How many of you have used Lake city brass, Varget, and 175 SMK's and developed a load that pushes 2600fps? Can it be done safely? I keep reading about reducing the load by 1 1/2-2gr, but never see anything posted about what kind of muzzle velocity everyone's getting? The brass I'm going to use is Lake City LR brass. Will a reduced load (due to case capacity) result in a reduced MV or does it end up being about the same? Has anyone developed a load using these components and actually run some through a chronograph?
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Loading .308 with Lake City brass, 175SMK and Varget
- Thread starter JeremyC
- Start date
That is the combo I use on a regular basis. For a 20" barrel, that is not possible, but for a 24" barrel, 2700 FPS is very possible. For a 20" barrel, 2550 is reachable. I do 42.3 Gr Varget, with said bullet and said case, this gets me to about 2550 FPS.
Ive been trying to get 2550 out of an 18" barrel using all the same above except RL-15 powder. I've hit 2550, but getting pressure signs so I backed up to about 41.8 grains and pushing about 2510. I was toying with switching to Varget since I have about 8#'s of it sitting around, but I really want to make this work with RL-15 since I have a lot more of that on hand. Let us know how it goes for you.
Thanks for the info EC. These will be shot from a 24" barrel, so a similar load to yours looks promising.
My current load is 44.0g Varget with LC/LR brass. I was at the range this weekend and Chrono'd some test loads.
These were shot from my GAP SCLE 95 Palma chambered rifle.
04/21/13 - 44.0 VARGET, 178 BTHP, LC/LR, Wolf primer, Comp. 2.174
# 43.5 43.8 44.0
1 2689 2730 2738
2 2670 2704 2730
3 2696 2688 2736
4 2717 2693 2747
5 2714 2707 2714
AVG 2697 2704 2733
ES 47 42 33
SD 19 16 12
These were shot from my GAP SCLE 95 Palma chambered rifle.
04/21/13 - 44.0 VARGET, 178 BTHP, LC/LR, Wolf primer, Comp. 2.174
# 43.5 43.8 44.0
1 2689 2730 2738
2 2670 2704 2730
3 2696 2688 2736
4 2717 2693 2747
5 2714 2707 2714
AVG 2697 2704 2733
ES 47 42 33
SD 19 16 12
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Everyone talks about Varget being their goto powder for 308. I haven't used it, but have used IMR4064 and N135 which are both a little slower burning. I find I get the worst groupings out of those two powders. However, I haven't chrono'ed any of them.
What I have found gives the best groupings at 100 & 300 yards are variations of 175 or 180 SMK / SPBT over N550 or RL17 out of a DPMS LR308 18" barrel. 2.815 COL in Lake City brass.
This weekend I did ladder tests at 300 yards and the standout was RL17 47.0 gr, 175 SMK @2.815" COL. No pressure signs.
However, at 47gr of RL17, you are at 100%, anything above that is a compressed load. Now that I have what I'm looking for I think I"ll chrono them.
Fellow hide member Mumbles shared his data with me via PM, but I don't believe I know which brass he's loaded.
What I have found gives the best groupings at 100 & 300 yards are variations of 175 or 180 SMK / SPBT over N550 or RL17 out of a DPMS LR308 18" barrel. 2.815 COL in Lake City brass.
This weekend I did ladder tests at 300 yards and the standout was RL17 47.0 gr, 175 SMK @2.815" COL. No pressure signs.
However, at 47gr of RL17, you are at 100%, anything above that is a compressed load. Now that I have what I'm looking for I think I"ll chrono them.
Fellow hide member Mumbles shared his data with me via PM, but I don't believe I know which brass he's loaded.
Mumbles said:
Depends on the gun. 44gr is too much for a Savage action (at least for 2 of the Savages I have tried), and will be too much for most 308AR's chambers (for the 308AR's that I have tried). For a Remington700 though, 44 gr will most of the time be OK as the longer throat allows for hotter rounds. I use 43.5 gr with my R700 and 175gr SMKs.
Agreed, It's been mentioned so many times here, I figured everyone uses the SOP - ALWAYS start low and work up to find what works best in YOUR rifle.
LC LR brass, varget and 175smk is what I've been using for a long time. My charges are either 41.5 (for m1a) or 43 (for everything else). The 43gr load is the one I'd suggest to you.
Yes, I am using Lake City LR brass. I did see slights signs of pressure is when I loaded the bullet touching the lands at 2.184 Ogive measurement. I now load to 2.174 Ogive measurement and I don't see any signs of pressure.
I am getting a little crunching of powder with 44g of Varget and 175/178's..it sounds a bit unnerving at first. Might try a longer powder funnel to see if it be more dense and avoid any crunching of powder.
My best group with 44.0gr. of Varget with 178BTHP
That is my exact recipe too, but I'm using a 178 AMAX. I get targets like that too. I'm only averaging 2650 from a 22inch barrel with that.
Have you tried that load yet?
I have run 45.0g Varget, LC LR 07 brass, 175smk, CCI BR2 well when it's colder (FN A3G), but that load was a bit sticky last August heat.
I am looking to back it off and have a single year-round load, playing around with 44.2g right now but my chrono wasn't working last weekend, maybe 2650?
edit - I just saw 18Echo post, so it looks like I might be a little over 2650 with 24 inch barrel?
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Well, I think I've settled on 43 grains of varget, but need to load another round of test loads to be sure. I had issues getting it on paper at 100 yards (had some serious issues on my mind, which damn sure didn't help), so I finally picked out a tree at around 100 yards and dialed it in on a knot on said tree. Windage was dead on out of the gate, just had elevation issues. So, now that that's out of the way, I can try some 5 shot groups. Absolutely no pressure signs at 43 grains.
Has anyone chrono'd this load out of a 24" barrel? I don't have access to one, and wondered what kind of velocity this load is pushing.
Has anyone chrono'd this load out of a 24" barrel? I don't have access to one, and wondered what kind of velocity this load is pushing.
Similar here except a 24" 5R barrel. 44.5 Varget/175SMK/2.855 OAL gives me a mean of 2707fps and a bug hole at 100 yards with BH /Win brass.
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I run 42.3 varget in lclr 08 brass with 210m and 175 smk. I get 2675 in my 24" barrel chambered by GAP.
I load 45.5 gr Varget on 150 gr Barnes TTSX, 165 Sierra GK both shoot touching hole grps at 100 yds. I load 42.0 gr RL 15 with 165 gr GK for M1A also touching hole. The two bolt guns are TRG & Rem 700 w/ 26"bbls. Chrno at 2810fps on Barnes 150.
