First rounds ready! Tested Mar 10 - post 15.

TacticalTrunkMonkey

TacticalTrunkMonkey

CGN Regular
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Edmonton, AB
I wanted to get into reloading a few years ago but never did. I picked up a Savage 10TR earlier this month and figured now would be as good a time as ever. Loaded 60 rounds tonight with different weights and if the weather permits will be heading out Friday to test the loads. It was a lot of fun, looking forward to the results. Used IMR 4895 with Nosler 168gr BT.

EDIT: Also quick question, I partially seated a round, ran it into the chamber to check depth and it came out as 2.830. The O.A.C.L isn't supposed to exceed 2.800. I read you knock of anywhere between .015 and .030. I went the safe bet and reloaded everything to 2.800 but based on the above is it safe to run above the recommended max or should I stick with 2.800?

Cheers.

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the book OAL, of 2.800, is the standard OAL that will work in every mag/chamber/box mag etc, meant for the .308 cartridge . the 2.830 that you messured is specific to your chamber... going longer then book OAL is fine, but it may not chamber in a different rifle.. example Remington 700 are infamous for being incredibly long throated, on my old 700 barrel, my OAL for 175smk was 3.890 to touch the lands
 
^^^ Ditto the Monkey. I'd say stick with the loading manual COAL for your ammo. Once you get your best load from your testing, you can try tweeking it by messing with jumping the lands.

I noticed a trend with a few of new reloaders on CGN already trying to jump the lands and haven't even shot their first reload to find the best powder/bullet combo.

Yeah, the leade on my 700 is pretty long. If I tried to jump the lands with some bullets, they'd be hanging by a hair in the case.
 
If you load these bullets out to 2.830" in your rifle as it is right now, you are touching the lands. This is not a bad thing. You never know, your rifle might like to shoot these bullets with a particular load with the bullets touching the lands. I usually start with the bullets touching the lands and once I find the load, then I start playing with the seating deepth.

Some bullets/barrels like a lot of jump, some don't. Some bullets are very jump tolerant (SMK's) and will shoot just as well touching as they will .040" off the lands.
 
Lesson I have learned...

When doing a test ladder write the powder weight on the cartridge with a Sharpie. Should you accidentally spill you box, there will be no need to pull the bullets and start again.
 
The 2.830 inches that you measured is the bullet jammed into lands. The pressure could be very high depending on your loads. Do a lot of reading (and reloading) before you start experimenting outside your reloading book data.
 
Varmit said:
The 2.830 inches that you measured is the bullet jammed into lands. The pressure could be very high depending on your loads. Do a lot of reading (and reloading) before you start experimenting outside your reloading book data.
Click to expand...

On the up side if this, you will find out sooner when the pressure is getting to high. Seating the bullets deeper into the case (farther away from the lands) will decrease pressure.
 
yomomma said:
Lesson I have learned...

When doing a test ladder write the powder weight on the cartridge with a Sharpie. Should you accidentally spill you box, there will be no need to pull the bullets and start again.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a PITA. I write the loads on a piece of paper with a particular coloured felt (red for 20.0, green for 20.5 etc...) and then give the head of the case a quick swipe with same colour. Easy Peasy...
 
Chamber a round and then pull it out and examine the bullet. Do you see rifling marks? If you do, you are into the rifling. Unless you started at Max powder (not a good idea) touching the rifling won't hurt.

next time, seat deeper until you are a half turn of the seater off the rifling. Then see if the rifle does better or worse. It is a rifle/bullet issue. Each rifle is different. Some have a preference and with some combos it does not matter.
 
Made it out yesterday and tested the loads. I loaded from 39 up to 41.5 in half grain increments and did 10 rounds for each, two 5 round groupings. I was never really a precision shooter, more of a putting rounds centre of mass guy so there's more practice to be had.


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Looks good at 40grains, other then a few pulled shots looks promising, just some more practice with crisply breaking the trigger and holding it firmly in place
 
You started 2 gr under the starting load on the Hogdon web page. Start at 41 and go up to 44 gr. I am sure that you will find something that will shoot a little tighter. Use a 4" black square as an aiming mark and shoot at the corners, it will be easier to put the cross hairs on the corner.
 
Some great advice and some good results on your load dev. Looks like 40gr is the sweet spot. I use the sharpie on the cartridge trick to write the grains in case I dump the box when working up a load. For my Remington 700, I found it liked 42gr of H4895 while using a Hornady 168gr Match HPBT. I also make a dummy round and load it long while trying to figure out the OAL for that exact bullet. Given that each bullet's ogive is different and you may be able to load it longer that the 2.80 standard for .308 COAL. I have a Lyman manual and if you are using IMR, Winchester or Hodgdon powders you can go to the online load data site which is good also as another reference.
 
Using colored sharpies on the tips of the bullets (not down far enough to touch rifling, but as far as practical) is a good way to track which bullet has what, and also it leaves coloured holes in the paper, so you can see the red grouped better than the green, etc.
 
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