308 Reloading Noob
- Thread starter CPA
- Start date
dinsdale
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Just outside the Ottawa City Limits!
twosmokinspades
CGN Regular
Don't get sold on lapua brass, yes it is great, you can reload the heck out of it, but it is expensive. The general rule for lapua brass is max load for it is often 1 gr less than listed powder. For a beginner reloader I would suggest Federal or win. just because if you wreck it in the reloading process you are not out a lot, you can wreck brass by having too much case lube or not enough, you can over trim your cases. For powder What do you have and what you can find will dictate a lot. For powders IMR4064, 4320, 4895, Varget, xbr8208, r15 just to name a few have a look at Nosler's site they have recommended loads and so does Sierra's manual.
Varget is what I use. About 46 gr in my savage rifle with bullets about .020" off the rifling. This is a maximum, compressed load. Varget can handle slightly compressed loads.
HOWEVER: As always with a new load you need to start low, like 42 or 43 gr and work up looking for pressure signs. Every rifle is a rule unto itself.
ackertjosh
Regular
- Location
- Bruce County Ontario
Varget, Benchmark are my favorites
I originally started with IMR 4064 because it works for both .308 and .223, and it fills the case a whole bunch. I was kinda worried about the semi-mythical Secondary Explosion Effect so I wanted a slow power that filled a significant portion of the case volume. These days I'm contemplating experimenting with power to try to get a quieter load and/or see if I can squeeze out a few extra loads per pound by using a faster burnig powder, but given the instability of the market I'm not really sure it's economical to be experimenting when I might only be able to get a single pound of a certain type.
How can you wreck a case with too much lube?
Last I checked, it turns your press into a hydraulic ram. The lube has nowhere to go, and your brass is weaker than the steel or carbide die, so the brass gets dented. Sometimes.
Good bullet choice. Don't get hung up on brass. Pick it up at your range for free if you can, just trim it to a uniform length. Carefully inspect it of course, to make sure the used brass is not junk. Winchester or CCI large rifle primers work fine. H4895 has been my powder choice. Works good with the radical temp changes from summer to winter in the northern climate I live in. Do not have to drastically re zero like other powders. I have had great results with these components out to 800 meters. 1/2 moa out to 600m and 1 moa from 600m to 800m on a non windy day. In my personal shooting experiences I have found 308 to be the most accurate of the 30 cals. As to how many grains of powder, every rifle will like its own load. Start half way up the scale in your load data. Carefully work up the loads and bench test them from there to find the sweet spot.
I am really new to reloading for the .308 also. I could only get IMR-4064 in my area (seems to be lots of it, but nothing else) and WLR primers. Same for the primers. I am using 168g Hornady HPBT in once fired (by me) Federal brass. I went from 42g to 43.5g and my best placement was with 42.5g. I am very happy with 42.5g.
