308 load for a M1A

[wrongside]

Sorry to beat an old drum but in the 30 to 40 pages I have checked I can not find reloading info for the M1A. I just picked up a new build yesterday my first and have not reloaded for a 308. Today I shot some M852 and M118. What can I load that would be similar? Thanks for any help. BILL

 

[doc76251]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

42.0 gr IMR 4895 w/ a 168 SMK in a LC Match case = M852
The same load works well w/ 175 SMK's in the M1A.

Haven't played much past that.

Cheers,

Doc

 

[Grump]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

Search the fairly recent thread on what speed people are driving 175 SMKs, there are a few references there.

In general, somewhere between 41 and 43 grains of IMR 4895, IMR 4064, or RL-15 will do the trick with either 175s or 168s, using military or Lapua or newer/heavier FC cases. I've also had great results with an old NRA load of 43.0 WW-748 behind a 168 SMK, from the days when M118 (original FMJBT) was out of production and M852 really was the good stuff. That one is temperature sensitive, but a good shooter who knows his load and conditions can deal with that. I used to load that one on a progressive.

If you don't use the Google-type "real" search, then there are some tricks to the on-site search that will help. First thing is read the instructions. It's NOT like Google where two terms = AND both of them, it's "or". Thus its useless reputation.

Enjoy chasing the accuracy demon! IME, with the M1A it's all the barrel and the bedding, everything else is either fluff or just reliability mods. The system does not need a round guide rod, for example.

 

[hofhine1]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

I load mine on a progressive, just because I don't want to load twenty, if I get going I want to run five hundred at a whack so I can shoot for a while.

My load du jour, and it runs with the best of them is 42.0 of TAC in an LC Case with any old 168 landed on top.

I got a whole boat load of the old BL(c)2 powder and ran a ammo can of 45.0 behind the winny 147 FMJ in an LC case, that has become my load for the 200 line, as it will keep the ten ring all day long.

 

[Michael]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

41.2 H4895, win primer, properly headspaced win case, sierra 175.
It will do all that rifle is capable of and is easy on the gun.

 

[Hookman]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

I am running 41.5 H4895 with 168 SMK's LC brass. Shoots great out of my Super Match..I will be loading some 175's soon to see how it does.

Here is some great reading/info on reloading for the M1A > http://www.zediker.com/downloads/14_loading.pdf

 

[BCP]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

It would be nice if there was a sticky'd thread with M1A and Garand loads in it.

 

[Hookman]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

+1 good idea

 

[judgedelta]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

If you don't have LC match cases, the 42.0 gr. IMR 4895 works very well in commercial cases too. Probably slightly less pressure. Springfield Armory doesn't recommend ANY reloads in an M1A, so you probably don't want to get to hot-rodding it too much. It is, after all, a 7.62 x 51, not a .308. Just sayin'...

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

OK, time to repost this one. This is about a decade or two old but the info is still mostly relevent.

Black Mousechow and Other HandLoads

Greg Langelius

This article was originally published in Precision Shooting Magazine several years ago. It has had some minor details updated and some addenda spliced onto the end. Although the original intent was to publish M1A 1000 yard supersonic loads; the loads have proven very useful in other .308 rifles, including tactical rifles. It has been described by a rather generous fellow shooter as the best general description of handloading he’s ever seen. Hope you enjoy…

<span style="font-style: italic">Disclaimer: For reasons of liability, the author and any of his associates must deny any and all responsibility for any injury or loss resulting from the use of information contained in this article. As experienced reloaders know, materials and conditions vary and equipment may not conform to any particular standards. Accordingly, results can vary, with injury and loss being a possible consequence, and the reloader must assume all responsibility for the consequences of their own actions associated with producing and using hand loaded ammunition. The reader is cautioned to consult reliable sources for reloading information, and to never exceed published maximum loads for their firearms and bullet weights chosen. No guarantee can reasonably be offered or implied regarding any ammunition’s performance or safety when used in any particular individual firearm. The manufacturers of M1, M14, and M1A rifles have issued warnings not to use reloaded ammunition in these rifles, or to load these rifles by placing a cartridge in the chamber and releasing the bolt. Slam-fires and out-of -battery explosions may occur from these practices. By ignoring these warnings the reader accepts responsibility for the consequences of using hand loaded ammunition in these types of firearms. The M1, M14, and M1A rifles must always be loaded from the magazine, whether loading singly or with multiple cartridges. The reader is also cautioned that the firearm was designed to use cartridges loaded with MILSPEC primers, which are harder than commercially available primers, designed specifically to prevent slam-fires and out-of-battery explosions. Federal and Winchester can be contacted by interested parties for information on obtaining these harder MILSPEC primers. Special care must be taken to inspect completed cartridges for proper primer seating depth. Primers must be seated either flush with the base of the casing, or recessed slightly below the base. Cartridges with raised primers should be separated from lots of completed ammunition, and never fired in an auto-loading firearm, as these primers are an open invitation to premature ignition, with disastrous results. I recommend these cartridges be disassembled, and the cases be disposed of in a cautious manner. Never attempt to decap live primers.</span>

