No Pressure Signs - RL17

[dumbbell]

I am new to reloading, been doing it for 7 days i guess, and am working up a load for my 700 aac-sd in 308. I am using the 208 amax and rl17. I was using lake city brass, and found a good load at 47.5 grains. I am loading mag length, 2.975(which is .14 away from the lands), and finally got some winchester brass in today. The win brass supposedly has more capacity, and it does seem so to me after this afternoon. What my question is, is since i am scared to blow half my face off, i just want someone to reassure me that if I'm not having any sticky bolt lift, no extractor or ejector marks, that i should be ok. I am up to 49 grains of powder, and it seems to be a sweet spot, so i don't intend to go any higher, and really don't have any more room for that matter. So i guess my two questions are, if im not showing any pressure signs, i "should" be ok with this load where its at, and second, since rl17 is so temp sensitive, if its shooting good at 49 grains at 65 degrees should i back the charge off .2 or .3 grains when it gets 90? I know montana marine loaded up to 51 grains, but he was also loading longer than me. The guys that have played with this load, what do you think? Thank you for the help, Greg

By the way, its running 2550fps out of my 20" barrel. I am jacked up about what rl17 will do!

 

[700sendero]

I worked loads up to 49.5 in winny brass with 208bthp @2.995in 700ltr was getting cratered primers...I was also shooting in cold weather...don't know how temp sensitive it is?

 

[MontanaMarine]

Your load is likely fine for your rifle.

I was loading 50.0 gr in neck sized Win brass, and moly'd 208.

Now i'm loading for two 308s. To keep it simple, I went to full length resize, and 49.0gr under a moly'd 208, loaded to 3.08" oal. That feeds both rifle from the same ammo. 20.5" rifle gets about 2575 fps, 22" rifle gets about 2610 fps.

 

[Chanonry]

I too worked up to loads of 50 gr. For me this was on the edge but ok in cold weather (for us this is around freezing). I did have some issues on a warm summers day (70 deg F), with a warm chamber. Even then it was a hard bolt lift and marked brass at the time. I believe the primer pockets were loosened in the process.

It is hard for me to physically get enough powder in the case with my barrel to have a big problem but that is also a function of living in chilly Scotland. I was certainly a bit wary of shooting that load on a 'hot' day after that.

 

[dumbbell]

Great, that is exactly what i was looking for. Thank you very much for the help, i'd just rather be safe than sorry.

 

[JGorski]

Alliant Reloder 17

Scroll down to where they load for the 308. Good reading. Might help.