Cost of powder for reloading .308win

CanuckShooter

CanuckShooter

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
61   0   0
I am back for more info due to all the great info I received about 9mm and 40S&W.

I am really torn between 223rem and 308win in my next bolt gun (most likely an HB Savage). The fact that the 223rem Savages have not yet been upgraded to the new centre-feed magazine design, that they are not available with Savages new detachable box magazine, and that they are not available with an HS or McMillan stock are making me want to go with 308win since Savage offers all these options in this calibre.

Are Frontier plated bullets ok for 308win, or any rifle calibre for that matter or is FMJ far superior?

Can anyone recommend a quality powder for 308win that does not cost an arm and a leg (it's just a range rifle for recreational shooting), that offers great performance and reliability? Also, can you guys tell me how many grains are in the containers of your choice powder for 308win so that I can calculate the cost of powder per round using my Lyman manual?

Thanks!
 
7000 grains per lb. Cost depends on what powder charge you use. Varget is good, but IMR and Win powders are generally $2-3 per lb cheaper.

I've use Varget, but find I'm getting better velocity with IMR4895, using less powder...
 
Another vote for Varget. It's sold out a lot, though. Second favorite is H4895, which is in stock at most places. Works in M14 and in bolts (8mm Mauser), too. Loaded three different loads each for cast and FMJ in .223 in the AR but haven't tested the loads yet.

Frontier? The 110gr 30cal M1 Carbine bullet? Goes way to fast and high for the M14 because you need almost the full FMJ load to cycle the gun. Couldn't sight them in properly except indoors at 25m. Worked great at a lower load but wouldn't cycle so obviously a bolt gun bullet if loading for .308

Am very happy with my home cast RCBS 165gr Shilouette bullet in the M14. Works good with H4895. Just running out of lead ingots. :( (and gas checks... and primers....)

.223 or .308? Depends on what you want to do with it. If it's just for paper, I'd go .223 since it uses half the powder and brass is plentiful at most ranges.

I haven't gone bolt in these calibers yet since I'm still working on getting a couple of semi-auto's and another lever for now. Over the winter, one of each...
 
Ya Varget really seems to be the favourite here and many other places on the net.

I would LOVE to go with .223rem, but the only way I would be able to do that is with a Remington 700P, as I don't want to buy a Savage in .223rem now and then have them come out with the centre feed magazines in a year making my rifle obsolete. That kind of stuff bugs me too much.
 
CanuckShooter said:
Ya Varget really seems to be the favourite here and many other places on the net.

I would LOVE to go with .223rem, but the only way I would be able to do that is with a Remington 700P, as I don't want to buy a Savage in .223rem now and then have them come out with the centre feed magazines in a year making my rifle obsolete. That kind of stuff bugs me too much.
Click to expand...

Why so hung up on a center feed magazine?
My new Savage in .223 has an HS stock, heavy barrel, and no magazine............open bolt, insert cartridge, close bolt, fire, repeat as necessary. Like you said - it's just a range rifle for recreational shooting.

BTW, I use Varget in both my .223 and .308
 
For reduced, accurate loads in the .308 with cast or condom bullets, you can try 19.5 grs. of IMR 4759, my favorite powder for 170gr. to 210gr. hard cast bullets.
 
The cost of powder is not going to be the limiting factor, the cost of bullets are. If the purpose of the rifle is for close to moderate range target shooting, the .223 certainly more cost effective. Mystic and others have had exceptional luck with small bores at long range, but if you intend to shoot beyond 500 yards in any kind of weather, I would urge you to consider a .308.
 
i use ww748 for both- 308/180 43-44 grains, 223/70 25 grains- figure in your 7000 grains/pound, and there's your cost/round- but you can do so much MORE with the 308 round- i don't take the 223 for anything but gophers
 
I'm not hung up on a detachable magazine, I don't mind having an internal box magazine really, but I have read numerous reports of the .223rem Savages having feeding problems and would rather wait until they come out with the improve centre feed system. I just want to have the option of using the magazine. Remington's staggered mag system seems to be proven so I may go that route.

Would you guys recommend buying all the rifle conversion stuff for my dad's Dillon XL650 or buying myself a really nice single stage press like a Lee Classic Cast that I can setup solely for rifle? My dad's Dillon is normally setup for pistol so it will be quite expensive for all the parts (over $350 for Dillon XL650 Quickchange Kit, Calibre Conversion kit, 4 Piece Carbide Dies, Powder Check, Rifle Casefeed Disc, etc). For the same price I could get my own Classic Cast and just about everything else I would need.
 
If economy is an over-riding issue,go with a heavy barrel .223. You can amuse yourself by shooting little groups off the bench or try challenging the wind @ 200 yds+ out in the gopher pastures-and save on powder and bullets big-time.For this type of shooting mag feed is redundant anyway.Shortly after I bought my Ruger .223 VT I installed a single round feed tray over the follower and have never removed it.This built in delay helps avoid the temptation to overheat the barrel at the bench and mass charges by vengeful gophers are not a frequent event.
 