If you are still reading this, I will share some of my experiences in reloading for the M1A. By following particular practices, and using information gathered from various sources, I have managed to obtain some outstanding performance from my Springfield Armory M1A. The loads here described have been used in my rifle, a Stainless Steel Barreled National Match (Upgrade) Model, a friend’s Douglas Barreled Springfield Armory Super Match Model, and another friend’s Pre-Ban Issue Grade Model; all with uniformly superior results. Each of these rifles has been bedded with Brownell’s Accraglass bedding compound, according to National Match specifications. This step is a fairly simple operation which can be accomplished by the owner, and is a key component in the accuracy to be expected from using the instructions contained in this article.

Many fine commercial loads are available for this rifle, with the match ammunition available from several manufacturers, particularly Federal and Black Hills, being outstanding choices. These offerings can be somewhat expensive, and conform to some compromises which can detract somewhat from the ultimate accuracy performance serious competitors seek. Commercial ammunition tends to be loaded to be used in an unpredictable variety of firearms, with overall headspace and bullet seating depth kept conservatively short, to accommodate the greatest bulk of customers’ firearms. The ammunition will fit in most chambers, and feed through magazines which conform to industry standards. The net result is that case life can be reduced due to case expansion after firing, and bullet jump to the barrel lands can be excessive, due to the need to keep overall cartridge length short enough to feed in standard magazines. This can be improved upon.

The primary advantages to be obtained by producing hand loaded ammunition are improved cost, quality control, and suitability tailored for specific firearms. By assuming the responsibility for the cost of the labor involved, the hand loader’s costs are limited to those of the materials and equipment used. Commercial loaders must mass produce their product, and cannot afford to perform manual operations associated with assembly and quality control. Some of the commercial producers are getting a lot better at quality control, with Federal recently making a serious commitment to this, in particular. Black Hills is also notable for their ammunition’s consistency. Careful handloading practices can usually produce ammunition with greater consistency, resulting in more a uniform and accurate product. Compromises necessary in producing a generic commercial product can be set aside, and, with all necessary caution, ammunition can be produced which is tuned to the specific accuracy demands of a single firearm. The M1A seems to a fairly consistent firearm, with the ammunition specs I have tried being fairly uniformly effective in all the firearms I have employed for testing. Thank goodness for good old American workmanship and quality control. The Springfield Armory M1A is a superior product, well suited to the needs of those of us who seek a reliable, accurate firearm for shooting competition.

In order to tailor ammunition specifications to the M1A, it is important to understand its features and quirks.

The M1A/M14 is mainly an improved M1 Garand. The receiver design, gas operating system, and sights are either unchanged or improved versions of those employed in the Garand. The magazine, stock and bedding method were modified to permit a larger ammunition supply in a rifle of reduced overall weight. The stock and receiver are mated in a manner which uses much smaller bedding lugs, and has some weakness in the magazine well area. This can negatively affect the bedding rigidity of the standard rifle. Accuracy gunsmiths typically remove the magazine well liner, and glassbed the receiver with polyester compounds that are liberally mixed with metallic substances, to better mate the receiver and stock, and improve the strength and rigidity of the normally weaker magazine well area. The results on accuracy can be very significant. For more information on these accuracy improvements, and others, I recommend that the reader obtain and closely study Scott Duff’s M14 Owners Manual. He covers this area and others very well. He has also published a similar work on the M1 Garand, but the accuracy gunsmithing section is somewhat more limited for that rifle. The NRA reprint on the M1 Garand is a much more excellent source for accuracy gunsmithing information on that rifle. The more serious modifications are better left to a gunsmith who specializes in competition work for these rifles. I don’t do much in the area of metalwork myself, and find that my rifles do just fine without it. But bedding is a must, and can be simply done by the owner, with proper directions, materials, and a touch of Marine courage.

The chambers on M1A match grade barrels seem to be cut to smaller dimensions than the standard issue-grade models, causing some chambering and extraction problems with ammunition constructed to commercial or military specifications. Both of these sets of problems can cause jams during normal cycling, and must be addressed when handloading ammunition for this rifle. Extraction problems can cause short cycles, leaving a fired case in the chamber, and/or failing to feed the next round from the magazine. Case head separations can occur, especially with Berdan primed ammunition, which seems to be a bit thin and soft, causing cartridges to be fed into a chamber that is already occupied by the front portion of an old case. The floating firing pin can cause the stalled cartridge to ignite, with an out-of-battery explosion occurring. This can end your career. Tight chambers can also stall the cartridge during chambering, with the same disastrous results. Hand loaders can resolve these problems by using a small-base resizing die, which performs resizing for the full length of the case, resulting in a cartridge with a slightly smaller diameter in the base area, above the rim. This permits the cartridge to chamber more easily, and also tends to correct case stretching problems caused by the rapid extraction of still-hot cases by auto-loading rifles. These resizing dies are readily available from most commercial makers, and don’t seem to cost any extra. I use these dies for all my .308 WIN ammunition, and don’t notice any problems in ammunition used in my bolt guns. Just understand one thing. The auto-loading rifle is much harder on cases than the bolt rifle, causing seriously increased case stretching, and a corresponding decrease in case life.

