Federal 308 Gold Medal No Longer Match?

[Texas10]

Good information! And it gives me more to look at for possible fine tuning. My initial load was 168 ELD-M's while waiting for SMKs to arrive. I found 43.0 Varget shot a ragged 4 shot hole at 100 yds, but again, it's the nut behind the bolt that is the biggest factor. I'm shooting at a public range, off a bi-pod that's not the best, no proper squeeze bag and a far less than stellar scope.

In my limited experience I've come to the following conclusion:

Shooting MOA is so easy a cave man could do it.
Shooting 1/2 MOA takes hand loading skills (or at least finding excellent factory ammo) good rifle tuning skills, better rests & bags, decent glass and lots of PRACTICE.
Shooting 1/4 MOA takes excellent hand loading equipment, all the above plus custom barrels and stocks, better than decent glass, and even MORE PRACTICE.
Shooting sub 1/4 MOA takes a commitment to the sport that supersedes almost all other considerations, including a very sizable financial investment, shooting thousands of rounds per year and the BRAINS to analyze and improve your skills.

I'm currently averaging about 1/3 MOA and hope to someday get that down to 1/4 MOA knowing I'll probably get run over by the beer truck about then.

[Robinhood]

When shooting mid range I found something close to EddiesIndian load. But shooting local 200 yard matches, Varget and 41.2 grains gave me 60Xs every match. 20 inch savage barrel.

[Texas10]

Thanks, RH, I'm going to try that. My 44 grain load of Varget produced 2800 fps (900 ft ASL) SD 4, ES 9 but a .7 moa group, again this was with the ELDM. I've tried 42.1 of IMR 4895 and found it extremely accurate but that powder is not as temp stable as Varget.

What was the velocity of your 41.2 grain load?

[eddiesindian]

Thanks, RH, I'm going to try that. My 44 grain load of Varget produced 2800 fps (900 ft ASL) SD 4, ES 9 but a .7 moa group, again this was with the ELDM. I've tried 42.1 of IMR 4895 and found it extremely accurate but that powder is not as temp stable as Varget.

What was the velocity of your 41.2 grain load?
My guess.......maybe 2600ish

[BC98]

The world is changing fast and I'm a old fart that refuses to own a smart phone. I'm still waiting for the Pony Express to bring news about the merger.

Acquisition of Orbital ATK approved, company renamed Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems

https://spacenews.com/acquisition-of-orbital-atk-approved-company-renamed-northrop-grumman-innovation-systems/

I'm 5 months behind on the merger between ATK and Northrop Grumman that was approved last September.
But you need to read the link below about ATK that is still up and running below.

Orbital ATK and Lake City Army Ammunition Plant: A Proud Heritage of Service

https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/features/orbital-atk-and-lake-city-army-ammunition-plant-a-proud-heritage-of-service



Did you ever notice that Federal 5.56 M193 ammo had a Lake City head stamp............"there was very little, if any, cooperation between the two groups". :nono:

(https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/features/orbital-atk-and-lake-city-army-ammunition-plant-a-proud-heritage-of-service)
The link you provided is also dated from Jan 22, 2018 which would have been approx. 6 months prior to the acquisition (not merger) of Orbital ATK. Orbital ATK, as a company, no longer exists and is now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. The Lake City management contract transferred to Northrop Grumman, as well.

It's Lake City brass because Federal purchases the rounds from Lake City. That's a transaction, not cooperation. Lake City also sells brass to Fiocchi and loaded rounds to Hornady. The link you provided states this, as well. The management contract of the plant allows sales to commercial entities so long as the supply to DOD customers is not affected.

My statement about cooperation comes from experience. I have worked at both ATK and Federal in the past.

[celltech]

For what it's worth....shot some 175 GMM over the weekend to compare. Rifle is a Howa 1500 with 20" barrel. 2539 fps, 9 SD, 27 ES for a 5 shot group that was .75"

[eddiesindian]

Good information! And it gives me more to look at for possible fine tuning. My initial load was 168 ELD-M's while waiting for SMKs to arrive. I found 43.0 Varget shot a ragged 4 shot hole at 100 yds, but again, it's the nut behind the bolt that is the biggest factor. I'm shooting at a public range, off a bi-pod that's not the best, no proper squeeze bag and a far less than stellar scope.

In my limited experience I've come to the following conclusion:

Shooting MOA is so easy a cave man could do it.
Shooting 1/2 MOA takes hand loading skills (or at least finding excellent factory ammo) good rifle tuning skills, better rests & bags, decent glass and lots of PRACTICE.
Shooting 1/4 MOA takes excellent hand loading equipment, all the above plus custom barrels and stocks, better than decent glass, and even MORE PRACTICE.
Shooting sub 1/4 MOA takes a commitment to the sport that supersedes almost all other considerations, including a very sizable financial investment, shooting thousands of rounds per year and the BRAINS to analyze and improve your skills.

I'm currently averaging about 1/3 MOA and hope to someday get that down to 1/4 MOA knowing I'll probably get run over by the beer truck about then.
Roger that

[Robinhood]

What was the velocity of your 41.2 grain load?

Man I have no idea. That was back a few years and I worked the load up without the benefit of a chrono. Come to think of it I was probably using a 10X SS too.

[Texas10]

Just got my box from Brownells with two boxes of FGGM 168 match ammo and a box of 168 SMKs to do some load matching.

First things first was I measured the CBTO of the FGGM and found it varied between 2.226 and 2.230 on the several samples I checked and an OAL of 2.800 plus or minus a few thou. I did not check all 40.

Next I set up a dummy cartridge using my FF brass drilled and tapped 6/32 and a 168 SMK from my new shipment loaded and found touch at 2.220 which means in my Shilen match barrel the FGGM is .006 to .010 IN the lands. No wonder is shoots so well!

To confirm, I slid a live FGGM round up the chamber with the bolt out and gave it a firm push. With a cleaning rod down the muzzle, it took a firm push on the rod to dislodge the round confirming the factory load is in the lands in my barrel.

Since I'm developing this load for 300 and under, I'm considering finding a lower and more accurate node. Maybe somewhere around 38 or 39 grains. Any comments on where to start or where that node might be?

26 inch, 10 twist Shilen, 205M's, Varget, Hornaday match brass.

Edit: I pulled down a new FGGM 168 Sierra Match today and to my surprise it had 40.0 grs of "special" powder. I expected to find 42.0 grs IMR 4064 but i guess they don't use that any more. Listed velocity is still 2650 fps.