benchrest shooting at 200 yards Max. With my Rem 700, new match barrel trued action. After a few small bumps in the road with mount & scope that you guy's helped me with,Thank You, I'm up & running. Before I was loading IMR 4064 41.5- 42.0 gr. under a Sierra 168 gr. HPBT bullet. Started the new set up with 40.2 also shooting tight groups. I'm kind of babying my new set up, would rather keep it on the low side being I'm shooting no longer then 200 yards. What's your thoughts, IMR 4064 has a long grain so it fills the case up pretty good. Chris
308 Target load
- Thread starter cw308
- Start date
Sharkbite, I don't load by magizine, I shoot 1 at a time so OAL is not a problem. With this barrel it has a short throat so mag. spects would work fine. I'm just looking for on the low side accurate round, being i'm not shooting long distance. Do you full or neck size. When preping my (FC)brass I go the whole 9 yards, cleaning,uniforming,trimming, & run out. I don't neck turn, don't know if all that helps but my rounds look good.
When the .308 Win was "the" cartridge for high power rifle matches with bolt guns, anywhere between 41 and 44 grains of IMR4064 was a load that shot very accurate in most barrels for 168's. Between 40 and 43 for 180's did equally as well. So, 'tis my opinion that somewhere in between is great for 175's.
In all my barrels worn out, it didn't matter what charge weight in that range was used; they all shot excellent. Don't go more than 10% under listed max charge weights else the fired case probably won't fill the chamber and it's primer may be stuck out a few to several thousandths.
You may have to shoot at least 30-shot test groups to see any significant difference in accuracy for each charge weight.
In all my barrels worn out, it didn't matter what charge weight in that range was used; they all shot excellent. Don't go more than 10% under listed max charge weights else the fired case probably won't fill the chamber and it's primer may be stuck out a few to several thousandths.
You may have to shoot at least 30-shot test groups to see any significant difference in accuracy for each charge weight.
I was neck sizing only, but have a cpl 308 bolt guns now. I dont want to have to sort ammo by gun so ive started FL sizing my brass. I'll load for the most accurate outta the FN and just be happy with that ammo in the Savage. The Savage is mostly for sub-sonic shooting with a can, so....
I could load longer then mag COL and just single load rounds. Might eek out a LITTLE more accurate ammo that way... By playing with distance off the lands. Its not worth the small increase to turn it into a single-shot
I could load longer then mag COL and just single load rounds. Might eek out a LITTLE more accurate ammo that way... By playing with distance off the lands. Its not worth the small increase to turn it into a single-shot
fatwhiteboy
New member
You may want to work up a load using Retumbo powder. Retumbo is stabilized so that it performs consistently at hot or cold temperatures. I use 168gr Barnes TSX over 42gr of Retumbo as a hunting load....
My most accurate load is 40.3gr IMR 4064 pushing 178gr A-MAX . I've tried 4064 with SMKs and have had good results but nothing like the 178gr A-MAX . I'm in a bit of denial on that but so far it has been what it has been .
I've tried to find the next node up to 42.5gr but nothing shot as well as 40.3gr . I did just find out that my Sierra book and IMRs load data are quite different . The Sierra books Max's is only 1gr-ish more then the IMR data's min load with there max load being almost 3.5gr over Sierras max .
Thats when I get confused about the 10% rule . Who's 10% are we talking about . I had/have a great IMR 4064 load of 38.5gr with the 178gr A_MAX as well . But that's well below IMR's 10% but right in the middle of my Sierra book
Yes I know I'm using A-MAX bullets here but the data points I'm using are both using SMKs and the point is the same . FWIW my Hornady books max 4064 load is 41.3gr Thats 4.3gr below IMRs max and below there min .
So 10% below are as follows
IMR 41.6gr
Sierra 38.3gr
Hornady 37.4gr
Things that make you go hhmmm
I've tried to find the next node up to 42.5gr but nothing shot as well as 40.3gr . I did just find out that my Sierra book and IMRs load data are quite different . The Sierra books Max's is only 1gr-ish more then the IMR data's min load with there max load being almost 3.5gr over Sierras max .
Thats when I get confused about the 10% rule . Who's 10% are we talking about . I had/have a great IMR 4064 load of 38.5gr with the 178gr A_MAX as well . But that's well below IMR's 10% but right in the middle of my Sierra book
Yes I know I'm using A-MAX bullets here but the data points I'm using are both using SMKs and the point is the same . FWIW my Hornady books max 4064 load is 41.3gr Thats 4.3gr below IMRs max and below there min .