Most of the following information is based on trying to get the cases to be as close to identical as possible. Case specifications and materials vary between manufacturers, and even between lots within a manufacturer. Military brass for a specific year and arsenal is usually bought from a single contractor in a single lot. Case consistency for a specific year and arsenal is usually excellent, and is one of the reasons why military brass is usually highly prized among reloaders. Beware, however, of .308WIN brass that is obtained already fired by military units. A lot of this has gone through machine guns, and should NEVER be reloaded. This is because the headspace on machine guns is usually set excessively long to minimize jamming. The case stretching thus created exceeds safe reloading standards, and very often results in complete case head separations on firing after the very first reloading. This stuff is substandard, dangerous, and should not be used for reloading. If your are not sure, you can perform a simple test. Straighten out the end of a paper clip, making it long enough to reach the bottom of a case when inserted into the neck. Put a short (1/16-1/8”) right angle bend in the end of the clip, forming a “feeler”. Slide the point of the feeler down along the inside of the case’s base, and feel for a groove, running in a ring around the inside of the case’s wall, along the bottom 1/2”. If this groove is present, scrap the case, you are feeling the precursor to a complete head separation, caused by the stretching generated from firing in a chamber with excessive headspace. You should start performing this check on your own fired cases, after firing them 3 or 4 times, as well. Any groove discovered, however slight, is cause for immediately scrapping that case.

Don’t play the game of buying factory ammo, and then firing the ammo to get the brass for reloading. This is a great way to wear out your bore, which has a limited life span. Most service barrels start to lose their accuracy after 3000 or 4000 rounds, and commercial barrels tend not to last that long. Commercial ammo is usually a lousy choice for practice. You don’t know what the load specs are, and they will almost always differ from your handloads, and even between lots of the same commercial load. Quality control and accuracy will not be up to you handloading specs, and you will have already subtracted 1 reloading from the case life, wasted on the original load.

Buy new brass, resize it to your own specs, and build your own perfect ammo. Buy new brass in large lots, to ensure case volume and quality consistency. I usually buy Remington brass from Dillon on 1000 case lots, to ensure that it’s all built to the same specs. Large quantities of brass ensure that reloading cycles are minimized, and allow for attrition due to major extraction dents, case wear, and our periodic small sacrifices to the brass gods lurking out there in the tall grass

We can set our case length to match the headspace of our own specific rifle. First, prepare the rifle for testing the length of our resized cases. Remove the barrel group from the stock, and remove the operating rod spring and guide. The Operating rod and bolt should be free to slide without any excessive force being required to make it go all the way open and closed. Rifles built to National Match specs should open freely and completely and close freely and completely when the barrel group is tilted no more than 30 degrees from the horizontal. Finally, disassemble the bolt, removing the extractor, ejector, and firing pin, so they will not interfere with the chambering of a resized case. Insert the bolt and assemble the operating rod onto the bolt and receiver.

Next, back out the resizing die until a fired, resized case is too long to allow the bolt to close. This may not be possible to achieve, as some rifles don’t stretch the case long enough to cause it to fail to rechamber. But try anyway. Now, adjust the resizing die to shorten the case a little at a time. Insert the case into the chamber and tilt the muzzle down, allowing the bolt and operating rod to slide into battery. Observe the bolt lugs for complete closure. When the bolt lugs are fully closed, and forward pressure on the operating rod does not cause the bolt to rotate any further, the resizing die is set to the correct length. Lock down the resizing die, and reassemble your rifle. By matching the resizing length to the chamber’s actual headspace, you minimize case stretching and greatly prolong case life. The life will never approach that of fireformed cases that are neck resized and fired only in a particular bolt rifle, but it will be much improved. As for “proper” headspacing, the goal is to have the chamber and cartridge length match as close as possible, with a minimum “working clearance”. Industry headspaces are set up to accommodate the length of mass produced cartridges. Our goal here is to match the reloaded cartridge length to the actual headspace of our own individual firearm. Be aware that this headspacing can change due to wear. By periodically performing the cartridge resizing test, we can keep up with this wear. The M1, M14, and M1A actions should be lubricated with grease, preferably Lubriplate, and NOT with oil. This will keep the headspace inducing wear to a minimum. There is a point, however, when this resizing readjustment becomes inadvisable, as headspace can change to the point where commercial ammunition becomes unsafe in the firearm. Should this ever occur, the rifle will need to be rebarreled. In most cases, however, with proper cleaning and lubrication, the bore will wear out first.

