FNG to the forum, 185 Berger in a .308 second opinions please.

[ThatGuy1182]

Gun to be load developed is a Remington stock 700 1/10 20" AAC using a Magpul stock and magazine.

The manual for Berger says 41 is max using IMR 4064. Brass will be BHA .308 that averages out to be 2.005. Primers are CCI BR2. The Magpul AICS magazine allows up to 2.860 OAL while the manual for Berger says 2.810. I'm thinking that I may be able to sneak in with no excessive pressure since it's a bolt to exactly 2.860 OAL, one more extra grain to get it up to at least 2,600 FPS. Measured out, it will take 3.010 before it touches the lands in case anyone needs that information as well under consideration.

My question here, will this will be unsafe? I welcome the more experienced opinions before I do something unsafe. I think that I will do four different charges in 5 round groups to test consistency. With 42 being max, and 41 being the low starter charge.

 

[OLD308]

Reloading manuals are what we call "lawyer loads". 99% of they time they are no where near max charge. With that said. Always start under. You could have a tight chamber, bad powder, or poor reloading methods. If max is 41 grains start lower just in case. We are not talking a lot of money to be safe. 39, 39.5, 40, 40.5 are all just costing you 4 bullets, primers and a little bit of powder. "An ounce (grain in this case) of prevention is worth a pound of cure" . (Benjamin Franklin)

 

[usafa77]

you are kind of taking a shotgun approach. i would recommend the reloading stickies as a starting point.