Hey guys I'm new at the reloading game and I want to work up a flat shooting load for my rem 700. Cost effective would be nice too.
My question is what bullet weight and what load is flat shooting and stable in a 26" 1:12 barrel?
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Hey guys I'm new at the reloading game and I want to work up a flat shooting load for my rem 700. Cost effective would be nice too.
My question is what bullet weight and what load is flat shooting and stable in a 26" 1:12 barrel?
The 175 grain Sierra Match King with 42.2 grains of IMR-4064 works well. Use a good primer such as the Federal 210M (match) or CCI BR2 (bench rest) or standard Federal 210 primer. CCI 200 and CCI 250 primers also seem better than Remington primers. Avoid the poor quality Winchester primers. Federal 215 magnum primers are the hottest but are good quality.
Military cases and Federal cases with FC and two digit numbers for the year have crimped primers. Federal cases marked Federal 308 Win have primer pockets that become loose after the first firing. Remington cases are soft and vary in weight but hold up fairly well. Winchester cases are usually better and have slightly greater capacity. Lapua cases are about the best.
Most Remington barrel chambers have fairly short throats. This is good for accuracy but check not to load the cartridges too long.
The Sierra Match King bullets aren't cheap. Avoid the cheap, "Mil Spec" brand of bullets. These are made in Serbia by Prvi and sometimes sold under the Prvi brand too.
The brand name 168 grain match bullets are good and sometimes on sale or clearance. The 165 grain brand name hunting bullets can be decent shooting and cheaper.
Varget is a very good powder choice also.
A few questions to clarify?
Q: Max distance usually shot; i.e. no sense using a .32 cent projo when the max distance at the local range is 100 yards and a .19 cent projo with perform.
A few recommendations
0-400 banging ammo: I'd look at the Hornady 150 fmjbt and a ball powder such as blc2, 748, 4895, 3031 ect. Once a load is found and a little more accurracy/distance is wanted try the powder/primer combo and work up a load with a 150-155 match type of bullet. As previously mentioned, M80 ball (147 fmjbt) the PPU 145 and gray market sourced "match" 77, 168 &175 have alot of consistancy issues. If you want banging ammo for 0-200, fine but expect a min of 2-2.5 moa with a good load. The 168-175s I haven't tried but for the money I'll spend the extra 2-3 dollars per 100 and get U.S. made.
0-700 accuracy load try something in the 168 flav by Sierra or Hornady. For propulsion look at 4064, 4895, 3031, Varget.
For 300-1000 look at the 175 smk with the above stick powders.
Right now, smk seem to be available sporadically on the internet. I haven,t seen any Amax for awhile. Locating powder is going to be the problem so when you find it know how much you need since alot of what is available today is single pounds. You can load about 150 rounds of 308 per pound. Look at what your going to shoot during the season and buy a single lot so your not confirming load development every pound with a different lot number.
Hope this helps.
Thanks, I shoot on a 1100 acre ranch so I can really go as far as I want. I'll probably start at 200-500 yds or something like that.
44.6 grains of N150Quote:
Originally Posted by Wiggity
Winchester case properly trimed and preped
Large rifle primer of your choice
with above mentioned recipie, any 175 grain match bullet will get you past the 1000 yard line with moa or better precision in a 12 twist
.308 Winchester.
move up to 46 grains of N150 and drop down to 155 grain bullets and you will achieve simlar results.
The .308 Winchester is VERY EASY to load for.
N150, N140, TAC, AA2520, IMR 4064, Varget, and Winchester 748 are all exelent powders for the .308 winchester.
Pick an Amax bullet, do your load development, and you have a round that will serve you well on the target line and in the deer blind.
I'd just load 168 SMKs for that chip shot stuff. ;) 500 yards a slam dunk for .308 unless you have horrendous wind to deal with.
With that twist and length, you could play with those 155 Scenars that us short barrel 308 owners can't use.