Help on .308 reloading

[Cecil Higgins]

Just a little background I have been reloading and shooting various calibers for over 30 years.

As a long range shooter I have found that as a hunting round in 308, what has been the best performer is Varget and the Sierra 165 bullets.

I have had good luck using the 165 game king and the 168 BTHP Matchking for making long shots on big game. Both bullets have a massive wound channel and the kinetic energy is more then sufficient for the game you would hunt in North America. I have killed Elk, Black and White tail Deer, Antelope and Bears. It dispatched all quickly.

 

[Deleted member 107796]

You have some excellent feedback to use. As mentioned, a bullet/powder combo will jump out as what your rifle likes. My Tikka prefers 150gn over 165gn as far as being able to easily dial in an accurate load. Young or old, our goal is to move forward every day and I see you're doing just fine.

 

[tnek13]

VARGET it is the best in my rifles with Sierra 165 gr BTHPs

 

[Cecil Higgins]

Just a little background I have been reloading and shooting various calibers for over 30 years.

As a long range shooter I have found that as a hunting round in 308, what has been the best performer is Varget and the Sierra 165 bullets.

I have had good luck using the 165 game king and the 168 BTHP Matchking for making long shots on big game. Both bullets have a massive wound channel and the kinetic energy is more then sufficient for the game you would hunt in North America. I have killed Elk, Black and White tail Deer, Antelope and Bears. It dispatched all quickly.

I should mention that these loads are fired from my Savage 110 and my Ruger American rifle. Both seem to like the same loads which never happens. I am lucky there because I can just load one combination. I shoot out to 600 yards with these rifles and they are very consistant

 

[wonderman4]

You are lucky in that you have a very versatile caliber to work with. The 308 Win is probably the best as far as finding a load combination that works.

A lot of people over look IMR4320 in the 308 Win for some reason other than just going with what the internet says and using Varget. Don't get me wrong, Varget is good, but why limit yourself to just one load?

If ever the times get tough again, I find it is an excellent idea to have more than one working load.

All the powders that you listed work quite well in the 308 Win and I will add don't over look RL 15.

As far as exact loads are concerned, as mentioned before, only your rifle can tell you that.

 

[Danny Butler]

Hello All,

After reading the very interesting and informative thread "One Powder to rule them all (30.06)", I thought I'd take advantage of the collective wisdom of this site and pose the following enquiry:

At the young age of 70 I have just acquired my first hunting rifle, a new Mauser M 18 in .308 Win. Just fired it yesterday for the first time with some military rounds to start breaking it in.

Where I am from there is very limited availability of reloading components and I have available (some friends actually) the following powders:
-W 748
-Varget
-IMR 4064
-IMR 4320
and some IMR 3031 (not a lot).

And the following bullets:
- 50 each of Nosler Partition Sptzer in 165gr
-100 each of Hornady Interlock 150 gr SP
-100 each of Sierra Tipped GameKing Gamechanger in 165 gr

I trust the knowledgeable members of the board will come up with proper combinations for fallow dear, wild boar and red stag, which is what we have around here as far as big game is concerned.

Thanks in advance for your contributions,

JC

Varget

 

[Kaptoe]

Wasn't on your list but H4895 is also a very good 308 powder

 

[User4302021]

Hello All,

After reading the very interesting and informative thread "One Powder to rule them all (30.06)", I thought I'd take advantage of the collective wisdom of this site and pose the following enquiry:

At the young age of 70 I have just acquired my first hunting rifle, a new Mauser M 18 in .308 Win. Just fired it yesterday for the first time with some military rounds to start breaking it in.

Where I am from there is very limited availability of reloading components and I have available (some friends actually) the following powders:
-W 748
-Varget
-IMR 4064
-IMR 4320
and some IMR 3031 (not a lot).

And the following bullets:
- 50 each of Nosler Partition Sptzer in 165gr
-100 each of Hornady Interlock 150 gr SP
-100 each of Sierra Tipped GameKing Gamechanger in 165 gr

I trust the knowledgeable members of the board will come up with proper combinations for fallow dear, wild boar and red stag, which is what we have around here as far as big game is concerned.

Thanks in advance for your contributions,

JC

In your situation I would choose the 165 Partitions and the Varget and load 42 grains (2.721 grams) to 2.775 inches (7.048 cm), sight in, and go to the woods.

Additionally, at this speed (approximately 771 m/s from a 55.9cm barrel), I would zero 5 cm high at 100m (170m zero) and that would put it 5cm low at 200m. So you could hold the center on a 10cm circle all the way to 200m and still hit it.

 

[Don Titus]

4064 and Sierra Game King or ProHunter shoots great in my Mauser Bauer 3000 in .308; tried 3031...not as accurate as 4064 in my rifle..

 

[Danny Butler]

IMR 4064 is a good powder in the .308, the military uses it in the Mark 316 Mod 0 Ammo. Only problem I've found with this powder is it is temperature sensitive... to the tune of 1 FPS per degree of temperature...meaning for me is it don't shoot as consistently as Varget. If you are hunting the same time of the year and temperatures then maybe that's not a problem for you. The Hornady A-Max is my choice of bullet..

 

[skipglo]

Hello All,

After reading the very interesting and informative thread "One Powder to rule them all (30.06)", I thought I'd take advantage of the collective wisdom of this site and pose the following enquiry:

At the young age of 70 I have just acquired my first hunting rifle, a new Mauser M 18 in .308 Win. Just fired it yesterday for the first time with some military rounds to start breaking it in.

Where I am from there is very limited availability of reloading components and I have available (some friends actually) the following powders:
-W 748
-Varget
-IMR 4064
-IMR 4320
and some IMR 3031 (not a lot).

And the following bullets:
- 50 each of Nosler Partition Sptzer in 165gr
-100 each of Hornady Interlock 150 gr SP
-100 each of Sierra Tipped GameKing Gamechanger in 165 gr

I trust the knowledgeable members of the board will come up with proper combinations for fallow dear, wild boar and red stag, which is what we have around here as far as big game is concerned.

Thanks in advance for your contributions,

JC

Look up www.loaddata.com...be safe!

 

[skippertwo]

or, you could just go the best there is route (my opinion)
N140, 42.5 grains, 150 Accubond
will drop all the critters on your list

 

[MudRunner2005]

Varget, LeverEvolution, CFE223... All are good powders for .308 Win.

 

[User4302021]

What's up with the OP saying "This is what I have access to. This is my situation" and people recommending stuff that is NOT on the list? Do you people even read the OP?