180gr bullets in the .308

[fgw_in_fla]

The 165's & the one time I ran a load of 168's - all were pretty impressive. The 180's..... A whole 'nuther story.
What brand of barrel you running Dennis?

And since quite a few of y'll are mentioning Varget, I may have to rethink my strategy. The one time I tried Varget I hated it. Maybe I got a wishy washy batch?....

Dennis, I just noticed the McGowen web address, I guess I know what brand of barrel you're using.....

[thermaler]

Well, I tried quite a bit to get A-max and sst's in 165/168 to go well and couldn't get them to match either the Nosler 180 or berger 168 vld which also shot quite well. After months of looking I finally found some GK's and MK's which I will brew up when I get back down south for the fall--they are 175/180's also. Might be they need more work in fine-tuning the recipe--but these days I can't afford to experiment too much with recipes. Funny you mention it Frank--my Hornady brews were using Varget, but the other better ones were 4064 and RL15.

[Dennis]

Dennis, I just noticed the McGowen web address, I guess I know what brand of barrel you're using.....

LOL, I do have one 308 with a Savage Factory barrel on it. It also is very accurate and I have shot one of my highest MR scores with this gun, FCP 10.

[squirrel_slayer]

Have you used that combo before? What kind of results didja get?
I didn't think the .308 would comfortably handle the 2o8's.

I personally have not. I sold my .308 before I could get my hands on a box of 208's. there was a big thread on that combo on snipers hide a year or so ago. people were loading them out to ~ 3" and cramming 50+grains of R17 below them and getting very impressive results. 2500+ft/sec and some were pushing them up to 2750 If I remember correctly in very deeply throated rifles.

[stangfish]

I have seen it work but they are throating their barrels to load like SS says

[Westcliffe01]

I just shot some additional 185 loads yesterday. Loaded to 2.9" over 44 and 44.5gr of Varget, CCI 400 primer, lapua palma brass. The bullet gets seated against the rifling during chambering, but when loaded long the powder is not compressed when seating the bullet.

Both loads shot equally well for me. I am in the process of getting a DBM magazine fitted to this stock, so the rifle is not bedded properly at this point and I still do get POI shift. Both sets of groups were about 3/4" across. Looking at the brass, the primer is starting to look cratered on the 44.5 loads so I will back it down to 44gr and work with that.

I also loaded up a bunch of 175gr SMK bullets in LC12 LR brass with 44gr of Varget, 2.8" OAL (compressed). They too have shot really good. I shot a 2" 3 shot group on my 300 yard steel plate, off a rather improvised prone position.... My short bipod is too short to see over the grass, the long one is too long for my bag to support the rear of the stock at the right height, so I ended up with the long bipod with the butt resting on my rolled up shooting mat and a rather uncomfortable shooting position. Apparently I need to take my string trimmer with me to trim down the grass from the shooting position.

http://www.fotoshack.us/fotos/73154Farm1 June 2013.jpg
Shooting position is on top of the hill in the distance to the right, in front of the red barN (Oops, looks like no paint is left on the side we can see...)

http://www.fotoshack.us/fotos/85690Farm2 June 2013.jpg
Sorry, no reference dimension, but the black mark was about 2"

[hafejd30]

I recently tried the 180 SST/Varget combo in my 10 fcp HS 24" factory barrel.

Bullet: 180 Hornady SST
Powder: 40.5 gr Varget
OAL: .020 off lands
Primer: Remington 9 1/2
Case OAL: Trimmed to 2.005
Case: Winchester

100yds: .36 MOA
300yds: .45 MOA

Just an FYI, grouping got worse as I increased the powder charge. 40.5 was what I started at for my minimum when testing

[fgw_in_fla]

I was at the range on Friday & got a little sidetracked with the 165's & 150 SMK...
They shot extremely well.
I forgot I even had the 180's with me. I 'spose I'll have to make another attempt at it.

