some time in the future :-\

 

[Southernsorrow]

I'll probably start around 41~ and work up from there.

 

[Southernsorrow]

gettin weird results, checked it twice... tight group with 42.2 and 43.8 grains ..... anything in between group opens up.... thought maybe somthing got written down wrong or mis-loaded somehow re-did those exact loads with another 4 rounds each and same size groups again... no pressure signs as yet but the barrel and brass does get quite a bit warmer at 43.8 vs 42.2...

 

[Southernsorrow]

if I'm going to get same accuracy I'll stick with lower grains get more per lb and easier on brass. but 42.2 or 43.8 so far "almost" as good as I get with 44.0 varget

 

[USSR]

So, what are your velocities at those charge weights?

Don

 

[Dave P]

and what kind of groups??

 

[Southernsorrow]

kinda late to the party with info but groups about .380 at 100 yards using 41.0 in newer hornady brass .. using older hornady brass "the thinner stuff" I achieve the same results with 41.5 of rl-15... I went up to 43.0 without any signs of over expansion of cases or "sticky" bolt issue but over 41.5 in the new brass I get flat primers. which is weird I can shoot 44.6 of varget and the spent cases would burn the crap outta my hand without having flat primers or over-pressure signs but rl-15 will flatten a primer with ice cold cases.

I've got 150 older hornady brass and just acquired 250 newer made hornady marked "Hornady 308 WIN match". not the older brass doesn't say WIN on it and is much thinner at around the same weight as winchester cases.

All in I still like varget better but I am getting pretty good results with RL-15. Downside mostly is "even without a chrono" I can tell I'm not making near as much FPS as I was with 44.6 gr. of varget but the accuracy atleast at 100-200 yards is spot on. This stuff is funky dirty though, I cleaned after 60 rounds and patches were kinda like mud coming out but accuracy held up even when dirty....

 

[stubbicatt]

Southern Sorrow, I have not experienced the dirtiness with RL15 that you describe. Using Lapua "Palma" brass and CCI 450 primers at 43.3 grains under 175 match kings I get very consistent ammunition. Tinker a bit with seating depth and somewhere around that charge weight you may find your go to ammunition.

 

[Southernsorrow]

I can't get that high without turning my primers into flats... I can however go higher with nosler 175's for some reason ... with 175 SMKs almost kissing the lands , cci br primers and 41.3 rl15 it's pretty much same hole grouping at 100 yards. my largest group of the day was .380 I'm just using a savage 10FP w standard barrel not a match barrel.. I just put 3 bullets in the same hole at 92degrees F around 4 hours ago. will post a picture

I've since shot 20 rounds "this morning" and did a quick bore clean and only took 4 wet and 4 dry patches. one came out a little black, then grey with a tiny bit of blue, then grey again then clean didn't even use a brush. ... so I dunno wth was up with that last cleaning.... still using patch-out , and KG big bore and a coating of slip-2000 ewl down the bore "followed by a dry patch" when I'm done

 

[Southernsorrow]

oal 2.801 ogive 2.226

 

[Southernsorrow]

on a side note yes supposedly you can use around the same start/stop loads with rl-15 as varget but once again I can only get upto 41.0 with rl-15 to stay grouped worth a damn and not get the flat primers. Have had a few people private message me over last few weeks telling me they use 43.5 . 44.0 etc.etc but * I * couldn't push that high.