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Powder recomendation
hadjii
Member Posts: 976 ✭✭
Trying to find a powder that will yield me acceptable results in an old winchester model 100 in 308 caliber. The bullets I currently have on hand are speer 150 grain mag-tips, speer 165 grain deep curls, and sierra 165 grain game-kings. Not looking for max velocity, just the best accuracy achievable, considering the rifle I'm loading for. I've tried R-15 and IMR 4895, with not great results, groups in the 2 1/2-3 inch range. I'd like to think I could get that down to the 1 1/2-2 inch range, but perhaps that's a bit unrealistic. Thanks in advance for any ideas or input.
Comments
I don't spend near as much time at the bench that I once did, my .02 worth.
Remington cases are ok, I have had some quality issues with RP and will use them if I am going to likely loose them during shooting.
Winchester is my 'go to' brand on primers, used plenty of WLR and continue to do so.
Winchester 748 is a powder IIRC was designed for 308 Win. It is user friendly since it is a Ball Powder, meters easily and uniformly. Been around awhile, and plenty of load data available. One of the powders that is available most places.
Hodgdon Varget is very popular due to it's consistency across the temperature ranges. Another powder that has been around some time. I just checked a few places and this powder is out of stock, maybe a no go here due to lack of availability.
Since you have IMR 4895 and RL15, another one to consider is IMR 4064. I don't have much experience with these, but all 3 are quite popular in the 308 Win reloading data. Not a fan of stick powders, my RCBS Uniflow does not like them very well.
A quick check of My Hornady 10th manual shows several powders that I had not heard of, so I am a bit out of date on the current propellants available.
Like most reloading adventures, trying different combos will likely be the only way to find what your rifle likes. Since you are quite reasonable in your expectations (1 1/2 -2" groups), I think you will be successful. Might take some time at the bench and range.
The powders tried and suggested are all in the mix which you should be considering for your loads. These powders are the standards, those normally suggested and have lots of book data for support.
I have worked with a couple of other powders which might be suitable with the lighter bullets you want to use:
IMR-8208 XBR
Accurate 2520
IMR-4895
All three have been my top picks for the .308 Win but the 8208 XBR has always been the most accurate.
Now that that's out of the way, I think you should look at the crown under magnification to see if maybe it should have a touch up. The other area to look at is the bore itself since cleaning these rifles is not a pleasure and may have been a problem with fouling. See if you can beg or borrow a good borescope, even a Lyman to get a good close look at the rifling and the bore.
Best.
Autoloaders can knock bullets out of line. Check cartridge runout before chambering and remove the cartridge after its chambered and check again. Magazine tuning can help.
Some rifles can only shoot so good. I had a 700 Rem Varmint I bought new in 223. Shot factory Rem ammo sub MOA. I could never get my ammo to shoot as well. 5 different presses, 3 sets of dies, every primer, powder, case and bullet available at the time. I gave it to a buddy that said he would buy ammo for it.