Hey just wondering what everyone is using for loads in their stag 10? I have a case of 7.62 Lake City 147.5 grain rounds that I am slowly going through and I have started to prepare the casings to reload them for when I finish them. I have a 20" 1:10 barrel and plan on using 40.5 grains of varget and 178grain Hornady ELD match bullets. Does this sound okay? I'v mentioned it to a few people and get the "oh blah blah thats way too heavy of a bullet for a semi" but to be honest that doesn't make much sense to me.
Stag 10
- Thread starter JasonGTA
- Start date
mmmmmmm sausages......
install an adjustable gas block if you are worried about heavy loads.
The M14 rifles are limitted to top gr weight of 174gr due to design of the action...... I don't think this is a limitting factor with the AR-10 type rifles
install an adjustable gas block if you are worried about heavy loads.
The M14 rifles are limitted to top gr weight of 174gr due to design of the action...... I don't think this is a limitting factor with the AR-10 type rifles
BeaverMeat
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nanaimo, B.C.
Just check your reloading manual or the Hodgdon website for powder loads.
Don't listen to anyone say they are too heavy, especially for a 1 in 10. I shoot 208 grain projectiles in my Savage 308 1 in 10 twist and they stabilize fine.
If you have any doubts check the twist rate calculator on the Berger website.
I'll be trying the 208s in my Stag.
I dont have a load for the 168s yet in my Stag but I run 46 grains of Varget with Lapua brass for 3 different 168 grain bullets in my Savage bolt gun.
Of course always do a proper work up.
As mentioned, if you are worried about the gas get an adjustable gas block.
Don't listen to anyone say they are too heavy, especially for a 1 in 10. I shoot 208 grain projectiles in my Savage 308 1 in 10 twist and they stabilize fine.
If you have any doubts check the twist rate calculator on the Berger website.
I'll be trying the 208s in my Stag.
I dont have a load for the 168s yet in my Stag but I run 46 grains of Varget with Lapua brass for 3 different 168 grain bullets in my Savage bolt gun.
Of course always do a proper work up.
As mentioned, if you are worried about the gas get an adjustable gas block.
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"and plan on using 40.5 grains of Varget and 178grain Hornady ELD match bullets."
Your choice of powder and bullet looks good. But where did this load come from? Have you already done some testing?
If I was developing a load for your rifle, I would load 5 each of 40.0 to 43.5 in 0.5 gn increments. From that I would expect to be sure about what cycles the action and look for the load that looks promising. I would watch for pressure signs and stop if a load was too hot.
Then I would load 20 each of that promising load and plus and minus 0.3 gr, and then would shoot a series of 5 or 10 shot groups. I usually find a load that works somewhat better than the average.
Your choice of powder and bullet looks good. But where did this load come from? Have you already done some testing?
If I was developing a load for your rifle, I would load 5 each of 40.0 to 43.5 in 0.5 gn increments. From that I would expect to be sure about what cycles the action and look for the load that looks promising. I would watch for pressure signs and stop if a load was too hot.
Then I would load 20 each of that promising load and plus and minus 0.3 gr, and then would shoot a series of 5 or 10 shot groups. I usually find a load that works somewhat better than the average.
Every rifle is different. It can be helpful if others have found that a particular bullet and powder work well. But rifles with consecutive serial numbers will be quite different in the load they shoot best.
Ilove12gshotguns
CGN Regular
- Location
- New Brunswick
I was in your shoes about a month ago with my own stag-10, searching for a load. I will share what I found.
All my brass is IVI manufacture, very similar to LC brass.
I was determined to find a powder receipe using exclusively 168g SMK.
The powders I had tried are; IMR 4895, RL-15, IMR 4064, Varget.
2.800" OAL for all my test batch's
CCI BR2 primers
All test batches started at 40.5g upwards until pressure signs started, using 0.5g increments.
This was a head scratcher.... every group I had came in the 1.5" - 3.5" size, with no real "Winner". I started to think this rifle wasn't a shooter.
Whipped up another batch off the best groups from each powder type, but this time putting a fairly tight crimp on them.
BINGO!! all four powder types came in from 0.9" - 1.25"
TLDR
Make sure you crimp, AR10's will suffer accuarcy without it
Work up loads in 0.5g increments
Keep pressure low with military brass
All my brass is IVI manufacture, very similar to LC brass.
I was determined to find a powder receipe using exclusively 168g SMK.
The powders I had tried are; IMR 4895, RL-15, IMR 4064, Varget.
2.800" OAL for all my test batch's
CCI BR2 primers
All test batches started at 40.5g upwards until pressure signs started, using 0.5g increments.
This was a head scratcher.... every group I had came in the 1.5" - 3.5" size, with no real "Winner". I started to think this rifle wasn't a shooter.
Whipped up another batch off the best groups from each powder type, but this time putting a fairly tight crimp on them.
BINGO!! all four powder types came in from 0.9" - 1.25"
TLDR
Make sure you crimp, AR10's will suffer accuarcy without it
Work up loads in 0.5g increments
Keep pressure low with military brass
Not really. I don't crimp. But... I have good neck tension on my reloads so it's not an issue. If it's slamming that hard into the feed ramps or the angle is wrong and it's having to jam the round in, then you get issues. Maybe look at different mags or if it's a new product, there could be a design flaw. As long as the neck tension is decent then the force of loading a new round isn't going to move the bullet. Much like quickly cycling a bolt action only a bit more. Too much of a crimp can also cause issues. So it really depends on your reloading setup and whether or not you get enough neck tension. If not, then crimp. If you do then don't crimp.
