Hey y’all, brand new to reloading…thanks to Jim my equipment is in the mail!
I’m going to start with trying to develop a good .308 load for hunting elk this fall. Rifle is a Bergara HMR Pro 20" with a 1:10 twist.
I have some ideas of bullet selection, but I’m pretty well lost whenever it comes to picking a powder. What are some good starting options? I’m probably looking at somewhere between a 160-180gr bullet, if that makes a difference. Leaning towards Barnes 165 TTSX or Nosler Partition or Accubond in that range. So maybe a powder or two for those?
Reloading manuals…what’s your preference? I already ordered the most recent Lyman manual, will I need others?
Bullet qty…it seems like most bullets come in quantities of 50. Should I just take the leap and buy a couple? My concern is not really knowing if certain bullets will be accurate in my rifle. But maybe 50 isn’t even enough to develop a load? How many of each different load do you work up before you know you’ve hit the sweet spot? Groups of 3-5 and then back to the lab?
So many questions… I’m just starting in on the courses here so if those are going to answer things for me just direct me there and I’ll get there eventually.
Relatively new to this myself but I would say that if you’re really interested in using a Barnes bullet, then I would use or at least start with Barnes reloading data. It’s available online for free.
It will give you a choice of powders. The biggest thing you’re going to find with that is what is actually available. We still live in a time where powders can be very difficult to find. Especially something like a reloader xyz from Alliant. If you happen to be lucky and everything is in stock and available to purchase then I would probably stick with one that leads to a higher velocity as the Barnes Bullets tend to do well with higher velocities.
For 308, Varget is probably the best powder out there. If you see any available in stores, pounce on it like a leopard on a zebra. It’s hard to find. Reloader 15, H4895, and IMR 4064 are also good options.
50 bullets is usually enough to do basic load development and see if the gun will like a particular bullet.
I like loading 12 or 16 shots in each load so you can get the average of 3 or 4 four-shot groups to know how it’s shooting. Just shooting one or two groups usually won’t be enough information to tell you if it’s a good load.
I run a Bergara 308 in an XLR chassis with a 20” Brux barrel. Varget is always a good choice in the 308. It is an extreme powder that is stable thru temperature swings.
Recently I tried some N540 given Varget is hard to come by. I found it to be stable for temp so far, haven’t shot in freezing weather yet.
I run a 168gn Berger VLD-H at 2,711fps. N540, ES 5, SD 2.0.
With the same powder, N540, and charge weight, I get 2,757fps from a 168 A-Max. Do not use for hunting! Bad experience with happy ending over two days. Never again!
I love Varget, but was on the edge of pressure in my previous load. I dropped down to next accurate safe load and tried N540 side by side at the same time. After testing, I found I could get better velocity without being on the edge with N540.
I don’t have any experience with it on Elk, but it has never failed on several Blacktail deer out to 480yrds.
Thanks gents. Went hunting for some supplies today and came up empty in regards to powder. But I was able to find a pack of CCI BR-2 Large Rifle Primers. Hopefully, those will be okay…from the information I could find on the internet they seemed to be of good quality. Box of 165gr Nosler Accubonds and a box of 168gr Sierra TMKs for plinking as well. I have a bunch of factory ammo to burn through so I have some once-fired brass to get cleaned up and load.
Got my press and dies in the mail today and started to get organized.
I’ll keep my eyes peeled for N540.
I get my Lyman manual tomorrow…will hunt another store or two tomorrow for powder options.
Tried my hand at some resizing last night and I have some learning to do… Running into a lot of questions.
First of all, I’m using once fired brass from my rifle, but it’s of mixed manufacture. I have Federal, Hornady, Sig, and Nosler.
Using the headspace method of trying to achieve .002 shoulder bump and is not consistent between casings. Meaning after zeroing my first fire casing, the next fired casing does not always come back to zero in the comparator. I am wondering if I am doing something wrong, or is that typical? Also, to confirm, we are trying to bump the shoulder “back” .002, so I should actually get a -.002" measurement with the headspace comparator, right?
I feel that it would be easier with this mixed brass to know what headspace dimension I should be aiming for…that way I can not try to “bump .002” and instead I can just aim for a particular size. Should that be the SAAMI spec? Is this not a good idea for some reason? The dimensions I was measuring after the .002" bump were not matching with SAAMI so I am wondering if I should be concerned. I also plan to get once fired brass from the range in the future, so I will likely be loading a good bit of mixed mfg brass that was not shot in my rifle…so I need to understand how to best go about that.
I also have some fresh Lapua brass on the way with my powders. Do I need to resize this brass at all, or can I load straight into it? I can just use the redding die neck resize “button” to straighten out any neck deformities, correct? I guess I would probably be better off using an ID mandrel neck resizer, but I’m hoping to get away with what I have for now.
