New to shooting .308! Would like some economical suggestions

Brettzky

Brettzky

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Title says it, I'm looking to have fun shooting on a bit of a budget. I just bought 2 20packs of remington core lokt at canadian tire and it set me back almost $60. $1.50 per shot. Then I saw the federal premium stuff beside it for $56/box. Might make sense if every shot gets you a month's elk meat, but that's hardly worth shooting more than a few rounds to sight in your scope with, unless you're doing some good long range target practice.

Do any of you avid range shooters have a preferred ammo that gives good enough accuracy and hopefully keep it worth shooting?

Better yet, are any of you shooting a CZ 550 varmint?:cool:
 
MFS steel cased is pretty cheap, less than $1/ shot IIRC. Dart and Tackle carries it once in a while. I think they were 139gr in soft and FMJ. Not super accurate. Will get flyers for sure but fine for poops and giggles esp with a bolt action. My preferred plinking rd. is the American Eagle 140gr FMJ. I feed my Israeli Mauser that round and I reload for my other .308.
 
A thread here in the Ammo section talks about P&D having battle packs for $80.00 its about .60 a round.

SFRC and Trade Ex often sell Military Surplus 7.62x51 (.308) in spam cans for .36 -.60 a round.

Shop around and you can get some decent deals, but .308 will generally be a rather expensive round to play with.

Sadly, I like the .308 myself as well so I know the pain :)
 
Well if you're looking for strictly plinking and not looking for sub moa groups a bunch of the sponsors have cheaper 308. You should be able to find American Eagle stuff for around $1 per round. Federal blue box has treated me decent in the past and they normally don't go for more than $22-24 per box. Norinco, MFS, and a couple of other brands that come in FMJ can be found for good prices. Just depends how hard you look and what you expect the gun to do.
 
DaScribbler said:
A thread here in the Ammo section talks about P&D having battle packs for $80.00 its about .60 a round.

SFRC and Trade Ex often sell Military Surplus 7.62x51 (.308) in spam cans for .36 -.60 a round.

Shop around and you can get some decent deals, but .308 will generally be a rather expensive round to play with.

Sadly, I like the .308 myself as well so I know the pain :)
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It's no .223 but I wouldn't consider it to be expensive unless you're looking for premium ammo. I find it one of the cheaper rounds out of the "common" calibers.
 
tradex has solid deal on brass cased 762x51. just picked up 200 rounds for reloading... you can get 500 rnds for $0.86/round shipped. Check it out
 
Brettzky said:
Title says it, I'm looking to have fun shooting on a bit of a budget. I just bought 2 20packs of remington core lokt at canadian tire and it set me back almost $60. $1.50 per shot. Then I saw the federal premium stuff beside it for $56/box. Might make sense if every shot gets you a month's elk meat, but that's hardly worth shooting more than a few rounds to sight in your scope with, unless you're doing some good long range target practice.

Do any of you avid range shooters have a preferred ammo that gives good enough accuracy and hopefully keep it worth shooting?

Better yet, are any of you shooting a CZ 550 varmint?:cool:
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For the price of a couple hundred rounds you could set yourself up with a nice little reloading kit.
 
Reloading was once the way to go. Notice I said "was once". It seems as though finding certain powders are near impossible now and if you do, the seller seems to thing that a pound of powder - taxes in, is worth almost $50. Robbery. My suggestion would be to buy some surplus .308 like the Norinco stuff for practice. Then keep your eye out for hunting ammo on sale and pick it up at a reduced price when possible.
 
Brettzky said:
That's something I'd totally get into. Does that end up cutting costs quite a bit?
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The initial cost is very high. You need enough brass, primers, bullets reloading dies, seaters for each caliber and powder. That's assuming you already have all the actual reloading equipment and accessories like scales, tumbler, all the doodads for cleaning out primer pockets, lube ....
It only pays for itself after you do it for a while. I figure reloading .308 with good stuff comes out to $1 a round still but you have the consistency factor in your favour. I am currently working on loads using Varget powder and 168 Hornady Match and 178 Amax bullets with PRVI brass.
If you are interested in reloading, especially for long range shooting, talk to Jerry at Mystic Precision. He is a site sponsor and is a great guy to deal with. He will give you the time of day, that's for sure!

PM me if you want to discuss reloading supplies. I'm in your vicinity.
 
Brettzky said:
That's something I'd totally get into. Does that end up cutting costs quite a bit?
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Go to the reloading thread, lots of info there. There are guys that have spread sheets that can tell you what it costs (to the penny) to load. Getting into it does have an initial cost for equipment, so shop around and don't but something because it is the cheapest. You will eventually upgrade a few things over the years.
 
Brettzky said:
That's something I'd totally get into. Does that end up cutting costs quite a bit?
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Doesn't so much cut costs as permits more shooting with higher quality ammo for the same price... plus your time of course.

I think it's a great way to go. Custom ammo less than $1 a round, plus your time, of course.
 
Yes it cuts cost, but most reloaders end up shooting alot more ammo then they would at factory prices. So you'll likely spend more but also shoot alot more.

The bigger the caliber the more savings per shot there is. I shoot the 500mag which costs $3.50 from the factory when you can find it. Using my cast bullets it's about 0.35 cents a shot.
 
Brettzky said:
That's something I'd totally get into. Does that end up cutting costs quite a bit?
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What you have to consider is the volume you will be shooting.

Lets throw out $400 as a figure to get started on reloading. How long will it you to shoot the difference of $400 between reloaded shells vs factory shells? For the average guy , a looooooooooong time. If you're only going to be shooting 100~ rounds a year, its likely not worth it.

Now, their are other reasons to reload besides costs, so you can factor those in to.
 
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