loading 308

svt-40 said:
Hodgdon lists 43-47.7 gr of 4064 for 150 gr bullet, but I can only fit 43 gr in a case and it's compressed. Why do they list the loads that don't even fit?

Does anyone use H335 in 308? How does it perform?

I am going to load for Stevens 200 which is a 1:10" twist, using Hornady 150 gr FMJ/BT bullet with cannelure. Should I crimp as well?
Click to expand...

165gr Hornady SP, 44.3gr of IMR4064, 2.75" seating...fits no problem

Shooting out of a Savage 12FVSS with 1/10 twist

if the hairs are on it, its down, or blown up!

Cheers
 
Maybe it's the brass that I am using, has thicker walls/bottom than standard commercial brass? I am currently experimenting with DA milsurp brass from 1966-ish. 43 gr 4064 fits right at the top bend of the neck after some shaking. This is a starting load according to Hodgdon.
 
45 grains of IMR4895, with a 150 gr Hornady interlock shoot very well in my Tikka T3 with Federal brass and Fed 210 primers and 2.800 col. It doesn't seem particularly sensitive to small changes in the loads, as I tested all the way up to 47.3 which also shot very well also. Many times the first two shots touch at 100 yards, then the third one moves off a little as the barrel warms up. Let her cool down again, and the 4th and 5th shot will right back in the tight group.
 
Military brass is heavier (thicker walls). It will not hold as much power as a commercial case, and it should be downloaded about 2 grains to keep pressures in line.

Seat the bullet out to be about 20 thou off the rifling. This will give you more powder capacity, too.

Military cases are annealed slightly differently so as to have stronger heads and rims so there is less risk of a case separation in a semi/full auto. The web is usually higher, too. This is important in some rifles that have less of the head suported by the chamber wall.

4064 is a bulky powder well suited to the 30-06. In 308 it is very accurate when each charge is weighed. It does not meter well. I would consider 44 gr about max in a DA case with a 150 bullet.

No, there is no need to crimp. Neck tension will do the job.

H335 (Olin 844) is a ball powder. Meters so well there is no need to weight the charges. Use 2 gr less than what the book calls for with commercial cases. It burns a bit hotter than 4061, so barrel life is reduced. If you shoot thousands of rounds a year, this is an issue. For hunting and plinking, I like the ball powders.

For ball powder, the Winchester standard primer is a good idea.

Read your manual. There is a lot of info there. For 308 they must have a warning about reducing the powder charge for militatry cases.
 
Which means, the starting load would be 41 gr of 4064. That will fill the case just perfect. Thanks for the info, I'll load another 50 rounds with 4064 then.
 
I load 46.5 grains of Varget with a 150gr hornady in Federal cases in my savage 99e (20" barrel), 2850 fps 10' from the barrel on my crony. This load will shoot 5/8' 3 shot groups at 100 yards and 1 1/4' 3 shot groups at 200 yards if I do my part. I have some manuals that list 47 grains as max others that list 45 grains. I found little accuracy difference from 46 to 47 grains and split the difference.

The cases extract well, as a test I fired and reloaded three cases 20 times each:

They needed trimming after 3 reloads, the primers felt easier to seat after 10 reloads, (Federal brass I have read is one of the softest and tends to loosen primer pockets with heavy loads).

None of the cases failed.


I use this load for hunting, and have taken 4 mulies, 1 bull moose, and several grouse over the last 5 years, all but the grouse were 1 shot, the grouse kept bobing and weaving.

I'm happy with it !!!
 
sportco22 said:
I load 46.5 grains of Varget with a 150gr hornady in Federal cases in my savage 99e (20" barrel), 2850 fps 10' from the barrel on my crony. This load will shoot 5/8' 3 shot groups at 100 yards and 1 1/4' 3 shot groups at 200 yards if I do my part. I have some manuals that list 47 grains as max others that list 45 grains. I found little accuracy difference from 46 to 47 grains and split the difference.

The cases extract well, as a test I fired and reloaded three cases 20 times each:

They needed trimming after 3 reloads, the primers felt easier to seat after 10 reloads, (Federal brass I have read is one of the softest and tends to loosen primer pockets with heavy loads).

None of the cases failed.


I use this load for hunting, and have taken 4 mulies, 1 bull moose, and several grouse over the last 5 years, all but the grouse were 1 shot, the grouse kept bobing and weaving.

I'm happy with it !!!
Click to expand...

Which Hornady bullet? The 150 gr Interlock?
 
The original tests and development was with the lead tipped hornady (interbond?) but I loaded the polymer tipped (interlock?) this season with the same results. The pressures should be a bit lower with the polymer tipped as it is a boat tail and has less bore contact than the lead tipped. The only reason I tried the polymer tipped hornady is that I found the rotary magazine was damaging the lead tips if they were repeatedly loaded and unloaded.

I should mention that I run the overall cartridge length at 2.795" because this is the longest I can get into my magazine.
 
in my LTR my proprietary powder has been RL-15 but all this varget talk has me thinking about trying something different.

I stick within the 165gr range for my bullets though I sometimes go for 167gr match

I usually go for 44.5gr RL-15 with 165 hornady interlock or grandslams.

I'm just ordering some Lapua 167 Scenars though to try out.
 
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