308 kickoff

terpstra · #1 02-21-2005, 04:37 PM

I'm new to handloading but I have everything I need to get started. I have a Rem 700 carbon fiber in a 308 to load for. What would anybody recomend as the starting procedure to find a good load. Start with seating depth alone? Powder? Or bullet? Any help would be appreciated.

kraky2 · #2 02-21-2005, 06:32 PM

I have had excellent accuracy in several 06's and my 308 with good old plain jane vanilla hornady 150 grain flat base bullets. For 308 you can't go wrong using RL15, Varget, or I4064. Actually the 308 likes alot of different powders. You kind of asked for a pet load and my little browning BLR was just an average shooter till I tried the 150 hornady over 45.5 of RL12. (Which is noslers accuracy load--without the hornady bullet of course) Unfortunately that's a hard powder to find but the other above powders or H4895 or win 748 can all give stellar performance.

abinok · #3 02-21-2005, 07:34 PM

Since nobody else has poasted about developing loads, Ill run through some of my load development procedure.
1st: pick your bullet,
2nd: choose your start seating depth, which is one of two dimensions, either just short enough to fit in the magazine, or .010 off the lands, depending on your application.
3rd: open your sierra/lee/Hornady/Nosler manuals and see what powder they reccomend for top accuracy, with the velocity you are looking for. Basiclly you are looking for a certian burn rate spectrum.
4th: shoot a ladder test. If you don't know what that is, email me for my version of the process. There are a few good sites dedicated to it, but ive got a conglomerated version, with my own observations added. Its really long, and has lots of pics/graphs, so id rather not post it.
5th: validate your results.
If you have a specific bullet/bullets in mind, Ill post some loads that have given me good success. I have data for bullets 55gr to 250gr.

4ked Horn · #4 02-21-2005, 09:02 PM

abinok I would like to see that ladder progression if you don't mind. 4kedhorn@gmail.com

I would also search this site for information on breaking in your barrel before you fire any (or too many) rounds through it. This will pay off in the long run in accuracy, future cleanings and because of this it will aid in load development.