Help Re-Loading .308 / 7.62x51

These are the rounds I will be trying to get my hands on first (all in 168 grain):
Sierra Match Kings

Hornady Match
Nosler Custom Competition

Can anyone suggest others that I should try that are in the same price range?

Are tipped bullets worth the extra price?
 
cosmic - For 2 reasons;
1- My research shows that the majority of Remington 700's with a 1/12 twist are seeing better groupings with 168grain.

2- I can't afford to test multiple brands in multiple weights. So for now I will test a few different brands in 168 grain, then when I settle on one of those I may try something heavier if I'm not seeing the results I'd like.
 
Thing is - your rifle may not like 168 gr period, and buying a bunch of different brands in one weight can be an expensive mistake. Go with one brand, say Hornady from Ammomart, and go for several weights - one box each, including 150 gr.
BTW - You'll find out that barrel harmonics trump twist rate 90% of the time.
 
Yes - At this stage of the game, you are trying to home in on a preferred bullet weight. A lot of the comments here are particular to shooting looong distances (ie expensive heavy match boat-tails), and you are shooting short distances (say less than 300 m). So you don't need the heavy expensive boat-tails at this stage of the game. That's why I suggested plain ol' Hornady flat base spire points (its easier and cheaper to make a well-dimensioned flat base bullet than a boat tail). FWIW - You can easily get cluster like groups with these bullets at 100m, assuming you are up to it...
Learn to shoot and reload with these bullets, and go from there with a preferred bullet weight.
 
I think for now I will grab a few boxes of match grade rounds (whatever is cheaper at my local CTC) just so I can get out for the time being, and I will attempt to find smaller sample sizes of rounds in different weight for testing...
 
Use 155gr bullets if you want to shoot long range, very easy to load. I use mostly 155 scenar from hirsch precision. Next step from that is 185gr bergers. There is zero reason to mess with anything else.
 
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the brass is not Aguila but...
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Try to not end up with a dozen different small batches of random brass. If you want to reload, buy a 100 or 200 lapua from Hirsch precision.
Full length size, I use Forster with expander ball and no plan to change. If your chamber is sloppy, as many factory chambers are, you can just adjust it up a bit to not over size the brass for better life until you put a decent match barrel on it.
For Primers, stick to CCI 200's or BR2(pricey) or Federal 210's, if using regular large primer brass.
 
No testing required. Stuff a 155 gr bullet of any flavour into a Lapua case or any other match prepped case with 46.0 gr of Varget. Seat the bullet to 2.800 and go to the range. If the rifle won't shoot this load, send it back or rebarrel it.
 
maynard said:
No testing required. Stuff a 155 gr bullet of any flavour into a Lapua case or any other match prepped case with 46.0 gr of Varget. Seat the bullet to 2.800 and go to the range. If the rifle won't shoot this load, send it back or rebarrel it.
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dont take this advice.

it may be a good starting point, but every rifle is different.
 
Maynard is right, 155gr with 46gr of Varget or N150 will out shoot most shooters in any rifle that is worth shooting.
Pretty sure most people messing with 168's and some other stuff have never seen what TR shooters do with 155's...
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely put that recipe into practice...

Another question for people...

If I use my Aguila brass for now and find something that works for my rifle. Can I simply switch to better quality brass with everything else being the same and expect better results? Or could it go either way?

Thanks!
 
maynard said:
No testing required. Stuff a 155 gr bullet of any flavour into a Lapua case or any other match prepped case with 46.0 gr of Varget. Seat the bullet to 2.800 and go to the range. If the rifle won't shoot this load, send it back or rebarrel it.
Click to expand...

Is there a particular 155gr that you would suggest?
 
155gr Lapua Scenar, 155.5gr Berger, Sierra 2156.

Pick whichever you can get easily in your area at the best price.
The Bergers are a bit trickier to load though, its got a very, very short bearing length, but they seemed fairly jump tolerant.
 
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