Newbie looking for advice

[Three oh 8MX]

My hunting buddy and I have started a Long Range quest. We have 3 other guys at deer camp that have purchased Rem 700 heavy barrel 308s. Of course we can't let those guys out-do us

We have purchased a used Sako 579L 308 with a heavy barrel. Along with a Luepold VXIII 6.5 - 20x50 and a set of Redding dies. We plan to start loads with Reloder 15 and use some bullets (150 & 165gr) that we have on hand.

Our goal is 4" five shot groups @ 500 yards. My question is are we going in the right direction? And, of course, how do we get there the quickest without breaking the bank?

Thanks in advance,
-chris

 

[azsugarbear]

Definitely on the right track. I think your next step is a combination of two things: rifle prep and load development.

Go over the rifle carefully to make sure everything works properly and torqued down to specs. I would rigorously clean the barrel of all copper and carbon. Then you need to decide if you are going to be a shooter that cleans after so many shots, or one who "seasons" a barrel and then goes through 100's of rounds before cleaning again. Both ways have their proponents. For me, I tend to be in the latter group. Watch the videos on youtube.com labeled: Sniper 101 Part XX. These vids are great tutorials.

The other thing that needs to happen is load development. Take a look at Dan Newberry's OCW test. A similar route is the "Ladder" test. Both will help short-cut the time and bullets it takes to develop a great load for your barrel. Just remember to not start serious load development until your barrel has been seasoned properly.

Good luck.

 

[roninflag]

lot of info on reloading 308 rifleman's blog. depending on how many rounds through your sako. a krieger barrel on a sako or remington will get you there for sure.

 

[Three oh 8MX]

Thanks for the info guys.

The rifle has a heavy factory 23-1/2" barrel with a round count between 5 - 600. It was scoped by a reputable smith as "very good". I'm guessing it is already seasoned. I think we'll shoot it until it looks like accuracy has deteriorated and see if a cleaning helps it regain said accuracy.

If/when we get to the point that the factory barrel is shot out, a Krieger would be high on the list for a replacement.

The bullets we have to start with are standard hunting types:
Hornady 150gr Interlock
Remington 165gr PSP

I'm guessing we'll move away from the flat base bullets in the future. At worse these will be great to fire form cases.

-chris

 

[roninflag]

three of the more common powders for 308 are : i4064, varget and re-15. all my sakos are great shooters. for your goal you are best off loading some match bullets when you can get them . some 308 barrel go 5000 rounds. weigh your bullets and brass . start about 030 off the lands. if you cant get some berger, lapua or sierra match bullets ; i would try the 168 cbt. flat base hunting bullets may shoot good groups at 100 yards , very unlikely at 500.

 

[roninflag]

lot of info on reloading 308 rifleman's blog. depending on how many rounds through your sako. a krieger barrel on a sako or remington will get you there for sure.

sorry articles on loading 308 are on "riflemans journal".

 

[hawk45]

You will want to get some measuring tools to measure chamber, seating depth, bullet ogive and col to the ogive. Hornady makes most of these items for a nominal cost. It will allow you to use your Redding dies to their max and get the most out of your loads.

Not sure how serious you are about wringing out as much as you can but you may want to look into weighting your brass and checking volume.

Neck thickness, tension and seating depth all come into play to some degree.

Reloading is a never ending pit if are an OCD person.. keep that in mind.

 

[snowpro440]

A short cut would be varget an 155gr berger vld's for group.

 

[MMERSS]

Read a couple of good books so you know what it will take to get to where you want to go. Equipment which includes the rifle is only a small equation to the solution. Applied Ballistics LLC has a couple of the best books out there and they shouldn't break your bank.

 

[roninflag]

i would adjust the trigger and i would use either br-2 or 210m primers.

 

[trigger puller]

I use Varget 1st choice RL15 2nd choice. I load Varget, BR2 primers and 175 SMK you can get seconds from Graf and Sons they shoot pretty good if you sort them. I would also recommend getting books they are cheap and are a great resource. Good luck as stated above once you start down this road it gets slippery fast the next thing you know you will have a small fortune tied up in guns that you have to hide from the wife or maybe that is just me.

 

[roninflag]

308MX- did you load or shoot yet??

 

[Three oh 8MX]

308MX- did you load or shoot yet??

Just scored brass last night. Planning on Saturday to get the scope sighted in.

I have a couple pounds of RL15 that is going to get used first. I'm not even sure I could find Varget right now?

We'll use the flat base bullets to get acquainted with the rifle and fire-form some brass. Match bullets will be next on the list.

The trigger is a crisp 22oz job that really has me excited to shoot this rifle!

-chris

 

[liltank]

Definitely stick with the 165's for LR work. Ultimately it is what ever you gun likes. I would also suggest using between 43.0-44.0 grains of RL15. My accuracy usually landed in that realm.