308 Information

[MBD]

Will be picking up a 308 , built for long range targets.
I've loaded for the 300WM; 7mm Rem Mag; and 33 Nosler.
I have some questions on loading for this particular round:
What brass would be good for this?
What rounds are guys having success with?
What primers are you using with good results?

Thanks!

 

[med358-boise]

Lapua Brass is generally the best

What rounds? Do you mean bullets? If so, and you only shooting "targets" aka paper Berger is tough to beat.

Primers are generally the least "impactful" on accuracy - any bench rest primer will do.

 

[Chesterrose79]

Lapua brass
BR2 primers
Berger 185 juggernauts or 155.5 fullbore
N140,N150 or Varget

 

[Slick8]

Tagged in.

What do you consider long range for a 308?
1) Buy the best brass you can get your hands on, Lapua, ADG, Norma, Bertram and I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two. If you're serious about long range precision, I'd stay away from range or mixed brass and not really a fan of Rem or Win but they'll work if that's what you have. It will just need more prep and sorting work. This is not the place to skimp for long range work.
***I know a guy that has or had 100 rounds of Lapua at a great price.
2) I'm a berger guy but there's many others that will do the job. If you're wanting to shoot long range in a 308, you really need a VLD bullet to retain maximum velocity.
3) I'm a Fed primer guy but do run CCI's as well. Specifically in the small rifle rounds. These days, you may have to run what you can get your hands on.

I'm piecing together a trainer / hunter myself based on a Bergara barreled action and will run the following listed below. It's a 10 twist and I'll run 5-25 Gen II PST which I happen to have in the safe. This combo will mimic in size and feel my long range hunting rifles. I plan to use it for practice out to 600 yards if accuracy is within 1 MOA give or take to that range.
Lapua brass
Fed 210M's.
Varget
Berger 150-180's or what ever VLD I can locate.

 

[mtbullet1]

lapua, imr8208xbr, fed 210, 168 vld

 

[Dean2]

A lot of the answers to this depend on twist and how tight a chamber you had done. If it is straight SAMMI spec then any brass will work, a little prep turns inexpensive Lake City, WW or Remington brass into pretty good stuff. A lot of ts is available cheap as once fired. FL sized, trimmed, skim the necks and weight sorted, it makes great inexpensive brass. For new, I have been buying Lapua lately becasue right now it is the same price up here as WW, and less than half the price of Nosler or other premium U.S. made brass.

Same holds true for Lapua bullets, every bit as good as Berger or Sierra Match and quite a bit cheaper. For high volume shooting component cost makes a difference.

Varget, 8208 are the most common target powders but BLC2 is another great shooting choice and often easier to find.

 

[HSmithTX]

I load WW brass, some prep and it's good. Weight sort, prep well and it is great. I also load LC, same drill as WW and it works well. In a good rifle WW or LC prepped well will not hold you back from well sub minute capability, some of mine is on it's 15th firing and still stacking bullets. I bought a bunch of 168 AMax bullets a few years ago, they are superb on deer and very accurate well past 700 but fall off enough at 1000 that there are better choices, if it is windy for sure better choices but the Amax loaded well in an accurate rifle is easily sub minute well past 700. Best part is they are relatively cheap, almost 2-1 cost compared to some other bullets recommended. Varget is the best 308 powder for me. Across all temps it is very consistent and accurate. Primers don't matter a whole lot to me, the LC primed brass shoots as well as LC brass primed with BR primers.

 

[Doom2]

Tell us about the rifle, barrel length and twist, chamber. Custom or off the shelf? How far to you intend to shoot and at what elevation.

 

[Janno05]

Lapua brass, fed 210m, varget, 168 smk

 

[JAYgs8163]

45 grains of Varget (work up),168 or 178 ELDX, Lapua brass, CCI primers. Shoot this load from numerous rifles with 10 twist barrels and it's super accurate.

 

[jeb405]

I agree on Berger bullets, my GAP Surgeon loves the 175 hunting VLD at magazine length and easier to locate than target or hybrid bullets. So many mentioned Varget and I guess if you will pay almost $500 for 8 lbs Hornady had some lately. It is also what I use today but starting to run low. I'd also suggest you consider TAC as much more available than a lot of others and similar speed to Varget. My brass is most all Lapua LP.

JB

 

[Ckgworks]

41 grains of Imr4895
168 grain sierra match king
Large rifle BR Primer
I use LC brass and have great results. The above load is a proven match load and shoots very well in multiple .308
Obviously your mileage may vary, but it's a great start point.

 

[rustyshackleford]

For projectiles I have personally had good luck with the 169 SMK. Honestly it's cheaper than the berger 185 and the form factors probably aren't that dissimilar. The best bullet for the 308 is probably the 180 grain elite Hunter since it has a higher BC and lower form factor than the 185's and you should still be able to get good speed out of it. For powders I'd go for RL-15, Varget, IMR 4064, or H4895. These seem to be the most commonly successful powders though I prefer RL-15. If you want to chase the top end of 308 performance at the cost of stability you can try power pro 2000, RL-17, or CFE 223. When it comes to brass I have had really good luck with winchester given the price and I'm currently testing out Peterson. If you want to try SRP do some research and make sure your gun is compatible. Apparently mine is notorious for clearance around the FP and piercing SRP's.

 

[440coronet]

My experience (and of course my opinion RL15 BR2 168 Sierra MKs if shooting to 600 if shooting longer use the 175MK's
All work great in my plethora of .308's
I've been to a few 1000 yard training schools and learned a ton about the .308 there