Recommended Powders for 308

[Cj10488]

As the title states let's talk about powders. I have a few questions about different powders. I have been using H4895 but just picked up a batch of IMR 4064 today to check it out. But im not sure that I like it all that much.

What is everyone using for powders particularly for 308s

Thanks
James

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[ron]

I have produced best results with IMR 4064 in 308 and 30/06. I have tried AA 2520, IMR 4895,
Varget and VV N140. My rifle seems to do well with 168 SMK bullets. Try to change only one variable
at a time. Good luck have fun. Now I am starting to do some longer range with this rifle. I am
going to try neck size only with fire formed brass.
5 shot 100 yards from the bench.

 

[Joe13]

As the title states let's talk about powders. I have a few questions about different powders. I have been using H4895 but just picked up a batch of IMR 4064 today to check it out. But im not sure that I like it all that much.

What is everyone using for powders particularly for 308s

Thanks
James

Ask @v0lcom13sn0w for his recipe, it's a keeper.

 

[USMC-03]

4895 and 4064 are of course the classic go-to's. I've had really good results in my M70 match rifle at 1,000 yards with a 175 grain SMK and Varget.

 

[eightyeight mag]

I've had good luck with both reloader 15 and 4064

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

BLC2 is my main powder i use for 308. i have used IMR4064 and H4895 also.

 

[Roop]

I can already tell you're not gonna get very far with this. H4895 is the sweet spot for .308 using anything from 150 to 175 gr pills. Varget is money for 168s. .308 has been done to death in the last 70 odd years so not much to be learned. If you're looking to be cheap try out the military pull down powders like 844. The new hotness is the series of cfe powders from IMR. Supposed to be based on the new military contracts, clean and efficient. There's a ton of options out there, and all of them work good in someone's rifle.

 

[crossbow5]

I use H4895 with either Nosler or Hornady 168 grain HPBT's. Works great in the M1a and 308 Garand. In the past I'be also used Winchester 748.

 

[Pepe-lepew]

I tried IMR 4895 first. It worked so well, I did not see any reason to waste time trying anything else.

 

[rcnpthfndr]

i use 4064, varget, and have some Ramshot Tac i will eventually work with

 

[USMC-03]

I've recently purchased a Howa 1500 heavy barrel in .308 as a optic based long range rifle and now begets my next load development project.

My ultimate hope is it likes the same 175 HTHP/Varget load I use in my model 70, but the Howa has a 1-12" barrel and the 175s tend to be a bit finicky in that twist rate.

So, I also have 800+ Hornady 168 grain BTHP, as @crossbow5 mentioned, put away and these always perform well in a 1-12", although usually don't stay accurate past 700 or 800 yards.

At the same time, among a few other upgrades, I want to restock the Howa with something better than the current flimsy Houge. I think I'll wait on playing with the BTHP bullets until the rifle is in a mostly complete state.

Thus my initial plan. In my stash of bullets there are about 1,000 factory second 180 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip I've had for a couple decades. Let's experiment and see how these work with the Varget. If I can finesse them into a 1 minute +/- we'll have a winner.

I'll post more about my upcoming trials as it progresses.

 

[gmerkt]

The new hotness is the series of cfe powders from IMR. Supposed to be based on the new military contracts, clean and efficient.

I've used some Hodgdon CFE223 in .223 Rem., very dirty. Uses more powder per charge than many other powders for same velocity. I haven't yet tried it in .308 but I don't have much hope that it will fire much cleaner in that cartridge. Only seven more pounds to go.

"Hotness" is right. My first .223 loads were right in the middle of the recommended range and they were very snappy. If I try some in .308, I may go for something under their minimum and see how that chronos out.

My vote on a powder for .308 is for IMR 4895.

 

[Cj10488]

Anyone locally wanna trade a almost full pound of 4064 for IMR 4895 or H4895. I've only used 660gr of it

 

[JadeFox]

BL-C(2) for bolt guns. We have burned a lot of 4064 with very good results. RL-10x works great with our M1A's. All three of these are good choices. 4895 is not bad but I am biased to BL-C(2).

 

[Cj10488]

The bummer thing about Blc2 is that the local bimart doesn't carry it. My options are rather limited locally. With h4895 I have been getting pretty consistent tight groupings with 165/168gr bullets running at 39gr. I did a ladder group with the 4064 but my storage box spilled on the way to the Range so I didn't get a chance to fully see the differences. But what I did see was everything was pretty consistent and show way better than the xm80s that I had laying around.

Thanks
James

 

[No_Regerts]

Varget, H4895, BLC2

 

[DizzyJ]

IMR 4064 is "supposedly" the powder used in the federal gold match 175gr 308 loads. I can neither verify or deny that, but it IS extremely accurate for the loads I've made up with 175gr match kings!

 

[gmerkt]

The bummer thing about Blc2 is that the local bimart doesn't carry it.

Jeff Bartlett sells surplus powders, has WC846 which is the military equivalent of BL-C(2), gets $109 per 8 lb. jug. But then there is shipping cost.

but my storage box spilled on the way to the Range

That happened to me, once. After that, I started color coding the heads of the cartridges with felt markers. That way if they get dumped or mixed up somehow, I still know what each individual cartridge load is.

 

[Cj10488]

That happened to me, once. After that, I started color coding the heads of the cartridges with felt markers. That way if they get dumped or mixed up somehow, I still know what each individual cartridge load is.

That's a great idea. Thanks a lot. Never even crossed my mind to do that and I have several different colors of sharpies. The only ones that I had separated was the 20rds of Nosler RDFs that I had in a clip and labeled.

Thanks much,
James

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

IMR 4064 is "supposedly" the powder used in the federal gold match 175gr 308 loads. I can neither verify or deny that, but it IS extremely accurate for the loads I've made up with 175gr match kings!

41.8(ish)gr 4064 and 175gr SMK is the mk316 load