Be aware that there are NO forged M1A receivers in circulation. All commercial M1A receiver are machined from castings, due to excessive manufacturing costs that make forging prohibitive for commercial manufacture. The only forged receivers in existence are those contained in government M14 rifles, and BATF regulations prohibit these from being converted to M1A specs and sold on the commercial market. The cast receivers, with the exception of some Chinese copies (Norinco), are generally strong and safe, but they do wear a bit more rapidly than the forged ones. Be aware, also, that Norinco receivers and their associated parts are constructed to different dimensions from other makes, and their parts are NOT interchangeable with other makes. Beware of “lugged” receivers. Those that are cast with the lugs included are OK, but those that are made by welding lugs to standard receivers are weaker, as the metal used in the castings is NOT compatible with any known welding process.

Overall case length should be checked after each resizing, as case necks “stretch” during each firing, and case mouths should be trimmed and chamfered without fail whenever necessary. Failure to do so can result in the case neck protruding into the tapered leade preceding the rifling. This causes the case neck to grip the bullet too tightly, without room for neck expansion and bullet release. In turn, this leads to spikes in chamber pressure when the case neck fails to expand properly to release the bullet. This increased chamber pressure continues all the way down the bore and can beat the heck out of the operating rod, causing dangerous conditions to occur during the operating cycle.

Watch the case length carefully when doing your case prep operations, including when working with brand new brass. All new brass should be resized and trimmed to length when being used for the first time. It’s amazing what gets by quality control. Don’t just trust the manufacturer.

Let’s begin with case prep. Polish all new brass when you unpack it. This polishing minimizes case stretching during the first extraction cycle for new brass, and adds considerably to case life. The case stretching encountered during the first firing of new brass, especially when unpolished, is the greatest the case will encounter, and polishing reduces it enough to add several firings to case life. Lube the brass properly, on the area between the shoulder and base. Try not to get the lube any higher on the case, as it will collect in the die and cause dimples in the case shoulder as you resize it. Firing a dimpled case results in some of the chamber pressure being wasted in flattening out the dimple, affecting the bullet velocity. Lube inside the neck will usually cause powder grains to stick when charging the cartridge. Dry lube in the neck can reduce neck stretching by the expander ball. I don’t lube the necks, and just live with the neck stretching. Measure and trim the cases to a uniform length after resizing. Clean off the lube after resizing, it can build up in the chamber, and also cause problems with case stretching during firing.

Once the case is cleaned and resized, use a flashhole reamer to remove the interior burr caused when the flash hole is punched out at the factory. These burrs are of wildly varying length, and cause significant variations in powder ignition, with a serious effect on accuracy. Most flashhole reamers have an adjustable collar, which sets the reaming depth. To adjust this, loosen the collar and ream a flash hole until the burr is completely gone. Then bottom the reamer and slide the collar down until it fits the case neck snugly, and tighten the setscrew to hold the depth adjustment. This adjustment is based on having the case neck length being cut to a known length, so always perform flash hole reaming after case length trimming. This flashhole reaming is the biggest improvement you can perform on your brass. Skip this step, and you have introduced a variation that reduces the accuracy potential of your ammunition to little better that that of factory ammo.

After flash hole uniforming, use a primer pocket reamer or swage to form the primer pockets to a uniform dimension. This helps in providing a uniform primer seating depth and force, aiding uniform powder ignition. Most military brass has crimped primers, and cannot be reprimed until the pockets have been uniformed. Military match brass is usually not crimped. Once the pockets and flashholes have been uniformed once, they should not have to be done again for subsequent reloadings.

At this point all the cases should be as close to uniform dimensions as we can get them. The only thing left that can affect accuracy is case wall thickness. This thickness causes chamber size (actually, the size of the case’s interior volume) to vary, resulting in chamber pressure and accuracy variations. Since the exterior dimensions of our cases are all now pretty uniform, the variations in interior dimensions are now governed only by case thickness. We can control these variations by sorting cases by weight. The case wall thickness can be determined by the weight of the brass cases. Thicker cases have smaller interiors, and heavier weights. Sort the cases into lots that vary in weight by no more that 5/10ths of a grain. Most of your cases will fall into 2 or 3 lots, with only a few that are wildly different. Save the worst for fouling rounds and the rest of the non-uniform weight cases for sighters. Use the other lots for specific stages of competition, so the group sizes and zeros are not affected by case volume variations. Weighing your cases is just as important as flashhole reaming. Skipping this step causes the same variations as skipping flashhole reaming. Skip both steps and you are giving away a lot of the accuracy potential we seek to achieve by handloading our ammunition. This is where the quality control is gained over factory ammunition. The manufacturers usually don’t perform these steps.

