.308 Winchester Reloads

[nosler06]

Was going to work on some new loads with IMR4895 for my .308 Winchester. The bullet that I am using with this powder is a 165gr Nosler Partition and CCI primers. Just wondering if anyone has loaded with this combo or even loaded with the IMR4895 and what they had as their best charge? The Nosler manual says that their best accurate charge was 39.0grs. I tried loading with Varget and could never get any type of stable groupings. Thought I would see what the IMR4895 was like. Thank you for any input. Cheers

 

[wvbuckbuster]

IMR4895 as well as H4895 is an old stand by for the 308 win. I have used it with bullets from 125gr to 180gr in the past but do not recall off hand the load data as it has been awhile. Tac, RL15(if you can find it) H335, IMR4064 and BLC2 work also. Something in one of these should click for you as the 308 is not a hard cartridge to load for. Keep us posted as what works out for you. Dan.

 

[nosler06]

I am currently using IMR8208XBR powder, but am looking to switch to a powder that is a little easier to come by. The 8208XBR is grouping alright, but seems a little harder to locate stock of it.

 

[JD338]

In the 308 Win, RL15, Varget and IMR4064 are excellent choices. One of those three, along with finding the best COL for your rifle should get you where want to be.

JD338

 

[nosler06]

After finally getting out to the range I think that this old 1970 Browning BLR likes the 42.0grs and the 42.5grs of IMR4895. The 41.0grs also has promise as well. I might try to fine tune between 42.0 and 42.5grs to see if the grouping tightens any more than either of those two loads. Either one of those loads will fill the freezer for sure.

 

[JD338]

What bullet are you using?

JD338

 

[nosler06]

I am using a 165gr Nosler Partition with CCI200 primers.

 

[preacher]

I think you have the right idea nosler06! You have a great, temp resistant powder thats easy to light with your CCI 200. The BLR can ( and "obviously is") shoot like a good bolt gun. The 165 PT....that and the 165 NBT my favorite 308 bullet. I've taken Axis deer thats close to a big caribou in size with the 165 BT. At 230yds, pass through.

Although my old hunting buddy for the past 32yrs here in Utah uses the "exact year/make/model BLR .308 he bought in High School. He has taken elk, mule deer, antelope and a Henry Mountains bat crap crazy wild Bison...all with factory or handloaded 150 corlokt! ha. He laughs at me because I really like the 300 mag and the 33 and 35 cal Medium bores. He uses an old Burris 4x12x50 on his carbine to "gather more light" in the timber he claims. I like the smaller sized scopes with lots of field of view myself! What scope you using?

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Your group with 42.5 grs looks good. I'd hunt with it. Dan.

 

[JD338]

I am using a 165gr Nosler Partition with CCI200 primers.

The 165 PT is an awesome bullet. Another option you have is the 165 AB.
I am using the 168 ABLR in my 308 Win. Shot 3 crop damage deer this summer, all were DRT.

JD338

 

[nosler06]

I think you have the right idea nosler06! You have a great, temp resistant powder thats easy to light with your CCI 200. The BLR can ( and "obviously is") shoot like a good bolt gun. The 165 PT....that and the 165 NBT my favorite 308 bullet. I've taken Axis deer thats close to a big caribou in size with the 165 BT. At 230yds, pass through.

Although my old hunting buddy for the past 32yrs here in Utah uses the "exact year/make/model BLR .308 he bought in High School. He has taken elk, mule deer, antelope and a Henry Mountains bat crap crazy wild Bison...all with factory or handloaded 150 corlokt! ha. He laughs at me because I really like the 300 mag and the 33 and 35 cal Medium bores. He uses an old Burris 4x12x50 on his carbine to "gather more light" in the timber he claims. I like the smaller sized scopes with lots of field of view myself! What scope you using?

My dad bought this rifle brand new and had a fixed 3X Leupold scope on it. I have taken it over and put a Leupold VXII 3X9 on it and it has a whole new life. I pick straws to see if I carry it or my 06. Many elk and even moose have been dropped with her over the years. Dad was smart and bought an extra magazine for it cause you can never find those laying around now.

 

[TXbaldhunter]

I used Win brass,WLRM primer,168gr Nosler Ballistic Tip,45.0grs IMR4895,2807fps

 

[nosler06]

Wow TXbaldhunter that is a sweet group there. Is a 45.0grn load a compressed load? I see in the manual that 43.0grn is Max and sits at 97% case capacity. Being an old lever action I don't want to push compressed loads.

 

[Wolfshead]

You are getting some nice groups but I think I would try and see what comes from playing around with the numbers around 42 and 42.5
i think you can get it better.
have you shot it further than 100? That’s a consideration also. See what it does further down range if you can.
I finished sighting in my .308 this past week .
46 grains Varget, 150 grain Accubonds, 200 CCI primers and Starline brass.
this is the three shot group at 301 yds off of a rest.

 

[salmonchaser]

Nice shooting, looks like you have a consistent flyer in your groups. Do you recall which shot that is?

 

[Charlie-NY]

I've had very good luck with the Sierra 168TMK in my .308. It will shoot the same size groups with Varget or RE15 with the same charge of 44.0gr.

 

[JD338]

Nice shooting Charlie!

JD338

 

[TXbaldhunter]

Wow TXbaldhunter that is a sweet group there. Is a 45.0grn load a compressed load? I see in the manual that 43.0grn is Max and sits at 97% case capacity. Being an old lever action I don't want to push compressed loads.

My 45.0gr load is actually .4grs under Hodgdon's load data with a 168gr Sierra HPBT@58,000PSI.
https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/reloading-data-center
It wasn't compressed,but most loads in the 308 Win are going to be a full case anyway.Compressed loads are not a problem as long as it's not over compressed to the point that the bullet will actually creep back out longer than when it was originally seated at.One other thing to also keep in mind different brands of brass have different case capacities.This can also change with different cartridges.I use Winchester brass in my 308 Win.I did a test on day with the same load using Winchester,Nosler and Remington brass.The Winchester and Nosler brass was giving me group sizes around .5" and was close enough I could have mixed those cartridges and never noticed any difference.The Remington brass was a lot different.My group opened up to about 1.25".Now that was a significant.More than likely it was due to difference in case capacity changing the load a little.Since that time I started paying more attention to case capacity of different brands.I first tried weight sorting the brass and found that to be a waste of time not really knowing where to start and how to group it.I ended up with five cases in this group weight and ten in this group weight and twenty in this group weight,but what am I going to do with these cases of different weights?I now just go by brands and not mix the cases of different brands.I haven't checked the case capacity difference between Winchester and Remington in the 308 Win because I haven't loaded any with Remington since that day.But in my 30-06 Winchester brass has more case capacity than Remington and in my 7mag Remington case more case capacity than Winchester.The way I check the case capacity difference now is Use a ball powder and fill a case full to the top and compare.
Here is some pictures of 30-06 brass filled with 67.5grs of Hunter showing the difference in case volume.
Winchester Brass


Lapua Brass


Remington Brass

 

[TXbaldhunter]

I just compared the case capacity of five different 308 Win cases I had using 58.5grs of TAC to fill cases..Winchester most definitely had the largest.Next closest was Remington,but still a bit less.Federal,LC and Nosler were slightly overfill. From the top down in this order. Nosler Case ,LC Case,Federal Case,Remington Case,Winchester Case. Here is another thing to add.Case weight does not always indicate case volume accurately.Here is the weights of each case used
Winchester 169.6grs
Remington 170.8grs
Federal 184.3grs
LC 185.1grs
Nosler 173.8grs Remington CaseWinchester Case