First day on the range with first time reloads

3of30

3of30

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So I recently have become fascinated with the precision shooting game. I bought myself a nice rifle with some nice glass and decided to try my hand at reloading. Im shooting 308, I know its not the greatest long range round, but its good to learn on, components are easily found and relatively cheap. I did my research and decided to go with siarra 175gr tipped match kings. Legend has it they will stay transonic out to 1000 yards. So i figured id give it a shot. I bought some reloading tools and went to work. Using federal brass, CCI BR2 primers and varget. I started low loading 40.0 grains of varget, and working up in half grain intervals. Loading five rounds of each. I finished at 44.5 grains. All loaded to mag length of 2.880''. (not interested in single feeding). So with 50 rounds loaded, i headed to the range. Shot a group with Federal premium gold match 175gr to warm up my barrel and create a constant to go off of. Weather was great, almost no wind. Here are my results at 100M

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It looks to my rifle likes the higher end of the varget loads. Any tips or suggestions? still super green at this and could use some insight on where to go from here. was thinking of working from 44.0gr to 45.0gr in 0.1gr intervals. What would you do? here are more pictures. Any thoughts would be appreciated
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-Matt
 
Looks like a good start to me! What is the twist on your barrel? My 308 likes varget as well.

Do you have a chrony? There are some interesting articles I have read where loads with low SD and ES are going to be very consistent. If in cowtown I have a magnetospeed.
 
Ryan.M.Anderson said:
Looks like a good start to me! What is the twist on your barrel? My 308 likes varget as well.

Do you have a chrony? There are some interesting articles I have read where loads with low SD and ES are going to be very consistent. If in cowtown I have a magnetospeed.
Click to expand...

It's a 24" 1/12. I did the ole buy once cry once on the rifle, and the tears are still rolling, so no chrony yet. I'm in Edmonton area, but I appreciate the offer!
 
Good time to run a chrony. Did that recently on my TRG 20" barrel with magnetSpeed. 5 shots groups. 1/2" grouping excluding the typical one flyer (blame the shooter)
168 SMK, Varget
Grs, SD, ES
43.5, 11, 29
43.8, 10, 28
44.1, 5 , 14
44.4, 7, 18
44.7, 7, 19

My rifle likes 44.1
Next is to try 43.9 to 44.2 to see if ES will go done below 10 (the magic number).

Just for interest the NORC ammo cold bore and second shoot was 2762, 2745. Hotly loaded ammo. Use it to warm the barrel and clays.
 
I'd go load up 25 more at 44 and 44.5 and go shoot 5 groups of each and see where your at. If you can scavenge a chronograph to check them with even better. I've noticed that it seems like I usually get a group that is tight with verticle dispersion and add a little more powder and the group tightens up and the SD comes down.
 
I'm using 43.9 gr of varget with 178 A max. Getting 2700fps out of my TRG 22. ES of 9 and SD of 4.2 over magnetospeed .

I was out yesterday and shot 1000m with it. Able to hit 12 inch plate. Wind sucked and made it hard to be consistent. Gusting and could change by 1 mil.

Your on right track with load charge and bullet.
 
Robmcleod82 said:
I'd go load up 25 more at 44 and 44.5 and go shoot 5 groups of each and see where your at. If you can scavenge a chronograph to check them with even better. I've noticed that it seems like I usually get a group that is tight with verticle dispersion and add a little more powder and the group tightens up and the SD comes down.
Click to expand...

Any suggestions on a decent chrono that's priced well?
 
Great start and I think you will find a load in the 44 to 44.5gr range... do not be afraid to test at 200 and 300yds in 0.1gr increments.. you need the distance to let the bullets disperse. At the longer ranges, it will be very obvious what is working and what is not.

for an affordable chronie with excellent function, Magnetospeed Sporter... pm or email.

Enjoy a great shooting rifle.

Jerry
 
As mentioned, keep testing in the 44 to 44.5 range. Also consider switching your brass to Lapua, made a difference for me when I started. Great choice on the rifle as well, I have the older AW.
 
J996 said:
As mentioned, keep testing in the 44 to 44.5 range. Also consider switching your brass to Lapua, made a difference for me when I started. Great choice on the rifle as well, I have the older AW.
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Thanks. How many reloads are you getting out of the lapua brass?
 
3of30 said:
Thanks. How many reloads are you getting out of the lapua brass?
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10 reloads. It could be more but I full length size only and don't anneal. if you do try lapua, back off the charge a bit and work back up, watching for pressure signs as lap brass is thicker (less case volume) than fed.
 
J996 said:
10 reloads. It could be more but I full length size only and don't anneal. if you do try lapua, back off the charge a bit and work back up, watching for pressure signs as lap brass is thicker (less case volume) than fed.
Click to expand...

I think I'll give Lapua a shot. With a min of 10 reloads per, that seems pretty cost effective. I think I'll load 44- 44.5 gr with the current brass I have then when I get lapua I'll Start at 43.5gr. Will update with the results.
 
On a bit of a side note but seeing as how the Magnetospeed straps on to the barrel, how much does it affect the point of impact adding the extra weight to the end of the barrel?
 
J996 said:
10 reloads. It could be more but I full length size only and don't anneal. if you do try lapua, back off the charge a bit and work back up, watching for pressure signs as lap brass is thicker (less case volume) than fed.
Click to expand...

I've gotten 15-20 reloads annealing every 5, neck sizing with Lee collet die. Never had one fail, but could see incipient case head separation plus new rifle so I retired the batch.
 
bsand said:
I've gotten 15-20 reloads annealing every 5, neck sizing with Lee collet die. Never had one fail, but could see incipient case head separation plus new rifle so I retired the batch.
Click to expand...

When I get lapua I will most likely anneal every five reloads. But I will be full length sizing. Hopefully I can get around 15 loads
 
Ed82 said:
On a bit of a side note but seeing as how the Magnetospeed straps on to the barrel, how much does it affect the point of impact adding the extra weight to the end of the barrel?
Click to expand...

Mine shoots about 1" high at 100 yds with the Magnetospeed attached. It does not affect group size much but I always do accuracy testing first, then once I'm happy I attach the magnetospeed and fire 10 to see what the velocity of that load is.

Here's 10 rounds shot with it attached to rifle.



 
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