308 Winchester Favorite Loads

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.
 
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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
 
JD338 said:
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
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Hey JD, what was your OAL with those 150 BT? Did they like any jump?
 
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
 
JD338 said:
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
Click to expand...
I did a boo boo the other day. :ROFLMAO: 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. :mad:
 
TackDriver284 said:
I did a boo boo the other day. :ROFLMAO: 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. :mad:
Click to expand...
I've never done anything like that. 🙄😩😩

JD338
 
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.
 

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hunter24605 said:
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.
Click to expand...
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 said:
I did a boo boo the other day. :ROFLMAO: 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. :mad:
Click to expand...
At least you caught your mistake before shooting. Time wasted but not components. Dan.
 
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
 

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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
 

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