.308: ammo choice

Gillis2

Gillis2

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Hi all,
I am calling to the .308 Win specialists here. I have a new to me rig that sports a 24 inches Shilen barrel with a 1-10 Twist. What would be your advises on bullet weight. I am not reloading and so far have tried commercial Remington 165 garins with good results. I am thinking of getting match Lapua 185 grainers. Would that be a good weight to test or too heavy for a 1-10 twist ?

Thanks for your opinions.

Gilbert
 
i use 185 berger hybrid in lapua 308 brass on top of varget, get great results. 1-10 is fine, can actually support heavier bullets than 185.
have actually shot 210 from my 1-10 barrel (its 32" long though, so goes a bit faster than a 24 will push, not a ton though)
 
Lapua 155 is superior to the 185.

A new shooter shot 185 Lapua Scenar ammo in one of our rifles with a 13T TR barrel with scope a few weeks ago and had lots of Vs and bulls.

Regards,

Peter
 
1-10 twist is just fine for heavy bullets and as madman25 said you can even shoot 210 gr with pretty good results. As for the factory premium ammo, here is a list of best of the best:

HSM – HPBT Match, 175gr.
Federal Gold Match – Sierra Match King GM308M, 168 gr.
Federal Gold Match – Sierra Match King GM308M2, 175 gr.
Black Hills – Match Hollow Point, 168gr.
Black Hills – Match Hollow Point, 175gr.
Hornady – BTHP Match, 168 gr.
Hornady – BTHP Superformance Match, 178 gr.
Hornady – A-Max Superformance Match, 168 gr.

There are few things to consider:
1. Not all mentioned ammo are easily available, especially HSM or Black Hills;
2. Not necessarily your rifle will like any of the above better than the ammo you have already tried. Each rifle likes its own, you just need to find the right ammo for it.
 
It is uninformed to include Hornady in "best of best" and leave out Lapua ammo. Yes we sell Lapua, but please consider Lapua: superior(the best) brass, most concentric and consistent bullets, VihtaVuori powder and a long history of providing sniper and winning match ammo. Where Lapua have been surpassed is in bullets by Berger who dominate in the low drag bullet realm. Berger is not more concentric, just ahead in the ballistic game. Next after Lapua ammo is Norma, then Federal, Black Hills and others. Only Lapua and Norma are used in UIT and CISM. Norma did use Sierra and some Berger and Federal load Sierra bullets.

We have ben involved with the Medium Range Sniper Programme since 1998(first contract 2005) and DND has tested all makes including Hornady. Lapua won with superior grouping and consistency as well as all other testing parameters.

Regardless of ammunition quality, all competitive FClass shooters reload with the majority using Lapua brass and Berger bullets.
 
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peterdobson said:
It is uninformed to include Hornady in "best of best" and leave out Lapua ammo. Yes we sell Lapua, but please consider Lapua: superior(the best) brass, most concentric and consistent bullets, VihtaVuori powder and a long history of providing sniper and winning match ammo. Where Lapua have been surpassed is in bullets by Berger who dominate in the low drag bullet realm. Berger is not more concentric, just ahead in the ballistic game. Next after Lapua ammo is Norma, then Federal, Black Hills and others. Only Lapua and Norma are used in UIT and CISM. Norma did use Sierra and some Berger and Federal load Sierra bullets.

We have ben involved with the Medium Range Sniper Programme since 1998(first contract 2005) and DND has tested all makes including Hornady. Lapua won with superior grouping and consistency as well as all other testing parameters.

Regardless of ammunition quality, all competitive FClass shooters reload with the majority using Lapua brass and Berger bullets.
Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't mean to offend you. You are absolutely right, I would place Lapua on the first place. I totally forgot about Lapua, because it's almost impossible to find any in GTA stores. Locally, we can buy whether Federal or Hornady. What would you recommend to try - 175gr Scenar-L or something else? Thank you.
 
No offense taken or meant - 175L ammo has been working well as does 155 with the latter being very popular. We used mainly Black Hills at the CORE training center for a Nightforce event and AI had Norma ammo in .338LM and .300 WM as well as .308 Win. All worked very well in AI and Daniel Defense AR10-style and AR15 rifles. Was impressed with no stoppages for the Daniel Defense rifles as we were involved with an expensive AR10-style kit for military which was unreliable and "ammo specific" according to manufacturer.

Regards,

Peter
 
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The 185 Berger is the defacto standard for F class

the 155s are the standard for sling shooters with peep sights.
 
I shoot a Tikka Tactical in 308 and it really likes the Hornady 155 grain A Max Palma Match. Not sure of the twist rate on this rifle and I have never loaded for this rifle either as it likes that ammo so much I never bothered.
 
Crashman, to bad your not in Alberta I have some of that hornady for sale as well as some 92 Palma match using the 155 Sierra which is probably as good as any thing mentioned above.
 
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