Varget - most places I got to are the same pricewise as IMR so it is nice to have the temperature insensitivity. Boolits are the most expensive part (once you have the brass).
 
Powder's cheap - the economy of the .223 will be eaten up by the fact that you'll shoot a lot more rounds out of it. Boomer nailed it - bullets are the pricey part, assuming you have brass.
 
CanuckShooter said:
I'm not hung up on a detachable magazine,
Would you guys recommend buying all the rifle conversion stuff for my dad's Dillon XL650 or buying myself a really nice single stage press like a Lee Classic Cast that I can setup solely for rifle? My dad's Dillon is normally setup for pistol so it will be quite expensive for all the parts (over $350 for Dillon XL650 Quickchange Kit, Calibre Conversion kit, 4 Piece Carbide Dies, Powder Check, Rifle Casefeed Disc, etc). For the same price I could get my own Classic Cast and just about everything else I would need.
Click to expand...

I have both the Dillon 650 and a Lee Classic Turret Press. I can say without hesitation that the 650 can really crank out the rounds. I normally leave it set up for .357 Magnum handgun but have done runs of .40S&W too, it excels in building a lot of ammo fairly quickly. The Lee press I use for shorter runs of .44 Magnum, .45LC, .454 Casull, and it is absolutely marvelous for building tight tolerance .308. You will need an electronic scale to measure the powder. I use the base RCBS Chargemaster 1500 and weigh every charge. I wish that I had bought the powder measuring system for it every so often and will probably buy it at some point. I find that I am only putting a couple of hundred rounds together at a go, so the Lee press is definitely the one to use. For handgun ammo, you will definitely want the 4 station version with the automatic powder dispensing. If it is just for rifle, the 3 station version is just fine since you will be hand charging the brass. I'd still get the 4 station version though since it is more versatile. It is also incredibly quick to change out for different ammo. Get an extra turret for each caliber and leave the dies in place. With the Lee I can normally swap out the mechanics in under a minute. All that remains is setting up the powder charge. Swapping calibers is a twenty minute to half hour job on the 650 since I don't do it very often. I suppose with a lot of practice one could do it in 10 to 15 minutes.

For .308, I use Federal primers, 44.0 gr Varget and 165 or 168 grain boattail bullets, normally Nosler, Sierra or my current favourite, Berger. I swear those Berger's can fly on their own. Incredible aerodynamics and accuracy. I just picked up a couple of hundred each of 175 and 155 grain to test out. For brass, I just buy Winchester Silvertip 150 gr ammo, and shoot them to warm up with. The brass seems to work out very nicely for re-loading although I am only at 3 or 4 reloads so far. I have only done neck sizing since I only fire them in the same firearm. None are showing any signs of stretching or other problems so far.
 
I was actually talking about the Lee Classic Cast, it is a single stage press. I thought the rule of thumb was for accurate rifle rounds one should use a single stage. Is that true?

I calculated the difference in cost between 308 and 223 using an average powder charge of Varget, Winchester primers, and Winchester FMJ bullets. 308 comes out only 33% more expensive than 223 which is better than I had anticipated, but yes it is still 1/3 more shooting that I can do with 223 for the same price, and practise makes perfect.

Another argument for the 223 is that it will most likely never be shot any farther than 200yds (that's the longest range I have access to). JOOC what is the real world maximum effective range for a) gophers, and b) coyotes using a 24"-26" barrel with a 1 in 9" twist?


edit: I forgot to ask.... the Winchester Varmint 45gr 40rd Valu-Paks of 223 that you can buy at Walmart.... is that really good brass, or just mediocre? All the Walmarts around here stock it, which would be ANOTHER big plus for 223 (assuming it is high quality brass).

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Winchester brass is good to go.

Regarding the xl650 versus lee for 308 question, one thing to keep in mind is that if you're going to use an extruded powder (which is what it sounds like most people are using), the dillon pretty much sucks for metering it, in my experience. It's a totally different world than ball powder. The variance in weight is outside of what I'd consider acceptable.
I've heard some people say their dillons meter varget bang on, and I'm not calling them liars, but I still have a hard time believing it.
I'd go with a single stage press, in this case. If I was going to use the dillon for loading my 308 (I have one too), I'd probably go with blc-2 for powder, and magnum primers. Still an excellent powder, but meters a lot more consistently.
 
Gophers are a pop can size target,but you can still get hits out to 300 yds with a .223 using 50/52/55 gr bullets.The percentage of hits depends on a number of variables incl the accuracy of your rifle and loads,range estimation,wind doping,mirage,scope power and quality,and the type of rest you use. Depending on the gopher population I've used one of 3 rests: a modified BREN gun tripod with an adapter for my Benchmaster rest,sandbag off the corner of the truck box,or a portable shooting stick.
 
TAC by Ramshot is an xlnt powder for both 223 and 308. May be a bit tuff to find but if you see it you should give it serious consideration. Load data on Ramshot's site and lots of feedback re its use on other forums.
Cheers
dB
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom