Newbie about to start loading for short barrel .308 and looking for some advice

[Kiowa Cowboy]

You might find helpful information here:


There are several videos including one load development. I will be interested to hear how it goes.

 

[jlarose85]

You might find helpful information here:


There are several videos including one load development. I will be interested to hear how it goes.

I've seen that series. It's got some good info in it. They only used 2 hand loads and varget was one. After looking again at the Hodgdon pistol data, it shows varget having the highest velocity so I'm thinking I might start there and see what it'll do. Just gotta find primers first

 

[riflelooney]

Dont handicap yourself and worry about barrel length. Pick a few 165 gr bullets,,,,,try a flatbase and a boatail or 2....Varget, H-4895, And CFE 223
you will find accuracy somewhere in there.

 

[IDtoND]

I was just out this weekend testing some 163gr HHT, dropped down from 180gr HH. Tried a few loads with Varget, N540, and N140. N140 seemed to group the best. Still more work to do, might try 3031, as I saw it mentioned in a previous comment. Shooting with a 16" barrel with a can.

 

[QuietTexan]

Dont handicap yourself and worry about barrel length.

10/10 agree. Load it up and let it run, 16" is more than enough to get full performance out of the case capacity. Find what shoots best, who cares if the flash is too big or it's faster/slower than the interwebs can make.

 

[Revolting Peasant]

Consider grabbing some small primer brass. You may have to shop around to find it right now but it's out there.
I can find a pretty good selection of small rifle primers, large rifle primers are a problem still.

 

[jlarose85]

Consider grabbing some small primer brass. You may have to shop around to find it right now but it's out there.
I can find a pretty good selection of small rifle primers, large rifle primers are a problem still.

I actually did look into the small primer brass but as luck would have it I actually got my hands on 1000 Fed 210M primers. It was the absolute weirdest thing! I had them on my notifications list pretty much everywhere but was randomly looking on ammo it last week and saw that it was showing midway had them in stock. In disbelief I went check and it said available but wouldn't let me add them to my cart. Figured it was just a website glitch but 30 minutes or so later I thought, let me go see again and make sure. Showed them in stock again and let me add them to my cart and check out. I was still skeptical. Was just waiting for the email from them telling me it wasn't real. Lol. But low and behold, I got an order confirmation, shipping confirmation, tracking number and they actually showed up a few days later! I was floored. I was expecting an empty box to show up or something. Lol.

 

[TigerOnThe Hill]

I also did check the pistol reloading data on the Hodgdon website to see what their data on a 15" barrel looked like but there's still about 10 different options on powders.

I guess that's where I'm stuck a little bit. I've looked at a bunch of manufactures recommended loads but there's always a bunch of different powders to choose from and I'll not sure where to start. If I already had some powder on hand o could see trying those first but I'm starting from scratch and there's a lot of options.

Appreciate all the help so far everyone.

I feel your frustration working up a completely new load w/o an appropriate powder. Thank goodness you've got everything else you need. I've been loading for 308 Win in a Savage Striker handgun w/ a 14" barrel for many years. The prevailing thought in the handgun hunting community was the powders that perform best in a rifle will also perform best in a handgun w/ a shorter barrel. Yeah, you'll have significantly more muzzle blast/flash w/ the shorter barrel w/ any powder, but you've got a suppressor so that shouldn't be an issue. I've loaded 125 gr NBT, 125 gr NAB and 150 gr NBT in my 308. H380 gave me best velocity w/ the 150 gr bullets, but it favored H4895 and RL 15 w/ 125 gr bullets. Keep us updated.

 

[dennisinaz]

I use Benchmark in my SB 308. Also, Brunos had large and small Federal match primers on the shelf Friday when i stopped by.

 

[Thebigbaby]

I always read great things about Varget.

Personally I've been using CFE223 (Not as temp stable), only because I have it. Currently working on a load for my Ruger American Predator in .308. 18" barrel. Did a ladder test and landed on 47grs. Using the 178 ELD-X's.

Loaded up 50 and will run some through the chrono to get velocity and finish sighting in my scope. (Did some adjustments in between groups but need to fine-tune)

If your interested, PM me and when I finally get out to run the load through the chrono I'll share the results.

 

[mkk]

TAC-4895-H335

 

[Roughrice]

These powders with lighter bullets /\ /\ /\

 

[wvbearhunter]

Ramshot TAC is, in my opinion, the best powder for 308 with anything from 125 to 168 grains. After that its Power Pro 2000mr. I used Hodgens website to get my starting load for the 130 ttsx and worked up from there. NEVER start your loads with a "recommended" load from some dude on a forum. Good way to get your face blown off. As an aside, Barnes has a GREAT website with loads listed for all their projectiles

 

[Mark37082]

I started reloading with a 308win. My cabinet is now full with too many potentially appropriate one pounders. All of them went bang, but found Varget and IMR 4064 gave me marginally better performance. I prefer good case fill percentage. Lesson learned was find a good powder and buy multiple pounds of the same lot. Tune your load and go shoot.