308 help

No, it won't be too light, but your twist will work well with heavier bullets if you wish. What sort of competition, at what sort of ranges?
 
Like tiriaq said, we need to know more about what kind of competitions you plan on entering to make good suggestions. 155 grain bullets are a popular choice, but 168's and 175's are used too.

Generally though:

-Lapua or other high quality brass
-CCI BR2 or Fed 210M primer
-Varget
-Bullet of choice (may be limited by rules...)

Thats a good starting point...
 
In that case, the lightest bullet I would suggest is the 154 Lapua Scenar. Or a Berger 155. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Sierra/Nosler/Hornady 155s, except that they give up a bit in the wind to the Lapua or Berger. You should try the 175/178/180 grain match bullets. You need to find what works best for you.
You cannot go wrong with the Lapua/BR2 or Fed.GM/Varget suggested by BeerBaron.
Not too many people are using .308 in F/O.
 
tiriaq said:
In that case, the lightest bullet I would suggest is the 154 Lapua Scenar. Or a Berger 155. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Sierra/Nosler/Hornady 155s, except that they give up a bit in the wind to the Lapua or Berger. You should try the 175/178/180 grain match bullets. You need to find what works best for you.
You cannot go wrong with the Lapua/BR2 or Fed.GM/Varget suggested by BeerBaron.
Not too many people are using .308 in F/O.
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Got a good deal on the rifle to get me into competitive shooting and if i like it enough i will switch the barrel to a 6br.
 
You cannot use bullets heavier than 156 in F-TR class, but you CAN use them in F-Restricted. Pretty hard to beat the 6 and 6.5 chamberings in the open class, but in FR you'd do very well.
 
lejarretnoir said:
22" barrel will be too short for 900m shooting with a 155gr bullet. 30" barrels are best to get the needed velocity.

I think the M-14 22" barrel 1000yd load use a 175gr bullet.
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I don't know if I would say its too short, but it certainly isn't ideal. Don't run out and buy a new gun before you've tried it. Give it a shot with what you have then if you really like it you can worry about upgrades or new equipment once you start to get serious.
 
I disagree. I shot 155 Sierra Palma bullets out of a 20" barrel at 1000 yards just fine. The loss of velocity over a longer barrel will be negligible (maybe 40 fps max over a 28" tube").

The accuracy from short barrels can be exceptional.
 
Obtunded said:
I disagree. I shot 155 Sierra Palma bullets out of a 20" barrel at 1000 yards just fine. The loss of velocity over a longer barrel will be negligible (maybe 40 fps max over a 28" tube").

The accuracy from short barrels can be exceptional.
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To each his own, but I found after trial and error and 10yrs of trying F-Class with a .308 you won't be cutting the grade at 900m with anything less than a top quality 30" barrel with a 155gr Sierra and full load of steam.

I'm just giving the potential buyer some insight and to try the heavier bullets so he remains sonic at that range. Without obtaining at least 2,900 fps muzzle velocity those 155gr will tumble because I've heard them when pulling targets at the pits from factory Rem 700's 24" barrels.

So you are saying that from 28" to 20" you only lost 40fps?
 
Depends very much on the barrel but there is little practical velocity gained by using longer barrels in 308's. The corollary is there is little velocity lost by going with a shorter barrel - to a point. Furthermore, there is no direct correlation between accuracy and velocity. Faster can often mean less accuracy, particularly in long barrels where harmonics plays a huge role. The rifle will tell you how fast it wants to spit its bullets.

The changes in velocity versus barrel length do not follow a constant linear pattern of change. (ie 10 fps/inch gained or lost)

I agree that a good quality barrel with a uniform bore is important.
 
I think the 155's will be just fine. If you go with 155's (or 154, or 156 or 155.5 etc.), the longer the bullet, the better it will be suited to your fast twist. This is not to say it will shoot best with these but you will be able to take advantage of the higher ballistic coefficient offered by the longer bullets. The Lapua is a great example of a long 155 class bullet with high BC.
You are limited to bullets in this weight class for F(f) and, as a bonus, they recoil less than 190's!
If, after you shoot the 308 for a while, you re-barrel to 6 BR, you will be amazed at how much easier life is when you aren't dealing with the effects of concussion! I like 308's and shoot them a lot but they are harder to handle than the lighter calibers. Regards, Bill.
 
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