So 10% below are as follows
IMR 41.6gr
Sierra 38.3gr
Hornady 37.4gr
Things that make you go hhmmm
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bamaranger
New member
Varget
I would suggest you give Varget a try as a bench/target powder. In the small circle of guys that I shot F-T/R with, Varget was THE powder. It is very tolerant of temperature swings as well.
I use 4064 in all my .308 field loads......FMJ and SP hunting ammo. But Varget goes to matches and gives best consistent accuracy in my heavy match rifle.
If I could just afford to go to more matches.
I would suggest you give Varget a try as a bench/target powder. In the small circle of guys that I shot F-T/R with, Varget was THE powder. It is very tolerant of temperature swings as well.
I use 4064 in all my .308 field loads......FMJ and SP hunting ammo. But Varget goes to matches and gives best consistent accuracy in my heavy match rifle.
If I could just afford to go to more matches.
My old Parker/Hale barreled VZ24 Mauser shoots cloverleafs with Nosler 155HPBT, CCI#34, and 1 grain below max RL15(my rifle- not book max) in Federal match cases(2850 fps).
I'm not good enough anymore to expect better than that. Last winter 4 shots over 3 days span @ 325+/- yards, cold barrel, variable wind, bipod over a rest== 3 hits on crows.
I'm not good enough anymore to expect better than that. Last winter 4 shots over 3 days span @ 325+/- yards, cold barrel, variable wind, bipod over a rest== 3 hits on crows.
4064 & 4895 is the go to powder for 308s and '06 in target shooting.
41.5 for 4895 and 42 for 4064 in 308 using both 168s and 189/175 SMK's.
Normally all guns are different and require different loads but when you have to load for 12 M14s, these loads shot well in all the rifles.
41.5 for 4895 and 42 for 4064 in 308 using both 168s and 189/175 SMK's.
Normally all guns are different and require different loads but when you have to load for 12 M14s, these loads shot well in all the rifles.
Use 1 grain increments shooting 20 shots per test group. I don't thing any less shots per test group with commercial factory barrels is statistically significant.
If you shoot two groups with the same load and they're more than 10% different in size, they don't have enough shots to be statistically valid for the loads accuracy to be counted on all the time. But the smaller one may be more emotionally significant.
Most cartridges have a 5% spread in charge weight below max where an accuracy difference across half grain increments need 50+ shot groups to be significant.
If you shoot two groups with the same load and they're more than 10% different in size, they don't have enough shots to be statistically valid for the loads accuracy to be counted on all the time. But the smaller one may be more emotionally significant.
Most cartridges have a 5% spread in charge weight below max where an accuracy difference across half grain increments need 50+ shot groups to be significant.
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I agree that .1gr increments is a bit small to work at first . I do .5 first then .2gr to fine tune around what worked best from the .5gr testing .
Like Bart said , you will need a large number of shots in the group to tell you for sure how that load will work . I don't like shooting 10 or 20 shots at one target so I over lay my targets so I'm shooting a a new target every 5 shots . If you use the exact same target and perfectly place over the last target you shot . The bottom target will have a 20 shot group after shooting 4 separate 5 shot groups
Like Bart said , you will need a large number of shots in the group to tell you for sure how that load will work . I don't like shooting 10 or 20 shots at one target so I over lay my targets so I'm shooting a a new target every 5 shots . If you use the exact same target and perfectly place over the last target you shot . The bottom target will have a 20 shot group after shooting 4 separate 5 shot groups
I'm in the middle of working up a load with imr 4064 and the 178 grain amax. So far I've had better results with pp200mr and imr 3031 but just when I find a load that works and I want to stick with I can't find that powder anymore. I'm spending way too much time working up loads with this rifle it's frustrating, but atleast I will have found a good load with a variety of powders.
Coldbeer what was your start load ? If it was above 40gr I'd give 40.5 a try . That shot well in most rifles I shot it in . So far 4 or so and that 38.5gr load in the pic was crazy accurate but it is more then 10% less then max load and nowhere near the velocity I was looking for but out to 300yds it's sub 1/2 MOA . I have not seen any primer issues when using that load . It appears I'm getting the case to fully expand .
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