308 Winchester Favorite Loads

[Nannyhammer]

My .308 is not very heavy and I don't shoot very far where I hunt so I settled on the 125 grain AccuBond, CCI LR primer with W-748 power. Gets roughly 2945 out of a 20" barrel and kills pretty good on coyotes and white tails.

 

[SJB358]

RL15 and 165 BTs or Accubonds were good for 2800 in an older Hawkeye I had. I kinda always thought that was a good mix.

 

[ScottinTN65]

Remington M7 with takeoff Model 700 sporter barrel, cut to 21 inches

48.5grs TAC
CCI 200
130gr TTSX
Lapua Brass
OAL 2.76
3085fps

 

[wildman]

Varget and 125 nos. accubonds work great for me ....

 

[Joec7651]

I fully expect this to be the longest thread on our forum. The 308 is so inherently accurate that it can’t not be. There are so very many powder and bullet choices that shoot unbelievably well that it can’t be helped. And yeah, I’ll say it. With proper bullet selection and a stout load, it will take anything walking North America, so it has so many rifles in so many hands Shooting those groups. The loads will keep rolling in.

 

[JD338]

Well I loaded up the last of my 150 gr BT and will be shooting 400 yards with them.ive got some 165 gr BT on the way so I'll be starting load development with them in the next couple of weeks.

I think IMR 4064 should be a good place to start.

JD338

 

[TackDriver284]

Well I loaded up the last of my 150 gr BT and will be shooting 400 yards with them.ive got some 165 gr BT on the way so I'll be starting load development with them in the next couple of weeks.

I think IMR 4064 should be a good place to start.

JD338

Hey JD, what was your OAL with those 150 BT? Did they like any jump?

 

[JD338]

Mark
COL was 2.790" so yeah, they like some jump. My next step was to chase the lands since I have room to go beyond the 2.800" in the magazine.
I went to an event yesterday and with a 200 yard zero, 5 MOA got me to 400 yards. Myself and a couple of guys consistently hit the 400 yard gongs.
My box from SPS arrived yesterday filled with 165 gr BT's so I'm switching gears. The 165 gr BT should be awesome in the 308 Win for WT deer.

JD338

 

[Guy Miner]

I agree JD338, the 165 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip has done very well for me on deer & other game. Mostly I hunt with the 30-06, but the 308 has also done well with that bullet. Quite accurate, and yes, excellent on-game performance.

Guy

 

[TackDriver284]

Mark
COL was 2.790" so yeah, they like some jump. My next step was to chase the lands since I have room to go beyond the 2.800" in the magazine.
I went to an event yesterday and with a 200 yard zero, 5 MOA got me to 400 yards. Myself and a couple of guys consistently hit the 400 yard gongs.
My box from SPS arrived yesterday filled with 165 gr BT's so I'm switching gears. The 165 gr BT should be awesome in the 308 Win for WT deer.

JD338

I did a boo boo the other day. I filled up several .308 3 round charges in .3 increments, and looked in my bin organizer drawers for the 308 seater die, so I proceeded to seat the 150 grain Ball Tips. I saw that the bullet was seated like 2.600 something, way too short, so I turned the micrometer knob counterclockwise and it kind of ran out of numbers and barely got unscrewed. I should have set the die with numbers reading 0 long ago, my mistake. Reseated, it was under 2.700". I was annoyed and got the hex wrench and made adjustments to the top of the knob so it will seat longer, still short, then had to loosen the ring to adjust then got the die adjusted and seated at .020" off which was around 2.875" and seated all my rounds. Sorted all the rounds in the ammo box, and put everything away. Hours later I came back in with some powder filled 6.5 x 284 brass and looked for the 6.5 x 284 die and seated my rounds and checked the ogive and it did not match the ogive when I last used it, since it was written in my notes. So I thought back and said to myself, did I use the 6.5 x 284 seating die to seat the 308? Yup I did. I had to readjust the 6.5 x 284 die again. After I was done, I thought about the fat stubby 308 bullet being seated in the 6.5 mm seating cup and if the cup aligned that 308 bullet straight instead of seating on the poly tip. I rolled those loaded rounds on the bullet runout comparator and it read over .008" runout and I could even see the nose of the308 bullet wobble when i rolled them. The 6.5 x 284 bullets only showed less than .002" bullet runout which is normal. Geez, pulled all the 308 bullets out and was so annoyed that I put everything away to come back at a later time, lol. Haven't made a boo boo like this in a long time.

