Reloading .308 and .243

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thurst71

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Shallow Lake, ON
I have the equipment, which was handed down. Have not done much, and when I did it was following instructions from Grandpa. I did not get any of his notes with equipment, and have done reloading in 20+ years.
I like to shoot 165 gr in my .308. What would be the recommended primer and powder to use.
I had heard from a friend to use the IMR 4895 for the powder.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. Hoping to do shooting more often and that is why thinking about doing reloading especially with having the equipment to do it.

Thanks
 
Go out and buy 4 current loading manuals and read them all from cover to cover, skipping the load data sections that don't apply to you. It's your fingers and eyes, and you can do what you like but if you really, really like having everything arranged just the way it is.............I highly recommend you educate yourself on the safe practices of reloading metallic cartridges, and get your load data from a reputable and tested source..........a loading manual !!!
 
thurst71 said:
I have the equipment, which was handed down. Have not done much, and when I did it was following instructions from Grandpa. I did not get any of his notes with equipment, and have done reloading in 20+ years.
I like to shoot 165 gr in my .308. What would be the recommended primer and powder to use.
I had heard from a friend to use the IMR 4895 for the powder.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. Hoping to do shooting more often and that is why thinking about doing reloading especially with having the equipment to do it.
Click to expand...

My preference is to use Hodgdon powder over IMR as it is less temperature sensitive. Varget is a good powder and would do your 165 grain in 308 as well as 70-80 grain bullets in .243. I like Berger bullets for accuracy. Primers are typically not critical but both the 308 and 243 use large rifle. I like CCI BR2 for accuracy, but CCI 200 should be fine too, and are a little cheaper. You can get loading data at the Hodgdon site.
 
You should also check out Hodgdon Reloading online. They'll be able to help you get started with different powders and loads for your 308 and 243. Varget and IMR4064 have worked well for me in the 308 for the bullet weight you mentioned. I also use varget for 55 gr varmint loads for my 243 and H4350 for the heavier. There are several choices one or two books and the Hodgdon online will get you pointed in the right direction. You'll need to work up to the right powder charge weight from the minimum and figure out what works best in your rifle / bullet combo.
 
With 165's in a 308 I would go varget and around 44-45.5gr of it. Start lower obviously.
For 243 and sub 80gr bullets I would also do varget and for 80 and above I would do H4350
 
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