308 168gr AMAX, Varget, Federal brass, CCI primers.

Well I am finally going to get rolling on the loads this weekend.

I was thinking about starting with 40g of powder, I can not find starting loads for this bullet.

It would be cool to have some kind of reload sticky/library.

Thanks!

If you search on this forum or on Google, you will find plenty of info. Be careful, some people are running some very hot loads with the 168's.

Give us your barrel length and twist and we will go from there.

I can tell you Factory Federal 168 GMM ammo has 42.5 grains of powder. I opened one up just to measure the powder weight.

If you have a Chrono or know someone who does, get around 2,725 fps then try different seating depths. You might try a few different powder loads and step in .3 grn increments.

I am sure you will find a good load for it pretty quick. My 10 twist will bughole the 168 A-Max's

It's a FLCP-k 24" 10" twist.

I have found tons of data on Sierras, Bergers, but hardly anything on the amax. I have noticed some peoples recipes are hotter than I am comfortable with.

I found i had to add the wild card to get anything to come up in 308 or.308 with the search in the forum.

Thanks!

Here is a start, http://forum.accurateshooter.com/ind...opic=3743634.0

also try this one, http://www.reloadersnest.com/forum/t...TOPIC_ID=11322

In fact, just google search: 168 gr amax load data

This should keep you busy for awhile

im using 43.2g in fire formed brass.

Around 43.5 seems to be the ticket for most 308's. I would start off around 42.2 and work up. Don't go crazy, but it should be easy to find what your gun likes. You should be able to put three rounds inside of a quarter. When you get there, start adjusting the depth. Don't be scared to try .050 off, or I believe the factory ammo OAL is 2.800 in. Will need to check the book for OAL to make sure.

Dennis

Thanks Dennis, yeah factory is 2.800" I was going to load one there with no primer or powder and see where it winds up if it gets into the lands then adjust from there. My chamber length gauges have not showed up yet so I was just going to redneck the length and go with the overall that I can measure with my Mic.

Thanks again, I'll be at the reload bench tonight!!!

Factory Ammo

http://i957.photobucket.com/albums/a...DSC02377-1.jpg

Dang that is nice !! I can't wait to shoot mine!

I loaded some up tonight, at 42, 42.5, 43, 43.5 all at 2.800" I loaded a bullet in an empty case at 2.815" and coated the bullet in toolmakers die and you could see ~0.010" of rifling and chamber mark around the bullet so I figured I will stick with the 2.800" COAL until my gauges get here. I hope I can get mine to shoot that well, that looks like 0.50~MOA I would love that.

The diamond is 1/4", so it may be a little tighter than 0.50. Go center to center, the above 3 shots will fit in the center of the diamond.

My 308 rifle also love the Hornady 110 Taps and will shoot group's like the above. And their very fun to shoot, fast and deadly out of a 308.

Once I get the 168's dialed in that is my next venture is to get some 110's and 175's the next bullet order!! Are you running Varget behind the 110's ? I was thinking H335 for the 110's but I do have #8 of Varget.

I am using the Hornady Factory 110 Tap ammo. I have a box of bullets, but I have never reloaded any.

I don't shoot them much, but they are fun to shoot.

Well 43.5 grains is too much for my gun, bolt lift was harder and had a hard time getting the chamber open, but the 43g shot well and no evidence of over pressure. I got a less than 1" group at 100 yd with four shots with the Winchester ammo. I can't complain with the first outing with the gun and the wind was 15mph gusting to 25mph. And I got the six inch plate 6 out of 8 shots at 400 yd. So I'm happy!

I can tell you Factory Federal 168 GMM ammo has 42.5 grains of powder. I opened one up just to measure the powder weight

thats fine but you HAVE no way of know what it is.....Sometimes they use a mix of powders...that 42.5 might equal 68 in another..

Yeah that's true about powder volume, but if the velocity of the gmm is close to my velocity with the same mass bullet I would think the burn rate would be real close. I got my hornady l and l gauge today turns out my loads were 0.014 off the lands I'm going to load the next ones at 0.020 with 42.5 grains and measure them all from the ogive. I'm going to go ahead and load 20 of them and see how they do. Hopefully in a month or two I'll go buy a chronograph.

The last time I talked to Hornady about a load I was doing their suggestion was to load to a COL of .015 off the lands to give the bullet a decent jump. I have tried this in several of my rifles and I find the group does benifit. Worth the try.

Next I'm going to work on seating depths. I'm going to try to shorten the jump. I definitely found out on those amax bullets you can not load to coal, the plastic tip has a wide variance in it.