Reloading .308 for the Ruger precision rifle

[Goosebrown]

Any sugestions on where to buy Lapua 308 brass?

Goes in sale at midway and brownells regularly. Ask here too people are miving in and out of calibers all the time.

Cabelas usually has it but expensive. If you really need it though.

 

[Goosebrown]

Call it a lame excuse if you want. The reason a lot of groups aren't centered on the bullseye is because when you're working up a load, shooting for groups, you want as small of an aiming area as possible. As you start to shoot out the center of the target, your precision aiming point is no longer precision as it gets bigger and bigger the more holes you punch through it.

In competition, obviously you want to punch the X-ring as often as possible. Those targets generally have a more generous bullseye than say an 1/8" dot. When working up a load, or shooting for groups however, it is common practice to have the shots hit slightly away from your aiming point.

Thanks for educating me though. I feel so much more enlightened.....

When I work up a load I set my scope 2moa right before I start so I continually sight on the bull but never obscure that with a hole. Much easier than chasing the last hole which is my common practice. Get your precision then get your accuracy in three shots and you're done.

I even turn the targets face to the backer and use a target repair sticker or a dot drawn with a sharpie. Scoring rings are a distraction

 

[Goosebrown]

lambene, what size of groups is your rifle shooting with factory ammo? That way you can try to duplicate or beat that accuracy with your hand loads.

For a lot of high end 308s the federal gold medal match is very hard to beat. It is a good place to start with factory ammo and handy to have dope on down the line in case you have to shoot and haven't had reload time.

 

[Goosebrown]

I am going to start with Hornady match grade brass, Sierra MatchKing TMK 168 grain, IMR 4064 and try a few different primers (Winchester LR and CCI BR2)

Opinions are like, well, you know...

But start with Lapua and weigh the cases and sort them into sets of 12 or 22 (2 sightseers/foulers and 10 or 20 for score)

Hornady brass is "ok" but experience shows that there is a wide variation in weight which leads to variation in volume which leads to variation in pressure which increases standard deviation and decreases precision.

I think you'll end up with Lapua (blue box, not the old ones) at some point so you might as well start there.

 

[Goosebrown]

Varget, H4350, H4895 and H4064 and IMR4064 are the go to powders. H3031 is also good.

I believe that Varget currently holds most of the benchrest titles locally in 308

 

[DizzyJ]

When I work up a load I set my scope 2moa right before I start so I continually sight on the bull but never obscure that with a hole. Much easier than chasing the last hole which is my common practice. Get your precision then get your accuracy in three shots and you're done.

I even turn the targets face to the backer and use a target repair sticker or a dot drawn with a sharpie. Scoring rings are a distraction

Yep. Centering the shots is easily done after the initial work-ups. I've also used a series of small dots. Works well for shooting for groups. Additionally, it can be easier to measure the group when it's against a white background.

 

[Goosebrown]

Yep. Centering the shots is easily done after the initial work-ups. I've also used a series of small dots. Works well for shooting for groups. Additionally, it can be easier to measure the group when it's against a white background.

Exactly. Precision is hard and requires analysis. Accuracy is almost so easy a monkey could do it.

 

[Dr Dan 1911]

The target with a penny is 3rds of FGMM 175 @ 100yd @ the one with a quarter is Hornady match Palma 155 @100yd on the same day, so far mine really likes the heavy stuff, in a few days a package from MidwayUSA will be here and I will star load development for it, I know it'll be hard to improve on the factory FGMM but I'm going to give it my best shot lol

 

[DizzyJ]

View attachment 346125 View attachment 346124 The target with a penny is 3rds of FGMM 175 @ 100yd @ the one with a quarter is Hornady match Palma 155 @100yd on the same day, so far mine really likes the heavy stuff, in a few days a package from MidwayUSA will be here and I will star load development for it, I know it'll be hard to improve on the factory FGMM but I'm going to give it my best shot lol

Supposedly IMR4064 is the powder used in the FGM 175gr loads.

 

[rcnpthfndr]

Supposedly IMR4064 is the powder used in the FGM 175gr loads.

 

[DizzyJ]

View attachment 346516

Well, there you go!

 

[Scoped30]

So far with my RPR my best results have been with IMR 4320 with 168 grain combined technology ballistic silvertips I have a small amount of tweaking to do

 

[tac]

My pet .308Win load for the last many years has been a 155gr Lapua Scenarand 44gr of 4064 - OR - the same bullet with 39.5gr of Vihtavuori N140.

AFAICS they both produce identical results.

YMMD.

Please note that I don't shoot any kind of soft point bullets - I don't hunt.

tac