After a lot of research and talking to people, I ordered a lot of reloading equipment. My goal is to gain accuracy with my 308 for competition. I’m just finding it hard to see where I start. There are a ton of opinions on what works and I know I am going to go way down the rabbit hole on what my reloads consist of. If anyone can suggest what my first purchases should be when it comes to case, primer, powder, and bullet? I have a lot of federal Sierra matchking 175 brass. I was thinking Varget or IMR 4064 and 210M? Maybe stick with Sierra bullets because it’s what I know. But I am afraid I am being to nervous to stray from what I know. Any advice would be appreciated!!
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Id start exactly as you’ve stated. 175 smks, varget or 4064, if you can find some and the 210 primer. Since you’re brand new to reloading id grab a good reloading manual like Sierra’s and start reading up on the process itself before doing any actual load development.
Charge-wise, start low and work up. Gas guns will generally take less powder before you hit pressure signs compared to bolt guns.
Once you get comfortable, start experimenting with other bullet/powder/primer combos but the 175 and those powders are a great place to begin.
This load has almost exactly the same ballistics as Federal Gold Medal Match: full length size, trim to 2.010, IMR 4064 41.52 grains, Federal 210M, Sierra 175 (#2275), COL 2.820. I get about 2,610 fps in a bolt gun with a 26-inch 1:11 barrel. According to Gordon's Reloading Tool, with a 16.5-inch 1:10 barrel, you should get about 2,340 fps. You will get flash - with that load, the powder burn is not complete when the bullet leaves the muzzle so - flash! With that bullet and muzzle velocity, you enter transonic zone around 700 yards. If that load does not shoot for you, you need a different powder - probably one that burns faster. There are many internet articles about 308 in short barrels.
What discipline are you trying to compete it. 16" barrel is not good for much but putting holes in people.
Hi Josh,
Did N150 work with Sierra 175s in your 20-inch AR10? My load with IMR 4064 works in an AR10, just checking for other things that would work. IMR 4064 can be very hard to find.
keep your self aware of what your doing . you could kill your self , it's not outside the limits of reloading to do it . I say go slow making small incremental changes and keep looking for the signs from god ( your brass) find something your happy with and run with it .) best of luck and video tape everything success as well as failures cause it never happened unless you got the video to prove it . best of luck and hope you have more fun than I am . and keep it all as simple as you can people tend to complicate everything .
I load for an AI AE Mk3 w/ 16” , 12 twist barrel that uses a Surefire suppressor with the following components:
- 175 smk; bullet seated to a cartridge base to ogive of 2.130, similar to factory FGMM
- IMR4064 @ 41.7g
- Lake City LR brass, full length sized and shoulder bumped .002 (LCLR is very similar in case capacity to Federal GMM brass)
- Winchester large rifle primer (a little “hotter” primer than the 210M)
Before the rifle was sold, we regularly took it to 600m on a flat range and 600-800m from a higher angle and had no issues hitting 2/3 IPSC targets when the shooter correctly drove the gun and compensated for wind.
As mentioned previously, start low and work up; I’d begin at minimum charge per whichever reputable loading manual you’re using (preferably Sierra’s if running match kings).
Have you bought a headspace comparator gauge like Hornady’s so you can set up your sizing die correctly to give you the shoulder bump you need relative to your fired case?
I did not work with the Sierra, but I did use the Hornady 178 ELD-X. I have chronograph results, but I can't find my original target (done sometime around March 2022)
You can find load data on Vihtavuori's website, so I won't post my charges here. Velocity was acceptable but nothing crazy. I was using LC LR brass so charges were reduced. In all honesty, I generally prefer a 168 since I rarely shoot past 300 yards.
I also recently got some N550 to try with the 178's. I can't provide any conclusive results yet, still testing.
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