Powder to load 308

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Take a look at any reloading manual and you'll see a pretty wide range of powders that can be used in the .308 Winchester. Generally medium burning rate powders work well.

What is the best one, and charge weight? That will depend on YOUR rifle. Some rifles shoot certain combinations significantly better than they shoot others. The only real way to know is to try them in your rifle.
 
I am going to give a pitch to say the "baseline" powder for the 308 cartridge is IMR 4895. When the cartridge was being developed, IMR 4895 was the propellant.

History of T65 Cartridge

Reference: page 49 Oct 1973 American Rifleman

The preliminary drawing for the experimental cal 30 short cartridge was completed at Frankford Arsenal on Dec 12 1944, under the nomenclature Cartridge Ball, Cal. 30, T65. The T designation indicated a test items. The preliminary load development work was done at Aberdeen Proving Ground early in 1945.

On March 6, 1945, Frankford Arsenal was directed to produce 15,000 T65 cartridges for experimental test barrel firing. Manufacture of this ammunition, using IMR propellant, was completed in August 1945. This loading gave an average instrumental velocity of 2600 fps at 78 ft from the muzzle.

After the initial production by Frankford Arsenal, development of the T65 cartridge continued with the assistance of Olin Mathieson chemical Corp and Remington Arms Co. On Dec 15 1953, the final form of the T65 cartridge, the T65E3, was adopted as the 7.62 mm NATO by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations of Belgium, Canada, France, United Kingdom, and the United States. Formal standardization of this round as a U.S. rifle-caliber military cartridge occurred in August 1954.
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So, first choice for the 308 Win ought to be any of the powders in the 4985 series, that is IMR 4895, H4895 or AA2495. The Accurate Arms powder is a copy of IMR 4895 but stupidly they call it 2495 and confuse everyone. It is my opinion that H4895 is the most advanced powder of this series but they all shoot outstandingly. I have shot HM scores at 600 yards with all of these powders.

If you are shooting a gas gun, then a 4895 powder should be your first choice as the port pressure will be appropriate for your rifle. I am of the opinion that faster is better for gas guns. I shot three pounds of IMR 3031 in competition through my M1a and that is as fast as I would go.

If you are shooting a bolt gun, then top choices are IMR 4064 and Varget. If you are using a bolt rifle just find all the Varget you can and use that. I think the Varget is the new baseline powder for the 308 cartridge, though, it is a bit slow for a gas gun. IMR 4064 was an old staple, but the powder is long grained, so is IMR 3031, and neither throws worth a hoot. Varget however, is short grained and throws as well as IMR 4895.

As has been said, the 308 cartridge is easy to load for and the number of powders that will shoot well is far more than what I have listed. These are just my favorites.
 
I have had no luck with Varget. I am shooting 168 H Match. Also had no luck in it in 30-06 though my brother did well in at least one gun with it (150s)

Accurate 4064 (also on sale) has been the best so far and very closely IMR4895. I am still playing with setup. Getting sub 1 inch groups and some really good 4 shot groups (I think the waver is me).

Accurate 4064 was on sale so got that.

I am trying 2495 (got it accidently) but have not shot it yet (range closed for Dec)

I am shooting bolt action by the way
 
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Was that 3 shots?

Quote:
150 gr ballistic silvertip powered by 42.3 grs of RL15 can do this:
100 yds out of a $275 Savage Axis
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Yes 3 shots--but I've done other larger groups and the only difference is in my ability to time and hold the shots correctly. I think this group was around .3 MOA. I have done lots of other 308 loads with the powders mentioned and have gotten really good results with them--but in my Savage RL15 stands noticeable apart in it's accuracy across the range of load weights from light to hot.

I once talked to the engineer of a bullet manufacturer and he told me an interesting thing which I've noticed to be mostly true over the years of hand-loading I've done; he said that about 90% of the time the best performing nodes in test ladders for hand-loads usually occur in the area around 10% above min and 10% below max
 
RL-15 has been my powder for years now. I don't shoot 150 gn bullets, so can't say how it works. I use 168 and 175 gn Serria Match. Very accurate, and for a powder most say is temp sensative, I have shot it from 80 above or more to 20 below and never noticed a difference. I will say for me anyhow- I have done a lot of messing around with it when I first got it. The 308 has been put into the cainet now for about 5 months due to the lack of GM210M primers. Have tried CCI-BR2 ( which are supposed to be same). They are not, for me any how.
Till GM210M come back the 308 will just take a break.
 
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