Thanks for everyone's input on this.

[longtubeman]

I was at the range on Friday & got a little sidetracked with the 165's & 150 SMK...
They shot extremely well.
I forgot I even had the 180's with me. I 'spose I'll have to make another attempt at it.

Thanks for everyone's input on this.

Hi, new here, long time shooter of savage guns. have a 20", and a 26" savage 10 bull factory barrel. got the first 20"bull for my little girl, shot .125 groups, loved it, then got a 26" bull for me. took 13 bullets to get 2 loads. varmint load was 54.5 grains of 748, with a 110 hornaday sp, at 3364 fps. next was 47.5 grains of 4064, with a 165 gr barns x bullet.got 2851fps, both got .125 groups, factory guns. my 26" has a tight chamber, 52 grains of 760, at 2888fps with 165 barns x bullets.working on 178 hornaday and 180 sierra match bullets now.all my big cases use 210m primers, that's match. thanks norm

[CharlieNC]

Frank I'm shooting 175 SMK in 26"Savage 10 twist barrel. Started off with Varget and it did fine for long range, but when it warmed up this year the pressure spiked; then due to powder availability I switched to RL15 which has done well too. Nice thing is according to Quick Load RL gives a little more velocity for same max pressure vs Varget (the pressure profile is different). RL15 has a wide node around 42.5, but I'm loading on a narrower node at 44.5 for long range capability (when I can get on 1000 yd range twice a year). Just loaded up some 175's at 42.5 to take a closer look though, and scored on some 168SMK that will undergo ladder test at same time. Plenty to keep an semi-retired old fart busy! Sold the 25-06 barrel and have a sporter 308 on the way to replace it as the Eastern Hunter.

[fgw_in_fla]

Charlie -
Would you happen to know what kind of drop you're getting with the .308? While at the range yesterday - going from 100 to 2ooyds, I adjusted the scope on the 25.06 & 30.06 up 2". The .308 I had to raise 7 inches. The powder charge I'm using is toward the low end (according to the Lyman book)

[CharlieNC]

PM me your load specifics and I will run it through Quick Load to get an estimate of velocity, then we can plug that in the ballistics calc. This has worked well for me.

[fgw_in_fla]

Ok...
Go ahead & work a little magic.

.308 caliber with 180gr Nosler BT, powered by 39.0gr of IMR 4320. I also have a few sets of 39.4 gr, 39.8gr & 40.2gr. I haven't fine tuned the powder yet.
I just thought it kinda interesting that a .308 & a 30.06 - both with 150 Nosler Cust. Comps. The .308 has 43.7 IMR 4895. The 30.06 has 50.6 of IMR 4350.
The .308 was 7 inches low going from 100yds to 200yds. It made me wonder what kind of drop are we looking at on a 600yd shot....
Thanks.

[CharlieNC]

Ran some numbers for you; everything calculated so you need to confirm safely:

180 BT (39.0 IMR 4320)
2418 fps
41655 psi (max spec 62000)
1.44 msec barrel time (close to node of 1.41 so should be accurate)
Drops 200(5.5") 500(75") so this is in the range of your 7" in the field

Increasing the powder to 41.5 for still a light load
2560fps
49969 psi (still low)
Barrel time 1.33 msec (on a new node)
Drops 200(4.6") 500(65.6")

150 Nosler Comp (4307 IMR4895)
44478 psi
2764fps
Barrel time 1.294msec (off the node, may not be as accurate)
Drop 200(3.8") 500(57.3")

So while the 180BT has a much better BC than the 150 (.507 vs .450) the much lower velocity does lead to a significant drop in the range which you observed. But you have plenty of room to increase powder and still have low pressure and better velocity.

[fgw_in_fla]

Excellent info. Thanks much.

I appreciate your input.

[CharlieNC]

Excellent info. Thanks much.

I appreciate your input.

Anytime; we are all here to help each other and I have benefited significantly!