 

[JD338]

I did a boo boo the other day. I filled up several .308 3 round charges in .3 increments, and looked in my bin organizer drawers for the 308 seater die, so I proceeded to seat the 150 grain Ball Tips. I saw that the bullet was seated like 2.600 something, way too short, so I turned the micrometer knob counterclockwise and it kind of ran out of numbers and barely got unscrewed. I should have set the die with numbers reading 0 long ago, my mistake. Reseated, it was under 2.700". I was annoyed and got the hex wrench and made adjustments to the top of the knob so it will seat longer, still short, then had to loosen the ring to adjust then got the die adjusted and seated at .020" off which was around 2.875" and seated all my rounds. Sorted all the rounds in the ammo box, and put everything away. Hours later I came back in with some powder filled 6.5 x 284 brass and looked for the 6.5 x 284 die and seated my rounds and checked the ogive and it did not match the ogive when I last used it, since it was written in my notes. So I thought back and said to myself, did I use the 6.5 x 284 seating die to seat the 308? Yup I did. I had to readjust the 6.5 x 284 die again. After I was done, I thought about the fat stubby 308 bullet being seated in the 6.5 mm seating cup and if the cup aligned that 308 bullet straight instead of seating on the poly tip. I rolled those loaded rounds on the bullet runout comparator and it read over .008" runout and I could even see the nose of the308 bullet wobble when i rolled them. The 6.5 x 284 bullets only showed less than .002" bullet runout which is normal. Geez, pulled all the 308 bullets out and was so annoyed that I put everything away to come back at a later time, lol. Haven't made a boo boo like this in a long time.

I've never done anything like that.

JD338

 

[hunter24605]

reloder 15 has always been real good to me in 308. Ive only tried various 150 grain bullets, and the 125 AB, but they all shot very well...50.5 grain and the 125 AB was basically a bug hole at 100, pretty speedy to boot...Now that I have a couple pounds of Rl 15.5 I lucked into at PV on friday, I want to see what it will do with the heavies when it gets here.

 

[TackDriver284]

reloder 15 has always been real good to me in 308. Ive only tried various 150 grain bullets, and the 125 AB, but they all shot very well...50.5 grain and the 125 AB was basically a bug hole at 100, pretty speedy to boot...Now that I have a couple pounds of Rl 15.5 I lucked into at PV on friday, I want to see what it will do with the heavies when it gets here.

Reloader 15 and H4895 did well for me when I tried those SST 150's and Palmas 155's. Nothing but bugholes and the RL 15 gave very nice velocities.

 

[TackDriver284]

I've never done anything like that.

JD338

Been down with the bug the last few days, hopefully feel better soon to load up some 150's to try at the range with some Varget. This time with the 308 seater die, lol.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

I did a boo boo the other day. I filled up several .308 3 round charges in .3 increments, and looked in my bin organizer drawers for the 308 seater die, so I proceeded to seat the 150 grain Ball Tips. I saw that the bullet was seated like 2.600 something, way too short, so I turned the micrometer knob counterclockwise and it kind of ran out of numbers and barely got unscrewed. I should have set the die with numbers reading 0 long ago, my mistake. Reseated, it was under 2.700". I was annoyed and got the hex wrench and made adjustments to the top of the knob so it will seat longer, still short, then had to loosen the ring to adjust then got the die adjusted and seated at .020" off which was around 2.875" and seated all my rounds. Sorted all the rounds in the ammo box, and put everything away. Hours later I came back in with some powder filled 6.5 x 284 brass and looked for the 6.5 x 284 die and seated my rounds and checked the ogive and it did not match the ogive when I last used it, since it was written in my notes. So I thought back and said to myself, did I use the 6.5 x 284 seating die to seat the 308? Yup I did. I had to readjust the 6.5 x 284 die again. After I was done, I thought about the fat stubby 308 bullet being seated in the 6.5 mm seating cup and if the cup aligned that 308 bullet straight instead of seating on the poly tip. I rolled those loaded rounds on the bullet runout comparator and it read over .008" runout and I could even see the nose of the308 bullet wobble when i rolled them. The 6.5 x 284 bullets only showed less than .002" bullet runout which is normal. Geez, pulled all the 308 bullets out and was so annoyed that I put everything away to come back at a later time, lol. Haven't made a boo boo like this in a long time.

At least you caught your mistake before shooting. Time wasted but not components. Dan.

 

[JD338]

I may be onto something here...
165 gr BT and 46.0 grs RL15, Nosler case, Fed GM210M primer. COL 2.815"
Shots 3,4&5 went .350"
JD338

 

[TackDriver284]

Good shooting, looks like you found your node.

 

[JD338]

Thanks to Scotty, I think I did. I'm also closing in on loads with Varget and IMR4064. I'm chasing the lands and I have lots of room in the Wyatt box.

JD338

 

[JD338]

I went back to the 150 gr BT with IMR4064 and a COL of 2.814" and bingo. Smith shooting, accurate and wicked on whitetails. The little M21 308 has 3 kills now with 150 yard shots.

JD338

 

[flyingagg]

I like that 150 BT. Took many deer with 30.06 and H4831