Case prep is done.

I use a progressive reloading press, a Dillon Model 550B. I find this press to be a high quality system that delivers excellent, uniformly crafted ammunition. The time it saves allows me to better spend my time on case prep and quality checking. Its automatic priming and powder measuring systems, when properly adjusted, produce loads that are every bit as acceptable as those produced on single stage presses. I deviate from the usual practices by doing the case resizing, and decapping as a separate operating, removing each case after the operation. Once the cases are all resized, I trim to length, perform the primer pocket and flash hole work and clean off the lube. I then insert the cases after the downstroke, prime each case, and rotate the primed case to the powder charging station.

The powder station should be adjusted with a newly primed case. Observe the powder level of each charged case. Some variations in powder charge will occur normally. Check the weight of the powder charge every 10 cases or so. Variations of up to 2/10ths of a grain are acceptable. More than that indicates a problem. Excessive variations are usually caused by something being misaligned, a loose adjustment screw, or more likely, by failure to use a consistent motion in operating the press handle. Find a rhythm, watch the powder level in each charge, and concentrate on what you are doing. Consistent operation produces consistent ammunition. Pick up a case and a bullet. Insert each in the correct location, stroke the handle, seat the primer, observe the powder level, and rotate the case to the next station.

Some discussion of powder level is appropriate here. I try to choose a powder that results in a charge that is slightly compressed when the bullet is seated. This produces what is called a compressed charge. There is some disagreement among shooters as to whether this is a good thing. Some shooters call this practice “building a bomb”. I disagree. Powder charges that leave empty space in the cartridge case tend to settle in a slant when the round is chambered. This slant varies greatly, especially in auto-loaders, resulting in variations in powder ignition, and larger groups. A compressed charge presents a powder column in the cartridge that is of a uniform density for each shot, with resulting uniform ignition, and tighter groups. Any amount of shaking caused by automatic loading has minimal effect on powder column density. If the correct powder is chosen, even a charge the is filled all the way to the top of the case neck will still result in a less than maximum load. In fact, reduced loads that leave excessive space in the case can be extremely dangerous, due to a phenomenon known as secondary wave front ignition or “explosion effect”. This is especially dangerous with slow powders. The primer ignition can generate a shock wave that suspends the powder in a cloud within the case, vastly increasing burning rate and chamber pressure. In addition, the shock wave rebounds from the case neck back into the burning charge, causing an additional surge in chamber pressure. It doesn’t stop there, the new surge in pressure rebounds again, sometimes several times, increasing burning rate and chamber pressure again and again. All this happens before the bullet leaves the case. This can result in pressures that can and often do blow up guns. Beware of “light” loads. Add to this the fact that these light loads can also set you up for accidental double charges that still don’t overflow the case, but can also blow up guns. NEVER USE LOADS THAT ARE SMALLER THAN PUBLISHED MINIMUMS. I like powders that produce compressed loads. I think they are actually safer and more accurate. But NEVER EXCEED MAXIMUM PUBLISHED LOADS!

Bullets should be seated 5 to 10 thousandths short of the rifling, if the resulting length still can be fed from your magazine. I find that the .308 WIN can be loaded 10 to 15 thousandths longer than SAAMI specs, and still feeds just fine in the M1A. The accuracy improvements can be significant. But the bullets should never be set so far out that they actually seat in the rifling. Doing this can cause the bullet to stick in the rifling if you try to eject a live round, spilling powder into the receiver. This powder has to be cleaned out completely, to prevent fires and explosions, and usually jams up the bolt lugs so they won’t lock up correctly, predisposing an out-of-battery explosion in a receiver full of loose powder. Bye bye career! You can perform the same check as you did when setting up the resizing die, only this time using a dummy round (no powder or primer in the cartridge). Be sure you disassemble the bolt for this test. It’s always good to put together a couple of dummy rounds once you have your load perfected. They can be useful for comparison against completed ammunition to check for dimension changes in your reloading equipment, and for setting your equipment back up after disassembly to remove that dreaded stuck case. (Don’t forget to LUBE THE CASES.) They can also be mixed in with live ammo to check for jerking and flinching. (We all do THAT more than we like to admit.)

