@boisepaw
" looking for something that would give me excellent accuracy at 1000 yards and beyond."
PRACTICE ... a mediocre round fired often and a good shooting log kept learning how to dope wind will get you more points than a 1/4moa load if you can't dope winds.. the 308 is capable at 1000 but is far less forgiving for wind error.. for every 1 mph of wind you don't account for its a 10" drift at a grand..
REMEMBER - US military snipers don't hand load.. they don't tune their loads or tune their rifle.. and use mass manufactured mediocre ammo.. but they fire thousands of rounds each year and DOCUMENT every round.. temp, humidity, etc .. and have their rifle/ammo combo doped..
the marine sniper school leadership came out to one of our club matches to observe and were amazed at what these guys were doing...
" I've got excellent loads for the 168 gr. SMK and the 175 gr. SMK...excellent in terms of 100 yard accuracy (sub MOA) and SD < 10 and ES < 20. "
GOOD STARTING POINT for the 175 load.. SD < 10 and ES < 20. is very capable
forget the sierra 168 at 1000 as its boat tail angle is unstable transonic which it will be, .. IF its more accurate than 175 in your rifle (like mine) use it for 600 and in matches there ARE 168s that will be fine at 1000 .. so if you find your rifles harmonics like a 168pill find one of those
" I've heard of the 185 gr. Juggernaut but never loaded it. I happened into some Nosler Accubond 180 gr. bullets that I haven't loaded yet."
UNLESS YOU CAN DOPE WINDS BELOW 2kts --- don't waste your money unless you just want to feel cool on the line telling everyone you launch a paycheck with each trigger pull... you will likely not see much benefit to cost ratio.. opinion . YMMV ..
forget accubonds for accuracy and honestly I would say forget NOSLER for anything.. their quality control sucks and there is an '6' in every box is the going joke
Suggestion for bullets for target (non-hunting) accuracy out to 1000 yards and beyond? And while we're at it...what powder? I have a bunch of options on my loading bench...
since you are using a factory remington pipe that is lawyered up with a roomy throat (measure it) .. you will likely need a bullet that is jump tolerant - this takes you out of most Berger designs except perhaps some of the hybrids.. I have a very tight short throat so I can load to the lands if I want even with SMKs
I find that Lapua brass really is not tuned for non palma loads. if you have a 32"+ barrel and want to launch 155s that need lots of slow powder like Varget its perfect (that is what it was sized for) . but if you look at mil brass and FGMM which is the same brass used in current mil sniper ammo.. you will find less case volume.. which works great with 4064 which I have shot for years (not as temp stable as Varget) but I get better accuracy in every 308 that I shoot with it (all my rifles under 26".
Forget peoples suggestions on gas gun loads with powered charges less than 43 of Varget/4064 .. it won't get you what you need for a grand.. sure.. can you shoot it .. yeah.. but run the tables with those velocities and you will be transonic or worse sub sonic and accuracy will suffer.. and the 308 at 1000 has a bullet arc like throwing a brick off an overpass to begin with so you bullets down angle at the target is already bad (velocity changes more vertical error compared to faster rounds like 6.5-284) ...
you are going to need to be in a node generally above 2600fps at the muzzle ...
if you use a powder like 4064 you will likely need to load for temperature .. I have to adj my throws about .1 for every 10 deg F to stay in my nodes.. but I run a high load above 44gn of 4064 in Lapua with 175smk ...
I have shot a rack grade 20" rem 700 tactical in the crap hogue stock on occasion at club 1000y matches at the Hathcock sniper range at Lejueune just because I like watching guys tell me it can't be done .. and I outshoot them occasionally and they spent more on the paint job on their unlimited rig than my rifle/scope combo cost TOTAL.. its the Indian as much as the Arrow... to a point.. again.. to break 180 point at a grand with that 20" rifle I needed to be dead on my wind calls all day and or get lucky.. but I average in the 170s with it.. not competitive but fun... and it really sharpens your wind calls..
At the end of the day here are some takeaways
unless you are carlos hathcock .. any sub moa CONSISTANT load will do for you.. cheap enough so you can PRACTICE.. a lot
with a factory barrel at 26" keep in mind that the US army, US special forces command, USMC etc .. have researched this caliber to DEATH...
the 175smk keeps surviving every RFP for a new round.. and again.. the latest round of sniper ammo .. IMR 4064 and the 175smk still came out on top
practice practice practice .... and write it all down...
oh.. also .. if you are planning to load for F Class .. don't test 5 round strings.. you load has to remain consistent for at least 25 rounds fired in 30 minutes.. and yes.. a really hot barrel makes a huge difference in how a load reacts...