Hi everyone. Entering the world of precision shooting with a Remington 700 R5 that I'm getting this weekend. What is the best factory ammo to use for target practice for a .308 newbie? Distance would be 200 yards max., I'm guessing.
I'm well aware that hand loads are best, but I can't finance a reloading system yet. So I'm interested in hearing what brand of .308 I should start with to develop my basic shooting skills with the R5, thanks!
Factory ammo means that the ammo will be made to an overall length of 2.80" or less (so that it will fit in any .308Win rifle out there). This means that the manufacturer has *no* flexibility to play with the seating depth of the bullet in order to improve accuracy (this is one of the two main tuning "levers" a handloader gets to work with).
Another fact is that factory Remington .308Win rifles tend to have rather long throats, so most magazine-length ammo will therefore have a fair bit of "jump" before the bullet engages the rifling.
To make the best of these facts, choose factory match ammo that uses a bullet that is known to be quite _insensitive_ to bullet jump.
The Sierra 168 Matchking is one of the best bullets in this regard (it has minuses of its own too, but since you are shooting at less than 800 yards this will not affect you for now). Unfortunately the factory ammo that uses this bullet tends to be pretty pricey, but there you have it. This bullet is loaded in Federal Gold Medal Match. Any other factory match ammo that uses the Sierra 168 HPBT should also serve your purposes well (I think Black Hills uses it; I'm not sure if "Winchester Ranger" uses the Sierra 168HPBT or if it is a 168HPBT made by Winchester).
The Sierra 175 Matchking is also very good in this regard; ammo loaded with it will work just as well for you as the 168MK, but the 175s can be pricier and they will giver you no advantage at 600 yards and closer.
Hornady makes two lines of match bullets. Their "HPBT" line is a bit fussier than the Sierras, and their "Amax" line is quite a bit fussier than the Sierras. If you can't get Sierra-bulleted factory match ammo, choose Hornady "HPBT" before you choose Hornady "Amax". Don't get me wrong, the Amax is a fine bullet - it's just that it usually needs more tuning in order to get it to shoot accurately, and if you are using factory ammo you don't get to do tuning.
Other very high quality very high performance match bullets can be even fussier, and are therefore to be avoided in your application.
Do save your brass. If you end up handloading eventually, you'll have good brass that was only fired in your rifle. If not, you have once-fired brass that you can give or sell to somebody else.
