308WIN 168SMK 2700 fps recipe

[Paddycakes]

Definitely more realistic than my experiment. Yes changing the magnification is a must. I am expecting to have a 3 field adjustment under 700 yards based on projection, with the 200 yard dot truing at 12x, 300-400 yards truing at 14x, and 500-600 yards truing at 15x - roughly of course. I suppose with some more leg work I could go so far as to find the in-between-the-lines zoom magnifications to intersect the dots and shots for my favorite round and mark the turrets for repeatability. Or maybe I ought to throw my prostaff nikoplex back on there and just do it like a man.

On a separate and more important note, what does it feel like - how do you really know that you've loaded the cherry round for your rifle? Do you measure it purely by groups, or are there other signs and feelings that register a successful load up?

 

[Metal god]

How do you really know ??

Yea , it's group size for the most part . I'd add the more shots you can put in that little group . The likely hood of that load really being the one goes up greatly . 3 shots don't say much . 5 shots is good to get you started but 10 shot or more groups will tell you what's really going on . I do 5 shot groups at first to narrow down the loads then once I find a couple I think will do well I load 20 each and do two 10 shot groups to confirm the loads is in fact a keeper .

I have a rifle that seems to like a velocity more then any single component . It's a 308 and if the velocity is 2560fps give or take . It shoots pretty good groups regardless of the components . OK not totally true but generally speaking when loading match quality components . That velocity seems to do well with SMK , A-Max bullets and a few different powders in any combo . There are some obvious reasons why that is . Bullet weights are close as well as the burn rates of the powders . I'm sure I could go look at my log book and find some really bad groups at that velocity . How ever over time you start to see patterns emerge and that is one of them for me .

I believe I can feel the rifle stressing out when I'm close to max pressure . You get to know the rifle your loading for and over time it can feel like an extension of your self . I'm sorry though I can't explain the feeling , It's just something you pick up on . I should add that's not how I check for high pressure . It's just something I've noticed over time .