reloading the 308

[wigmaster0 0]

Howdy gang I am new to reloading and I was wondering which powder and primers you all like the best. My press will be here in a few days as will my 308 dies. I have some basic FMJ 147 Winchester bullets, and I have a plethora of reloadable brass ready to go. I want to do it right and I figured go to the experts on this subject. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

[wigmaster0 0]

Wow I have had this post here for several days and no responses. Did my question stump everyone here? I now remember why I stopped coming to this site. Thanks for nothing.

[Norseman 0]

CCI 200 primers and 42 grains IMR 4895 powder. THe CCI primers are hard enough where they (hopefully) wont accidently go off from a light tap.

 

-E

[mtjccmotel 12]

I also use the Winchester 200 LR Primers with 42gn IMR4895 with some old Winchester 150gn silvertips (load works good for plinking). I have also loaded Hornady 165gn spirepoints on top of those loads. I found the flat base shot better than the boattails out of my 21" barrel. No scientific testing was done, just some plinking (don't read more into it).

[wigmaster0 0]

I also use the Winchester 200 LR Primers with 42gn IMR4895 with some old Winchester 150gn silvertips (load works good for plinking). I have also loaded Hornady 165gn spirepoints on top of those loads. I found the flat base shot better than the boattails out of my 21" barrel. No scientific testing was done, just some plinking (don't read more into it).

 

 

Thanks for getting back to me on this. Sorry for sounding snotty before .

[buckandaquarterquarterstaff 5]

cci primers and 44.5 grains of ramshot tac under a 165 grain hunting soft point. I find the ramshot powder far superior to 4895 in my opinion. It meters much better, offers reduced signs of pressure, and it's typically cheaper.

 

I use a light crimp from the lee factory crimp die. One trick is to crimp twice lightly, rotate the round a small amount so the high ridges of the first crimp are removed by the second pass. Not much pressure to the crimp, just a little pressure is enough to secure the bullet.

 

For best results, size and prime your cases then sort them by weight (primers typically have very very little weight difference, so don't bother adding another step to prime, unless your already doing it off the press, then weigh before priming). Also weigh and lot the bullets. Do each to the nearest one tenth of a grain. Your accuracy will improve dramatically. Hand weighing the charges also a good idea.

 

If you get everything in a box of 50 rounds to within 1 tenth of a grain (bullets, cases, charges) you will then get the best out of that particular bullet with your gun. Note that you probably need to sort out at least 1000 quality bullets and cases to get 50 possible "loads" that weigh within a tenth of a grain.

 

Top quality target bullets are within about two grains of variation in a box of 100. Quality hunting bullets might be within 4 grains. FMJ surplus is typically within 7 grains per lot of 1000. Weighing a couple thousand bullets and separating them into bins for each 1/10 grain will give you a hands on experience in the interweave of statistics and quality control. Typically you get something that looks awfully like a bell curve. From boxes of quality bullets (typically jacketed soft points for me), I use the two standard deviation bullets for fouling shots. One standard to two for rapid fire drills, and the within one standard deviation stuff for go time (or bambi's father). If you really want to get accurate, measure the bullet ogives and sort them out by that too. I keep the FMJ surplus stuff around just in case it's ever all I've got to work with. But I digress (my bolt gun side is showing).

 

Then there's the small matter of doing your part at the range.