Happy with new 308 McGowen

[alphapygmy]

I have been using Criterion for the last few years but tried a Mcgowen in a 26" 1-10 308 just for kicks. First day to the range to break it in a little and nothing special, just emptying some hunting rounds since I'm switching bullets. The next day out I first tried 178 Amax with RL15 and it shot okay, several groups in an accuracy node around .5-.6" Then I tried the 155 Amax with Ramshot TAC and was very pleased. If I can duplicate the results next time out it would be the widest accuracy node I've ever seen in any rifle I've ever owned. From 43.2 to 44.4 grains all groups were under .450" and had no more than .090" vertical spread between all the groups. The first 12 shots spread over 1.2 grains of powder still would have been under .8." The next 2 hotter loads were still under .75" and within the same vertical spread as all the other loads. I didn't even plan on using TAC but thought I have 8 lbs. and less than a pound of Varget left. All targets calculated with OnTarget program. Wish I would have had some chrono data but it was too rainy to set it up. Can't wait to fine tune this load and get it out to distance.

http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx239/alphapygmy/155TAC_zpsda4ad398.jpg (http://s759.photobucket.com/user/alphapygmy/media/155TAC_zpsda4ad398.jpg.html)

[DanSavage]

Looks like a great barrel,, you could just drop your charges and save a lot of time at the reloading bench LOL.

[alphapygmy]

Looks like a great barrel,, you could just drop your charges and save a lot of time at the reloading bench LOL.

I'm going to run a round of 44.0 +/- .3 to verify and get some chrono data then try dropping my charges and see what happens at my 600 yard league just for fun.

[guhunter]

And a great thing about TAC and the whole Ramshot line is that drop dead on through a powder measure. This saves a ton of time. I generally weigh every 5th or so but they never vary.

[Jamie]

Good shooting with the new barrel. I have found the McGowen to be more accurate than me (not hard to do though). Anytime I find TAC or Hunter I buy it. I haven't found a rifle yet that wouldn't shoot great with Ramshot powders and as others stated, it meters exceptionally well. I quit with Varget 6 years ago.

[eddiesindian]

I recently acquired 8 lb imr 4895 . According to burn rate data it pretty close to tac. I too will eventually quit with varget. Not because of bad results but due to th red lack of. I think you've hit pay dirt with that barrel and component combo

[jonbearman]

You might want to give a 168 grain match bullet a try. Every .308 seems to shoot this weight better than I can.

[Berger.Fan222]

You should enter that rifle into the Savage Shooters email match:

http://www.savageshooters.com/showthread.php?164-E-mail-Match-Rules-Effective-01-02-12

[GaCop]

43.2 grains looks like a keeper!