Reloading mixed range brass is really tough to get high quality results.
As you were seeing, it becomes impossible to get a consistent shoulder bump or neck tension with different brass. Could you separate out one brand of the range brass to be reloading?
Your new lapua brass will be MUCH easier to work with. You don’t need to resize new lapua brass. It’s perfection. At most use an expanded mandrel on the necks.
Yeah - I have already separated them out by MFG. Mostly I plan to use the range brass for plinking and/or shooting steel, so accuracy is not paramount…I just want to shoot more cheaply. I will use the Lapua for working up my hunting loads.
If I’m just loading with the range brass for plinking, should I be so worried about headspace and re-sizing, so long as it’s within the SAAMI spec tolerance and cycles correctly in my rifle?
I have used Varget , Cfe223, and Staball Match
In my 308. The staball match works the best for me with 175gn.bullet. Meters easily, has been easy for me to load develop with. Shoots consistent. Randy
Great. I gave 2 lbs of Varget and 1 lb of BL-C(2) (indicated to be the most accurate with one if the Nosler bullets I have) on the way with my new brass.
Well, I stuck my first case already…and yes I did use lube, lol. Haven’t even gotten around to seating a bullet yet. Ordered the RCBS stuck case removal tool as I assume this won’t be my first.
Franklin’s M-press shell holder retention plate got all bent up, so I had to remove it, pound it flat, and replace it…the rear center screw stripped some of the threading out of the hole, but I seem to have gotten it back into place okay.
Basically, this same thing happened to me, but I didn’t go the extra step to drill and tap larger/longer holes:
(well, I can’t post the link I guess? there’s a post on sniper’s hide…google " Frankford Arsenal M-Press - Stuck Case Bends Shellholder Retaining Plate. How To Fix & Correct.")
Good news is I got my Lapua brass and powder today, so I can play around with those and load some fresh cases instead.
I had the exact same problem just a few days ago. Lost a few cases before I realized what actually happened. You don’t need to worry about drilling larger holes but I recommend replacing the screws it came with. I’ve had several issues with the factory screws that come in the press especially the ones in the die block loosening after a couple presses. For the plate on the bottom I swapped to black oxide coated steel #6-32 3/8in screws from home depot after looking at the reviews from FA’s website. So far they have held strong and are allen key tops which makes them easier to install. In the die block I’ve swapped to stainless steel screws. Apparently its a common issue for the screws that come in the press to strip and come loose so I definitely recommend replacing them with higher quality ones. I’ll leave you the links to the ones that I bought to make it easier. Both are pretty cheap so it should be an easy swap. You can check in store for any hardware stores near you and see if they have similar ones in stock but mine didn’t have them in store so I had to order them online.
@cjparis971 Thank you very much, I will snag those cap screws and replace the factory ones. I am not sure what the set screws are for…you replaced the screws in the quick change collets with those?
Overall a very frustrating day of loading…
I loaded up 25 rounds of fresh Lapua brass with 168gr Sierra TMK bullets, starting with the low recommended load of Varget and working up in .5 grain increments after 5 rounds each. I got into a good groove, figured out the Hornady powder loader (which seems very convenient), measured each round within .001" of the recommended COAL, and then took a dinner break.
After dinner, I went back and figured I would test chamber my loads and they would not chamber. The only thing I can figure out after much testing and measuring is that the neck OD is too big for the chamber on my rifle. Unloaded new Lapua brass will chamber, but the loaded stuff will not. Unloaded neck DIA of .335" goes, and loaded with ~.343" does not. I loaded a few at different COALs (including even shorter than recommended) and I have the same issue. The bolt fully engages but will not turn over past about 1/8 - 1/4 of the throw. Headspace is all well below the SAAMI maximum of 1.640. I measured some factory loads and they are closer to the .335" neck diameter and chamber just fine.
I did some research online and it seems like Lapua brass is exceptionally thick, and sometimes needs to be turned down to fit tighter chambers. I guess that is my problem…but if anyone has any other ideas I am open to suggestions. I would have tried re-sizing some fresh brass but…my case is still stuck LOL.
Is it possible I set up my seating die incorrectly? .008" DIA of growth seems excessive when .003" or so neck tension seems to be what most folks aim for. I did measure the lengths of some of the brass that I seated in (and pulled the bullet) and it was 1.981" (vs a pretty consistent length of 2.005" on the fresh brass). I don’t know how that could be me though, since the COAL is good to go.
Yes the set screws are for replacing the ones that come in the blocks that hold the dies in the press. I’m not sure what they made them out of but the ones that come with the blocks always seem to strip for me when I tighten them down and then come loose after a few cases.
I figured out what I was doing wrong. I had my seating die set way too low and it was smooshing the necks down. I backed it off and seated a bullet in a new piece of brass and voila! we chambered!
