on the fence with reloading and where to go with my 308

[chaoshunter]

308 LH boyds prarire hunter stock, sav1 trigger. I shoot 3 to 4 times a year. I would like to optimise my ammo choice and thought about hand loading ? Or should I stay with off the shelf ? Shooting Hornady whitetail 150g. Should I be shooting something heaver with the 1/10 twist ? Looking to tighten my groups at 100+ . thinking after this season on bedding the stock and maybe a Witt break ?

Thanks all

[WV1951]

3-4 times a year isn't much, unless you go through 30-40-50 rounds each time. You want to tighten groups, but don't say what your groups are now. Are you looking for MOA or MODeer? You said 100+ yards, which could mean 101 to 1000. You should easily find a factory round that will give you MOA, but it might take some trial and error. What yours will do with factory or hand loads will not necessarily be what the next one will do. If you want precision shooting, then that is another subject.

[pisgah]

Reloading makes economic sense in only two circumstances :
1. The firearm you are loading for is chambered for an obsolete cartridge that is either unavailable or prohibitively expensive; or,
2. You are a high-volume shooter and your initial investment in equipment can be recovered in time through small savings over thousands and thousands of rounds.

It makes no economic sense as far as just looking for accuracy goes, but if you are looking for match-winning accuracy at, say, 1000 yards it may be the only way to find it.

Your description of your shooting activity leads me to believe that you'd probably come out ahead by finding a good, accurate factory load and sticking with it.

[m12lrs]

Reloading makes no economic sense. It is an addicting hobby that will fill all your cabinets with strange looking objects that only you will know their purpose.

I find reloading, and the search for that perfect combination of powder, bullet and seating depth, just as much fun as pulling the trigger.

[jpdown]

+1. Reloading is a hobby. After the initial investment in reloading equipment, powders, primers and bullets, it will take reloading thousands of rounds to get the average cost per round below the retail cost of factory match ammo. And that does not include your time and labor.

[chaoshunter]

Wise words gents thank you��. I've always wanted a left handed bolt gun as a kid hunting. Building this gun to fit me and OCD I thought I'd ask. My normal hunting range is 100 yards and in with a couple of 150 yard shots. I love to shoot but the only 100 yard range is over an hour from me.

On bullet weight to twist. Is 1&10 twist considered fast ? Forgot to add that I'm 1-1/2 MOA at 100

[gumbo333]

There a good degree of satisfaction with hand loading , finding a recipe that 'works'. Knowing that you did it. Quite rewarding even if there is no monetary savings. Been at it for 48 years.

[jpdown]

Check out some different factory ammo. I would try Hornady 308 Match ammo loaded with 168 gr AMAX. Should shrink those groups under 1" MOA @100 and give very good terminal performance on deer size game. This winter do a stress-free bedding job on your Boyds stock making sure to free float the barrel and tang assuming it's a Savage action. Check out the evaluation of .308 factory ammo on this web site. http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/.308+Winchester+7.62+NATO.html

[Phranque]

Reloading makes no economic sense. It is an addicting hobby that will fill all your cabinets with strange looking objects that only you will know their purpose.

I find reloading, and the search for that perfect combination of powder, bullet and seating depth, just as much fun as pulling the trigger.


+1 on this. I've been reloading since I was 18... crap, 28 years now! My wife's running joke is that I go shooting just so I have something to reload. :der: :biggrin-new:

[bearcatrp]

Reloading is a great way to find the perfect round for your caliber. Provided you have the time to spend at the range and in the reloading room. I shoot 178 gr ELD-X with 43.9 grains of varget from my savage 10-T. Usually at a 100 yard range but finally got to bang steel at 500 yards. Plan was to do 1000 yards but wasn't consistently hitting 500 so we stayed at 500. It's one of the reason I reload. For someone who doesn't shoot much and/or has little kids at home, you may lose quality time with them reloading. It's a great hobby but time consuming. Suggest you get a single stage press and don't spend a lot. Get into it gradually if your willing to give the time and patience reloading requires. There is plenty of quality off the shelf Ammo to. You just need to buy a box of each to find your sweet spot. Good luck on your decision.

[Steelhead]

I jump down the rabbit hole!
you can make some great ammo without having to spend a fortune.

[squirrel_slayer]

be warned reloading can become as expensive of a hobby as the weapon's it feeds. lol it truely is a hobby that feeds another hobby. I recently took it to the 3rd degree by getting into casting. but all in all it's a very relaxing and enjoyable experience. one of the few things that clears my mind. the casting has become the biggest money pit though. as new guns spawned because a once too expensive to feed gun has become almost as cheap to feed as current 22lr ammo prices. and those big heavy slow moving bullets are a hoot!

however be warned. right now isn't the greatest time to get into the hobby unless your going to be serious about it. meaning buying plenty of powder, primers, and bullets to suite your needs as the panic buying will likely commence Wednesday morning dependent of the outcome of the elections.

