308 Recipe's

Anyone willing to share their recipe's for 308 caliber for 150 & 165 grain bullets? Thanks.

43.5gr - 44gr Varget works well with 165/168/175 bullets in my experience. I've loaded the 175SMK & 165SST with higher powder charges but 43.5-44g seems to be the accuracy sweet spot in a few 308s I've tested.

Velocity examples...26" barrel....
43.5g Varget + 175SMK averaged around 2650fps
44g Varget + 165SST averaged around 2700fps

question how many of you men have done this to check loads. take a empty shell case w/fired primmer , load powder you want to use, say 46 grs. then take your bullet & set in the case neck let it rest on the powder,then mark your bullet seating depth, aa lot of times the powder is up in the neck, with a boat tail bullet that could be problem.thers more to this but you get my point.

Resize case or make cerrosafe chamber cast.Your on a good path but resize first cause your not gonna load an unresized case.

My Favorite load:

Lapua Brass
Fed 210M primer
Hornady 168 gr. AMAX bullet
44.2 gr. Reloader 15 powder
COAL 2.830
Velocity - 2660 fps
Remington M700, 24 in. varmint contour barrel
Consistent 1/2", 5 shot groups at 100 yds

Tried Varget and its good but RL15 powder gives me slightly better groups. Kills deer quickly.

Another--if you want to use berger VLD168's, I've found that 41.7gr Varget shoots well in multiple guns. The Berger manual calls for lower starting & max powder charges, probably because the bullet is so long (like garyo was describing above).

44g of 4895 with a 147g bullet.

I just loaded 10 rounds using Sierra 165 HPBT with 43.5 grains of IMR 4064. According to recipe it should shoot 2600 fps. We'll see next weekend at the range how it does. I've got IMR 4895, IMR 4064, IMR 4350, H414 and Winchester W760 powders at this time to use. I use them to load my 30:06 too. I've got to find some RL15 & Varget powder. I've read good things about them. Thanks for sharing your recipe's.

4064 will be great to start with.
Of what you have on hand, I'd try 4895 after that if needed. I bet you'll find a 4064 load that will be accurate before you get there though.
Good luck & let us know.

Varget will be awesome. H414&W760 may be a lil slow burning for your .308 not that they won't work...but tween the Varget the H4885 the 4064 you'll find your winner.

4064 and Varget are good, for sure, but... I have a 1/2 MOA load in my 308 that yall might laugh at.

Nosler 150 gr. Ballistic tips
47.0 Gr BL-C2
0.01" off lands.

This recipe, at 100 yards with a bipod and bag rests, will shoot right there with my 168 gr. TMK target bullets.

I've read that BL-C2 is supposed to be heat sensitive, but my test rounds were shot in the winter, in hunting weather temps. Caveat: I have not shot this round in the spring or summer, so I'm not sure what the heat would do to it, accuracy wise. The point of impact is almost identical to my target loads as well. I don't even have to adjust my scope to switch from target to hunting loads in that rifle.

I saw this powder on sale at Academy yesterday., but no recipe's in any of my books using it. I have Nosler 7th edition, Hornady 10th and Lyman's 49th. Very few recipes utilizing same powders. Everybody suggests using different powders. I asked the Academy guy about Varget & RL-15 & 17 and he said he couldn't keep it stocked. They were 2 of his best sellers as well as IMR 4350.

Shooting 130gr which has done well, if you decide to drop down in bullet weight.

http://www.aldeer.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1559919#Post1559919

God Bless,
David B.

BL-C2, as far as I read, is an old military-type ball powder. It may be old, and it's usually several dollars cheaper than all the other powders on the shelf, but it shoots well in every rifle I own!

I get a little aggravated at it though, due to it's a really fine ball powder that seeps out of the cracks in my trickler. I usually throw some of it away after charging.. I have to sweep the 'drippings' from the table.

I bought a lb of this powder to try out. They have plenty of it @ Academy. I see plenty of recipe's in my manuals using this powder. Time will tell. I still want to try Varget or RL-15 or 17.