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Reloading the .308

civiliansoldierciviliansoldier Member Posts: 430 ✭✭✭
edited February 2009 in Perry Shooter Competition Shooting and Reloading Forum
Okay folks, I am going to start reloading for my .308. I want them to be "match grade" for long ranges. I am looking for advice on powderbrand and type, primers brand and type(Is .308 large rifle or small rifle?), etc. I think I am going to try the Sierra Matchking 168gr. bthp and the 175gr. bthp,(my barrel has a twist rate to accomodate 175 grain balls) to start with. I have reloaded before, although it was exclusively .45ACP. I have a Lee starter kit with the challenger press, a scale, a powder measure, primer loader, and deburring tool. To get me started with the .308, will this gear suffice? I will of course have to buy dies. I will not be cranking a bunch of rounds out at one time, so I am content with measuring each powder charge on a scale instead of investing in a good powder measure from the start. Thanks in advance for the advice folks!
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    TaiChiTaiChi Member Posts: 179 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    What firearm are you loading for, what is your long range target and what do you consider long range?
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    79mustang79mustang Member Posts: 52 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    It's hard to give someone advice for reloading, as every gun will like something different. I found with a considerable amount tinkering what mine likes. It's a rem sps varmint with a 26" barrel, straight out of the box. It will shoot one ragged hole at 150yds. I use 44.7 grains of Hodgdon Varget, with a 168 grain Hornady A-max, and a CCI BR2 primer. I found that "COL" Case Overall Length makes a big difference also. There is a lot of companies that make tools to find COL. I use RCBS precision mics, and the Hornady Lock-N-Load overall length gage.
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    gotstolefromgotstolefrom Member Posts: 1,479 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    What 79mustang Said....
    Not to dismiss how much improvement is found by just finding the 'sweet load'.....that powder/bullet combination that your rifle SINGS with. Finding that sweet load can be such a great improvement, it is all I may do.

    I waded off into cartridge dimensions to try and improve one of my favorite rifles...and I found I needed about 3 times the patience I exerted on finding the 'sweet load'.

    Someone suggested this to me and it really helped the load/gun I was working with.
    Like all reloading steps, consistency is a big deal.
    Identify the brass you and the gun like, and after cleaning and trimming, weigh each case and sort them by weight. It sounded a bit much, but it made a difference. ( I used the weight range that had the most cases in it.) After the cartridge is prepared, the weight must be related to SOMETHING I can't identify or measure..SOMETHING that is beyond my mental capacity..all I can tell you is that I got better groups. I still loaded the 'out of weight spec' cases for general use, but I keep them in a separate lot.

    I don't do all that for all loads....some loads are performing better than I can shoot that particular piece...so that's it. Others I may take farther down this seemingly nuts nit-pickin consistency road to tighter groups.

    That's the advice I got, and it helped me.

    ENJOY !
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    oneoldsaponeoldsap Member Posts: 563 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    You absolutly need a case trimmer , and if your rifle is not a semiauto, you might consider neck sizing also. ausually neck sizing will improve accuracy and case life .
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