The crimp on the bullet can be critical. Most commercially available dies sets come through with a taper crimp die. This is fine for ammunition that is single-fed into bolt guns. A light taper crimp is good for them. The auto-loading rifle is an entirely different story. Ammunition that is contained in a magazine takes a whack in the front and rear each time the rifle fires. This is also true with bolt guns. Additionally, feeding ammo into the chamber is a violent operation in an auto-loader. The bolt face slams the cartridge base hard, driving the bullet tip into contact with a lot of slanted surfaces and ridges on the way to full battery. All of this violence can misalign a loosely crimped bullet, and set it back a ways into the case, possibly far enough to drive it all the way in and loose. This setback can increase the bullet jump and screw up the accuracy a lot. It can also decrease the chamber volume to the point where that compressed charge can actually become a bomb after all. If the bullet seats back fully and loose, all bets are off, down to and including a stuck bullet in the bore. If the rifle cycles in a live round and you don’t notice the difference, your wife could be choosing pallbearers just shortly after your squeeze off that next round. Fortunately, there is a simple answer to that problem. You can put in a significant crimp. You just can’t do it very well with a taper crimp die. If you crank the sucker down to really jam it in, you’ll be shaving the bullet long before you get it tight enough to count. Copper shavings don’t help accuracy, and can raise hell with your bore. Get enough of them into the bore, and your wife could have a whole new reason to call up six of your closest friends. Talk about excessive copper fouling!

The answer is that Lee Factory Crimp die you keep seeing advertised in the magazines and catalogues. The die sets I use (RCBS) come with a combined bullet seating and taper crimp die. I just leave it in place and adjust the crimper to give a nice light crimp. I then install the Lee Factory Crimp die in the next station, which is usually empty in the Dillon toolhead. I adjust it exactly according to the Lee factory instructions. When properly adjusted, it seems a bit loose. It can still be rotated with finger pressure, but don’t sweat it, the “O” ring will hold the adjustment. This die places a roll crimp in the case neck. It is so powerful, it actually presses a cannelure right into the bullet. Any worries about normal feeding and chambering setting the bullet back are history. The crimp may look a tad excessive, but, in fact, the bullet releases just as well, and the release is more uniform, promoting more stable pressure curves, assisting accuracy. They even say that its use makes case length less critical, but you should never use this as an excuse to avoid case length checking and trimming. After firing, the crimp is ironed out completely flat, just like any other crimping method. I have a high opinion of this item.

Bullets are important. I use Sierra MatchKings whenever I can get them. For Service Rifle/Highpower I use 150 grainers, and 175’s for anything from 300 yards out. 150’s also work great at 300, but can get a little loose in a stiff wind. Since the zeros differ, I prefer to stick to 150’s in Highpower, and just do my best to learn how to accommodate the conditions. Recoil in prone slow fire can be a lot more enjoyable with the lighter ones. Someday I’m going to try the 155 Palmas.

Always polish and weigh your bullets, in that order. Separate and group your bullets to the same 2/10ths specs as your cases. Use the heavier ones with the heavier cases, this compensates for the variations a bit.

When you’re done running a batch of ammo, inspect the finished rounds. Take special care to check for raised primers, culling those rounds. Weigh each round and segregate them into groups that conform to the same 2/10ths limit, and use the groups as explained earlier. This is how you find those rounds that have a light/heavy/empty charge. The light charges could stick a bullet in the bore and HURT you.

OK, here’s the neat stuff; the specs.

I make two distinct loads for the M1A. I call them Service Match and Auto Match.

The Service Match load uses the 150 Grain MatchKing. It is designed to provide a round that matches the M80 Ball service load as closely as possible in velocity, while delivering the small group sizes you would expect from quality bullets and handloading consistency. This is so the battle sights on the M1A can be used to their full potential, delivering a consistent zero at the indicated distances. It’s the tightest grouping 150 Grain load I’ve ever seen off the bench in my M1A.

.308Win Service Match:
Sierra 150 Grain MatchKing
2.810” OAL
46.1 Gr. IMR 4064 Powder
Win WLR Primer

The Auto Match load uses the 175 Grain MatchKing. This load was taken straight out of Precision Shooting Magazine. They wanted to produce a load for the heavy barrel National Match M1A that was still supersonic at 1000 yards and produced the smallest groups. This is what they came up with after testing over 50 loads. I grabbed it and ran. It’s a genuine sweetie, performing exactly as advertised. Funny thing though. I looked in the Sierra manual for their accuracy load with this bullet, and ‘lo and behold, it’s exactly the same load. Just goes to show you, the folks at Sierra sure know their stuff. Of course it’s a coincidence, the Sierra folks used a Model 70 for their testing. Using a scope, this load groups 2” at 300 yards off the bench, and is a real good wind bucker. I am trying to use this combination in the ANJRPC Sniper Matches, to allow me to compete with a Semi-Auto. Load her up with ten and just keep your eye in the scope. This combination makes the 20 round, 8 minute time limit seem like an eternity.

.308WIN Auto Match:
Sierra 175 Grain MatchKing
2.815” OAL
42.2 Gr. IMR 4064 Powder
Fed 210M Match Primer

When these loads are built using the assembly directions given above, they perform very well for me, and should do the same for you.

