Pet 308 load

K

kilotanker22

New member
Hello all,

Just picked up a .308 win. After I replace the stock and stuff I plan to start a load workup.

The intention is to use either Sierra Tipped Game king 165 gr. Sierra 165 grain HPBT game king. ( one of the best shooting bullets I have ever shot) Or the 168 or 178 grain eld/eld-x.....

What are you guys' favorite powders for consistency with these bullets? I have had excellent results with IMR 4064 in the past in 308.
 
For punching paper or ringing steel, 42.5 gr IMR-4064, Federal 210 primer, Federal brass 168 gr Nosler HPBT Custom Competition.
 
Kilo,
There are many accurate combos of powder/bullet out there.
Most people that shoot matches will tell you Varget or RL15.
 
My pet 308 load is 40.8 gr. IMR 4064 under a Sierra 168gr MK , very light an accurate load for 200 yard only paper punching . As I'm sure you know your rifle will let you know what it likes best , your using it more for a hunting load , IMR 4064 , RL15 , Varget and most in that burning rate I'm sure are good , just pick 3 one pounders and start shooting .
PS
Clean your barrel with each powder change .
 
I have a good deal of powder available right now. This is gonna be primarily a hunting load, but I do shoot a good bit at the range when I have time.

Also I will be using CCI 250 Large rifle magnum primers, because I have a -CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED- ton of them.
 
4064 and Varget (which was originally made to compete with 4064, but in a more temperature-stable version). As far as an actual pet load goes, the Federal load of 43.5 grains of IMR4064 behind the Sierra 168-grain SMK, or it's Varget equivalent of 44.1 grains (current production powder) have always worked well for me. YMMV, so work up from the starting loads (41.5 grains for 4064 and 42.0 grains for Varget), but sweet spots in my rifles with that bullet have always landed about there. The Sierra 165's should be very close to happy with either one. The 168-grain ELD's are longer and, if seated deeper, will likely prefer a little less powder, but who knows until you try. Both loads are around the middle of Hodgdon's published load range for them. The 178-grain ELD will probably want about 2 grains less, but, again, try it and see.
 
Been there a few times , dump load of them my have been better . Never substituted magnum primers for regular in rifle cases .
 
Middle of the road load w a 150 grain bullet (blasting bullets), IMR 4064 or Varget, and a WLR work great for me in the semi autos.
 
I have two .308 Savages with essentially the same barrel.
One shoots 150 and 155 grain bullets best and prefers Sierra Tipped Match Kings.
The other shoots 175, 195 and 200 grain bullets best and prefers Sierra Tipped Match Kings.

I seat the Tipped Match Kings out further than the Sierra recommended Match Kings O.A.L. by about 0.080 inches to keep the jump to the rifling the same as for SMKs.
I'd recommend that you check the base to ogive measurements of the Game Kings against the untipped Game Kings and you might find that they are the same. If so, seating them out will maintain the jump since the O.A.L won't be the same if you seat the ogives to maintain the same jump.

For me, seating out with the Tipped Match Kings improves accuracy average but about 0.2 inches on average.

As for powders, I have gotten the best results with IMR4166 Enduron followed by H4895, IMR4064 and N140 in that order. Spread of average group size from best to worse performing powder is about 0.05 to 0.07 inches with the same seated out preferred weight TMK bullets in the two rifles respectively among those powders so all the powders tested work pretty well.
 
The 308 ain't hard to load for. I've gotten excellent results with almost every 150-180 gr bullet I've tried. I usually settle on a near max load of Varget. But I've done as well with RL15 and 4064.

I prefer Varget or RL15 because it is more stable in temperature changes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top