[squirrel_slayer]

oh if you do decide to pull the trigger i'd reccomend finding a temp insensative powder since you plan to hunt. varget is a great versatle powder if you can find it. in my AO the new IMR 4166 and IMR 8208xbr are easier to find and would also work well if thats what you can find.

as to answer your bullet weight question a 1:10 barrel will spin up most bullets with no problems. I have run from 110 v-max's to 208 a-max's with no issue in my 1:10. If your only hunting deer sized game and your shots are 150yds or less you could get away with running a bullet like a 125 nosler b-tip or accubond as well as the hornady 125sst and have a lower recoiling flatter shooting load. generally you work your way up in weight for 2 things. more penetration (larger game) and higher BC (better in the wind and longer supersonic flight)

[darkker]

"temp insensitive" powders aren't that in any application. They are such only under the designed-for conditions. Varget, was designed for ball ammo in the 308; lighter or heavier and it's no better than any other choice.
Factory ammo isn't unchanging either. They constantly swap propellants, so don't expect the Dave results from year to year.

For as little as you shoot, factory ammo is the obvious choice. Unless there is an ammo your rifle truly doesn't like, it likely isn't the limiting factor in accuracy.

[foxx]

^^^^I believe darkker is over stating his position. Some powders are very temperature sensitive in certain applications, others are less so. But that's only based upon my own personal experiences with many different powders, bullets and cartridges. 25-06 with RL-19 comes to mind... a particular load shot consistent .5 moa in 10 degree weather and went to pot in 50 degree weather. The same rifle had much better consistency across the same temp ranges with Hodgdon 4831SC. There are always good academic explanations for these kinds of experiences, (perhaps my rl-19 load was operating on the edge of a "node") but time and again I find some powders are truly more temp sensitive than others. Are there solutions to the "problem"? Probably. Maybe certainly. Does that mean some powders are NOT be more or less sensitive to temp variances? No, it does not. JMHO.

[darkker]

My point was that there is always a voice of "buy X, because it's temp insensitive, therefore great in any application"; that simply isn't the case.
As you point out, in any application there are better or worse choices. And beyond that, and especially for as little shooting as the OP does, any powders sensitivity to a given application gets far too overblown.

A prime example is varget. Many many folks use it to very good effect in the 223. But if you look at some of the testing in that application, by temperature stability with 50-55gr bullets; it performs rather abysmally compared to the old H335 ball powder.
Another example of, shall we call it "marketing liberties". If you "take the extreme tour" Hodgdon tells you that THEY created a line of magic propellants(they also claim that the tin &bismuth in CFE was created for the US Military, also false).THEY haven't created anything, they buy surplus and contract toll milling of existing powders. While unlike other studies they tell you essentially nothing about the testing, in the 22-250 the extreme beats the next non-competitor by 6fps. A lousy 6 fps over a 125° spread is what the rest of the world calls not statistically different; and certainly isn't noticed by 99.99% of the shooting world.

So certainly, use what works well for you. But don't listen to marketing hogwash and think it is all encompassing and magic; that doesn't exist. It may well be a very fine powder for your application. But designed to be insensitive for application A, doesn't mean it is so in application B.

[squirrel_slayer]

Living in the desert where 30+ degree temperature swings from morning to mid day are normal and very large temp differences from summer in the desert and winter just a few hours north. I have over the years learned to consolidate to one load per rifle. so I can learn it well. the more data I can gather with that given load the more consistant I can be. and I don't want to have a summer load and winter load. with powders like RE17 in .308 I was getting great velocities but accuracy was all over the place from season to season as was velocity which really messes up your dope especially with distance involved which is very common in my AO. so I sacrificed velocity going to varget and I try and do my load development during the summer and I load to the top of the node. and I verify in the winter and the swings are far better than it was with RE17. that load will also stay sub MOA with it being on the money(1/2-3/4moa) during the more comfortable shooting temps in the fall/spring.

I'm getting the same results with IMR 8208 xbr in .223 with 77's vs TAC I used to run. I have a co-worker who runs the same load year round in his 300WM but subs a 215m primer for his elk hunts vs a 210m as where and when he hunts elk he has run into hang fires on occasion. but the 205m gives him lower sd/es when its warmer.

as with anything your mileage may vary.

[eddiesindian]

Reloading makes economic sense in only two circumstances :
1. The firearm you are loading for is chambered for an obsolete cartridge that is either unavailable or prohibitively expensive; or,
2. You are a high-volume shooter and your initial investment in equipment can be recovered in time through small savings over thousands and thousands of rounds.

It makes no economic sense as far as just looking for accuracy goes, but if you are looking for match-winning accuracy at, say, 1000 yards it may be the only way to find it.

Your description of your shooting activity leads me to believe that you'd probably come out ahead by finding a good, accurate factory load and sticking with it.
+1................

[foxx]

...But designed to be insensitive for application A, doesn't mean it is so in application B.

I agree, absolutely

[Zero333]

Try the following factory ammo...

Federal Premium 165gr Sierra Gameking (best 308win factory deer ammo I've ever shot)

Want to try something a little less expensive then the above mentioned ammo ?? Try Federal Fusion line of ammo. 150, 165 & 180gr. One of those will shoot bugholes in your rifle.