These loads have also proved accurate in various .308 Bolt rifles

There are a lot of tricks and toys out there for the benchrester crowd. These guys and gals get all frustrated when their 1000 yard group sizes start to grow above 5”. They cheerfully admit to being obsessed. I admire their motivation, and nobody can argue with their results. But..., those kinds of accuracy demands far exceed the potential available from the M1A, and the more arcane of their reloading practices are probably wasted when loading for the Service Rifle.

Here are some of the things they do that I don’t.

After they do what I do for case prep, they turn their necks down in a tiny hand lathe to make the case neck thickness and diameter more uniform. This is done for several reasons. Often they shoot “Wildcat” calibers for which no commercial manufacturer produces finished cases. To make their cartridges they resize similar commercial cases to fit the new case dimensions. This resizing results in thicker brass in the case neck area. The neck must be turned internally and/or externally, so the neck with a seated bullet does not stick in the chamber, pinching the bullet during release. Add to this the fact that these shooters often specify that the case neck areas of their custom cut chambers be made to reduced dimensions, to aid accuracy. All this requires a more careful attention to neck diameters and thicknesses than we need to observe.

Another thing they do is to gauge their cases for runout, or any tendency to “wobble” around the case axis when the case is turned on a gauge for checking this effect. This runout is caused by the fact that case wall thickness on most cases varies around the wall at a given height, and may vary at different rotational points at varying heights along the case. The net effect is that the cartridge actually has a slight “banana” shape, or even a “corkscrew” shape. This causes the cartridge head to “flex” when fired, applying different forces to each bolt lug, actually causing the barrel to vibrate to a slightly different frequency with each shot, increasing the cone of dispersion. Once these shooters find the “high” spot, they cut a notch in the cartridge rim in line with it. and hand feed each round into the chamber with that notch in the same o’clock position, aligning the cartridge to the bolt lugs, minimizing the harmonic distortion. In an auto-loader, we cannot control cartridge orientation, so this step is a waste of time for us.

A third thing they do is to measure seated bullets for runout as well. The misalignment of bullets in the case neck causes the bullet to enter the rifling in an off-axis attitude. This distorts the bullet’s shape, causing aerodynamic and gyroscopic distortions to its flight. The rifling actually creates miniature “fins” on the bullet. Inconsistencies in those “fins” may not seem like a big thing, but remember, these bullets are traveling at around Mach 3 and 150,000 RPM and small inconsistencies can reap big consequences in accuracy. Additionally, the distorted bullet has a different barrel transit time, and introduces harmonic distortions into the normal barrel vibration frequency. The way these guys shoot, this is big business. They measure their groups at 100 yards, and take the overall diameter of the group and subtract the nominal bullet diameter. They often shoot groups they call “screamers” or “bugholes”. A “screamer” is a group size with any number preceded by a decimal point AND A ZERO. No service rifle can shoot to these demands, although some of these guys Do shoot screamers out of highly modified AR15’s. Most commercial seating dies can align bullets to a degree that exceeds the demands of our service rifle barrels. You can skip the bullet runout check. You can get them perfect, and never see the difference with our rifles.

Benchrest shooters have what they call “classic” cartridges. These are cartridges that are able to drive particularly accurate bullets at speeds that are compatible with barrel harmonics with charges that fill the cases fully for best efficiency. One of the best is the .222REM. It has a combination of case capacity, shoulder angle, and neck length that are ideal for driving 52 Grain .22 caliber accuracy bullets at an optimal velocity. The only reason it was not adopted for the M16 was because Mr. Robert Strange MacNamara didn’t think a 50-52 grain bullet had enough stopping power, and the .222REM didn’t drive the 55 grain bullet he preferred out to the longer ranges. He then sent the rifle to combat in Vietnam, where the average employment range was around 50 yards. Go figure.

The search for a case design that would drive a .30 caliber bullet in the same manner took a long time. For mid-range (up to 600 yards) distances, the .308WIN has turned out to be pretty close to that ideal. It handles moderately heavy bullets well enough to shoot very respectably well out to 1000 yards and beyond. Like the .222REM, it has a lot going for it, and even has very similar proportions.

I believe the M1A is the very best service rifle available for firing this cartridge in an accurate manner. I have often wondered what a Springfield ‘03 would do if it was chambered in .308WIN. I sold my Springfield because it just beat me up too much with the .30-’06 cartridge. The Garand shoots this cartridge at least as well as it does the .30-’06. I have three rifles in this caliber, and they are all good shooters. Yay, .308!

Safe Shooting,

Greg Langelius

10/13/99 Addendum:

Well, I tried the Palma 155 Gr. Bullets from Sierra. I use a standard Palma load of:

.308Win Palma Match:
Sierra 155 Grain Palma MatchKing
2.810” OAL
46.0 Gr. Hodgdon VarGet Powder
CCI BR-2 Primer


I have used it in preliminary Match Competition testing, and can say that it operates and performs well in a Service Rifle Match context. Exact group size testing and load modification is still left for the future. This should be considered to be a hotter load, and initial loads should be reduced by 10% (to about 41.4gr) and worked up from there.

