M118lr Ammo and Other Questions

[308Jeremy]

Couple questions for the experts here. Im trying to duplicate M118lr ammo and i think im pretty close. Im using 175gr Sierra Matchking bthp, 43 grains of reloader 15, federal brass and g210m primers. Any thoughts on this recipe?

I want to try to practice so i can try some Tr shooting but everyone keeps telling me to use sandbags. Should i continue to shoot off my bipod because that is most likely what i will be doing during comps?

Your thoughts shooting with gloves on?

Thanks for any help and info guys, keep up the good work!

 

[ultimate_monkey]

practice off what u plan to shoot off in comp, but rests and bags are more stable, thats why almost every one uses them over a bipob.

 

[Tomochan]

I think 43.5 Varget may be closer but 43 Reloder 15 may be fine. More importantly, shooting off what you need to shoot off in matches is very important. For the longest time I shot from a bench, off a rest and at 100m - my objective was to consistently put 5 inside a dime ( my personal benchmark of accuracy ). Now this was all well and good but I had my posterior delivered via express mail at matches where the shooting was done off a bipod, from the prone and at much greater distances

These days I never shoot off the bench. I shoot prone, off a bipod and use a rear bag and I shoot at the max distance my various clubs have available. Guess what ? Yes, my match scores have improved

Re gloves - on cold days I use them but much depends on your trigger - some are so light that it becomes very hard to use gloves without the risk of an AD.

 

[AlexF]

M118LR is Federal Match Brass, Federal Match Primer, 175gr SMK and unknown powder at 2580fps from 24" barrel.
AOL is greater than 2.800" since it was found that it increased accuracy for most weapon systems.
Historically, IMR4064 was used in load range ammo but in was dropped in favor of a temperature insensitive propellant following the combat experience in Iraq and Afganistan.

I known US 175gr SMK LOAD the MK 316 MOD 0 uses 41.745gr of IMR4064.
You could look up Sierra's and Hodgdon load data and interpolate the equivalent Varget load.

Finaly, Federal Gold Match 175gr ammo is very very similar to M118LR.
I could get you the OAL from it if you want.

Alex

 

[Oldsmobiler]

Here is the load data from the current batch of 118 ammo:

 

[308Jeremy]

Thank you everyone for your time and help, I will continue to shoot off my bipod but I have to find a new range because we can only shoot from the bench at ridgedale. As for the M118lr I loaded 100 rounds of clone ammo only i used Rx15 43 grains. But when im finished that ill try that recipe!