Hornady 150 sst Varget load for 308

Mitscavitch

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Hi All

I am looking to develop a load for a 22 inch barreled rifle for shooting deer here in Scotland. It has a 1 / 11 twist would anyone care to give me some suggestions that I could fine tune etc.

I have just bought some Lapua brass and Varget and I am open to any help or advice.

Many Thanks

Alan
 
I use Hornady 150 sst and varget in a Remington 308 sps hunting rifle that the kids use. It shoots good. The best thing to do is start low and work up. I settled on 45 gr with federal primers.
 
Varget in 308 win

This group was shot yesterday at a shooting match in Eganville ON at 200m This load was using 168gr Berger Hybrids with Lapua palma brass, necks turned, small primers, Rifle rem 700 BDL has a 1/12 twist 24".
This rifle will shoot the Sierra 2156 155 gr almost a tight, start you loading at 40gr of Varget and work up till you get best results.
good luck Manitou

 
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My load is 46 gr. with the bullet about 20 thou off the rifling. But there are variations in chambers, so start around 42.0 and load 5 of each in 0.5 gr increments up to 47.0 for your first shoot to see if the rifle has a clear preference. Somewhere in there you should see some sign of high pressure, like a shiny spot on the case head from the ejector, a cratered primer or a sticky blot lift. STOP SHOOTING! and bring the rest home to be pulled.

Let the barrel cool between 5 shot strings. A wet towel can be used to speed cooling.

Once you know the range to explore (say 45 gr) you can repeat the test in o.3 gr increments from 44 to 46. One of those should stand out.

For testing it would be a good idea to use (borrow) a more powerful scope for the ammo testing. Something around 15 to 25 power is best. Try to have a steady position with a sandbag under the forend and the butt. Use very light cheek pressure. Your cheek can be a variable.

For an aiming mark I use a large black square or rectangle and shoot a group at each corner. The crosshairs line up perfectly on each corner.
 
My last 2 .308's (1:12 20" and 1:10 22") and have done very well with 150gr BT spitzers by Hornady and Speer on top of 45gr of Varget (Fed neck sized brass, CCI200 primers, 2.8" OAL)
 
Thanks Guys

I really appreciate your help as the 308 is not as popular here in Scotland for red deer. All info is useful as I will try several types of 150 bullets as and when they become availiable. We are also having problems with powder and bullet choice as dealers here are unable to source components !

Alan
 
My limited experience loading for my rem 700 in .308win has shown accuracy for me is had with higher grainages! I've played with Varget and RL15 and for both 165 and 150gr projectiles. Have fun with it
 
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