08/21/11 addendum

M1 Garand M2 Ball Equivalent load:
Commercial .30-'06 brass,
Win WLR Primer, making certain to seat primers so they have no protrusion.
50.gr IMR-4064
147-155gr Bullet


12/28/00 Addendum:

Articles in Tactical Shooter have identified the loads used in the new military M118LR loading that uses the 175 Grain Sierra MatchKing Bullet. I have experimented with this load and I and some others have found the accuracy outstanding all the way out to 1000 yards. The article specifies two different powder loads that were used. The IMR load was the original one; but some difficulties with uniform burning rates led to redevelopment using the WC powder. Later comments by the original author states that the WC750 powder is marketed as Winchester W748, and that powder charge weights are identical between the WC750 and the W748.

Greg’s equivalent M118LR load:

Sierra 175 grain Match King bullet
OAL of 2.815” (extended max magazine length), or longer; to place bullet .005 to .010” short of the particular rifle’s lands. This will probably not feed in a standard magazine
42 Grains of IMR4895, or; 44 Grains of Winchester W748
CCI BR2 Large Rifle Match primer

My current development is with .223 loadings for two rifles; a Remington Model 700 VLS of mine and a Savage Model 10FP belonging to a good friend. Curiously, the current most accurate load for both rifles is identical right down to the OAL. The Rem shoots low .3”’s, and the Sav does around .25”at 100 yards. The Sav and Rem both do about 1.25-1.5” at 250 Yards. We shoot this load at 300 yards in tactical competition where it opens out to about 2-2.5”.

Greg’s .223 Tactical/Varmint load:

Nosler 55 Grain Ballistic Tip bullet
OAL of 2.400” (this is WAY longer than the SAAMI 2.250” magazine length. I am currently modifying the Magazine spacer on my 700. This load also shoots very well at 2.260”, and feeds out of most magazines)
25.4 Grains of Winchester W748
Remington 7 ½ BR primer. This load also works well with Fed 205M and Winchester WSR primers.

Load development with a Colt MT6700 Match Target AR15 (1/9” twist HBAR) has proven to be somewhat frustrating, I can’t get the rifle to shoot much under an inch at 100 yards. Maybe I’m asking too much from the platform.

Greg’s tentative load for the AR:

Sierra 52 Grain Match King bullet
2.260” OAL (.010” over standard SAAMI magazine length)
26.0 grains of Varget (can be difficult to meter into a .22 caliber case neck)
Winchester WSR primer

Believe me; if this load doesn’t work well in your AR, there’s something not quite right with your rifle.

My buddy and I are working on 75 bullet grain loads for the 1/9” twist Savage. We have confirmed that the Hornady HPBT Match and A-Max bullets stabilize, the V-Max doesn’t, and that the Black Hills 75 grain BTHP standard magazine length non-moly Match load works quite well, doing just around 1.5” at 250 yards. Film at eleven…

Good Marksmanship is no accident;

Greg Langelius

 

[fx77]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

Treasure Trove of information to be digested
thanks for this post.

 

[wrongside]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

Yes Sir, Thank you so much! I think any person who stumbles on my original post and comes across this additional information that you have provided will be greatly helped. I know it will help me. Thank you again. BILL

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

...Always a pleasure to be of assistance...

 

[Mike56]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

Do you know of any of the major manufacturers producing Sierra Matchking 150 gr BTHP, or 155 gr Palma ammunition?

I found your article interesting. I have an issued M14 (not M1A). It is an old service rifle. I put a composite stock (not glass bedded) and adjustable cheekpiece on it, with a Leupold 4.5-14x M1 LR Tactical scope.I loaded some Sierra Matchking 155 gr. (#2155) with Varget powder, CCI BR 2 Primers. I was shooting consistent 1 1/4" groups at 100 yards.

I shot several groups to confirm the accuracy. In my opinion those groups should not be that tight, with a non-match trigger,non bedded stock,and GI Barrel, but I'm not complaining.

I need MOAish accuracy out to 300-400 yards for close urban engagements.

I am trying to find a factory new load in 150 or 155 gr match grade flavor to use as duty ammo. Any suggestions?

 

[TexIndian]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

Southwest Ammunition makes the 155 Palma I believe. Quality stuff.

 

[Mike56]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the info.

 

[wireheadsfx]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

I just got a Springfield Armory SOCOM16 and am looking to reload for it. I have heard that it likes the lighter bullets like 110gr or 125gr. Anyone have any experience at this? I have reloaded 168gr to 208gr for a Savage bolt gun, but SOCOM16s are new to me.

Thank you in advance for any help.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: 308 load for a M1A

No, but Sierra has recently brought out a 135gr MatchKing. If I go with the .30BR, it will be a candidate for my load development.

Greg