Best powder for 308 benchrest

[marchboom]

I just received a rifle set up for benchrest shooting. It has a 25" Lilja barrel with a 1-12" twist, McMillan benchrest stock & a Jewell trigger. I plan to shoot Sierra 155 MK bullets. I have narrowed the powder choice down to the following: Varget, Reloder 15 & H4895. Is there one of these powders that you would recommend over the others? I will be shooting in temps between 40 & 90 degrees. Would Reloder 15 be at a disadvantage?

Thank you.

 

[Canhunter35]

Haven't played with rl15 but Varget will work great

 

[Hand Skills]

Agreed, I would take Varget over 4895 for the 155's. Better case fill, better velocity. 4895 is great with the 125gr's though.

No experience with RL15 here either.

 

[JLM8401]

I Shoot Reloader 15 and Varget with 168's SMK They both shot great groups but the Varget seemed to have the Lower SD's. At least in my gun.

edit-From Sierra Manual Accuracy Load (RE-15) (42.0 grains) (2600 FPS) 168 SMK
Accuracy Load (Viht N140) (43.1 grains) (2700 FPS) 155 SMK

Ive always found the Accuracy Load from Sierra to be a good place to start

 

[MarkA]

Varget!!

 

[AZShooter]

IMR 8208 is no slouch either. I "discovered" it when Varget was hard to find. Accurate shooter had a writeup on it and it was available so I tried it. It is temperature stable, I use it year round in Tucson in a 308 and a 30 BR.

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/tag/8208-xbr/


It works well with this guy's 6 PPC:

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2009/12/jackie-schmidt-tests-new-imr-8208-xbr-powder/


In another thread a shooter had this to say:
" The powder burns very clean for me. I changed from RL15 and Varget because of the consistency and temp stability of this powder."
link:
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/opinions-on-imr-8208-xbr-consistancy.3776779/

 

[jjmp]

All 3 are Great powders ,reloading skills come into play more and more when your bench rest shooting ,I'm no Benchrest shooter not even close but my heavy 308 has been fun, was told a reload and a tried it from a High power match shooter RL/15 ,150 Sierra boatail forgot brass and primer but it out shot federal 168 Sierra match kings by a .25 inch at 100yds . Listen to what your rifle likes ,& test a lot !,Cheers !

 

[Deviant]

I just received a rifle set up for benchrest shooting. It has a 25" Lilja barrel with a 1-12" twist, McMillan benchrest stock & a Jewell trigger. I plan to shoot Sierra 155 MK bullets. I have narrowed the powder choice down to the following: Varget, Reloder 15 & H4895. Is there one of these powders that you would recommend over the others? I will be shooting in temps between 40 & 90 degrees. Would Reloder 15 be at a disadvantage?

Thank you.

Varget has been outstanding for me.

 

[Greyfox]

I have used all three in my 308's with comparable accuracy and ES. I have stuck with Varget since the "Extreme" formulation was introduced because of the excellent temperature stability which was problematic with the other two powders.

 

[Big Eddie]

I just received a rifle set up for benchrest shooting. It has a 25" Lilja barrel with a 1-12" twist, McMillan benchrest stock & a Jewell trigger. I plan to shoot Sierra 155 MK bullets. I have narrowed the powder choice down to the following: Varget, Reloder 15 & H4895. Is there one of these powders that you would recommend over the others? I will be shooting in temps between 40 & 90 degrees. Would Reloder 15 be at a disadvantage?

Thank you.

I shoot RL15 with 175 SMK in a 1-11.25 twist Barrel. Very accurate. I shoot out to 850 yrds. On my farm were it is still very accurate. Temps run from 10 to 100+ i never experience a swing in point of impact. All the powders you mentioned are a good choice. Like someone said it is what ever your gun likes. Good luck!

 

[EWY]

I have used 155gr Nosler completion bullets with RL15, Varget and TAC. Varget seems to have a slight edge in accuracy. I haven't been able to work with TAC very much but it seems promising.
Thanks to AZShooter I may have to try 8208.

 

[WYO300RUM]

Varget works for me.

 

[Zymurgist]

I like the Hornady 168gr. A-Max over 43.5gr. of IMR 4064. I believe this is the load our military provides to designated marksmen. It works great in my M1a. As do the Sierra Match Kings over the same charge.

 

[WYO300RUM]

That's funny . I was going to say 4064 as second choice . Used to be my first.
Have used it in a lot of cartridges.