Small load - good accuracy?

redman

redman

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So, the other week, I had finally prepared my last batch of reloads to hone in on a good "recipe"; the ingredients I used were:
- Berger .308 VLDs 168gr BTHP
- IMR 4064
- CCI BR2
- Hornady match .308 Win. casings

What puzzles me is that the resulting load that I tweaked after going down to 0.1gr increments was 42.9gr; does this seem too low? Is it worth going higher than 44gr (the max according to the Speer Manual)? Anyone else getting good accuracy with a comparatively low load such as this?

I fired 13 rounds for each load, in case 5 weren't enough. COAL was 2.920" (I use a magazine).
 
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If the accuracy is were you want it, there is no such thing as too low until you get to the point where the pressure doesn't seal the brass to chamber. You are fine at 42.9 if you are satisfied with the muzzle velocity and accuracy.
 
Budweiser360 said:
Did your hotter loads yield the same results carbon wise on the brass?
Click to expand...

They wouldn't go as far down as the slightly lower (but more accurate) loads. Sorry for the delay, here are the pics:

img2284vn.jpg


img2285ty.jpg


The 2nd and 3rd are pretty representative of how far the slightly hotter loads go, and is also pretty much how far the lighter load goes most of the time. However, the lighter load is the one that has some more severe "leaks", which you can see in casings 1, 4 and 5...

What do you guys think? Are these dangerous conditions? It's too bad, 42.9gr gives me some damn tight vertical dispersion (my lousy trigger pull kinda mucked up the horizontal :redface:)...
 
The load I used for Hunter class shooting was 168gr sierras & 40.5gr of 4064 cci Benchrest primers. this load would get in 2's if I could do my part, no powder marks down necks, but I neck turn my brass Lapua.
manitou
 
Cool... Glad I can keep using this load, I'll post a pic of the final load experimentation that I did, so you guys could compare. It just always puzzled me how most of the guys running up loads are more worried about signs of pressure (i.e. load to hot) versus signs of UNDER-pressure lol!

Manitou, wow, that's the min load from the Lyman manual! I actually do turn my necks, you can see that from the closest casing in the pic at the bottom of the previous page. Curious how the powder "leaks" from one side only...
 
redman said:
Cool... Glad I can keep using this load, I'll post a pic of the final load experimentation that I did, so you guys could compare. It just always puzzled me how most of the guys running up loads are more worried about signs of pressure (i.e. load to hot) versus signs of UNDER-pressure lol!

Manitou, wow, that's the min load from the Lyman manual! I actually do turn my necks, you can see that from the closest casing in the pic at the bottom of the previous page. Curious how the powder "leaks" from one side only...
Click to expand...


The faster you can push it, the less wind drift you have at the same distance.

If you ran the numbers at 1000 yards a 155 308 will drift approx 105" going 2800fps in a 10mph 3 o'clock wind. The same bullet going 3000fps will only drift 93" in the same conditions.
 
Lighter loads can be quite accurate. Oftentimes lighter loads are fairly erratic, producing widely varying velocities from shot to shot, but in a good rifle this usually doesn't matter and you can all the bullets going into the same hole.

I once had a relatively light load (.308 Win, 40-ish grains of Rx15 behind a 155 Lapua), that had 70fps or more variation in shot to shot velocity, but was able to shoot match-winning scores (in F-Class!) out to and including 600 yards. (It was an utter disaster at 900m though, with very bad vertical stringing as you would expect).
 
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