Looking for opinions.

[ChivaLRy]

Hey all, I am getting set up to start reloding and I have a couple of questions. I will try to keep them short, simple, and to the point. Here is a background of what I am doing and considering. I am shooting a Remington 700 chambered to .308 WIN. with Sierra 168 GR. HPBT bullets, Federal Brass, not sure on the primers (if they even matter that much as to which brand etc.), not sure on the powder, and I plan to just basically follow the recipes listed in a SPEAR reloading manual in association with the Lyman 49th edition Reloading Handbook. My goal is of course work myself up to that legendary 1000 yd. mark with a single cold bore shot in any conditions. Tall order I know, but I thrive on a challenge. Now the questions.

1) My local gun store carries Alliant Powder brand as well as Accurate Powder brand. Does anyone have any experience with said brands and prefer one over the other?

2) Should I scrap the locally bought powder and order another type online?

3) Do primers have that much affect on the accuracy of the round?

4) Are Federal Large Rifle Primers (NO. 210) a good choice to go with?

5) Any other imput would be greatly appreciated.

Also I apologize if any of this has been covered in any of the FAQs. I have read and researched a lot and haven't found the answers to these questions, but if I missed something, maybe someone could point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance. I will post any other quesitons I come up with along the way.

 

[Boomholzer]

Re: Looking for opinions.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ChivaLRy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hey all, I am getting set up to start reloding and I have a couple of questions. I will try to keep them short, simple, and to the point. Here is a background of what I am doing and considering. I am shooting a Remington 700 chambered to .308 WIN. with Sierra 168 GR. HPBT bullets, Federal Brass, not sure on the primers (if they even matter that much as to which brand etc.), not sure on the powder, and I plan to just basically follow the recipes listed in a SPEAR reloading manual in association with the Lyman 49th edition Reloading Handbook. My goal is of course work myself up to that legendary 1000 yd. mark with a single cold bore shot in any conditions. Tall order I know, but I thrive on a challenge. Now the questions.

1) My local gun store carries Alliant Powder brand as well as Accurate Powder brand. Does anyone have any experience with said brands and prefer one over the other?

2) Should I scrap the locally bought powder and order another type online?

3) Do primers have that much affect on the accuracy of the round?

4) Are Federal Large Rifle Primers (NO. 210) a good choice to go with?

5) Any other imput would be greatly appreciated.

Also I apologize if any of this has been covered in any of the FAQs. I have read and researched a lot and haven't found the answers to these questions, but if I missed something, maybe someone could point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance. I will post any other quesitons I come up with along the way. </div></div>

1) 4064 is a good choice for 168SMK. Reloader 15 is a powder I most use for 175SMK,178AMAX from the stated Mfgs. These 17x'x are forgiving bullets in seating depth and chamber.

2) What did you buy? Hodgdon Varget is another popular option.

3,4) Most people use 210M (match) or CCI BR2. I prefer the Federals. Primer ignition will effect burn rate and therefore accuracy. 210s are not that far off from the 210M, depends on your load practices and ability to operate the rifle. The result between the two isn't easily notable unless your seasoned with the rifle/load. FME, it's more a single round opener in a group vs. consistant loss in accuracy in shooting string. There was a time where the match primers were hard to source, so I was forced to use 210's.

5) The reloading manuals are just a guide to expected velocity/pressure and a starting point to work up a load without over-charge. The tables are not a guide for accuracy in your rifle. Pick a bullet and work with it awhile in your reloading experiments. Change one variable at a time untill you get a feel for the results. Once you get up and running with some comfort; you should have several experimental loads ready to test. Be prepared to spend some time initially before you have a pet load developed for "mass" production.

Federal brass won't get you many loading cycles so keep an eye on it. The primer pocket usually gets loose after 2-3 firings with hotter loads. When its healthy, it works fine. Brass type has a significant effect in load characteristics (ex: case volume, neck tension) so be prepared to have enough on hand to not repeat initial loading efforts.

I'm not sure on your cold-bore aspirations. At range; I'd worry more about reading environmentals and having the knowledge to compensate. Invest in a Chronograph of you intend to stretch your loads to longer ranges.

Beyond 168SMK if you don't already;
Ballistic calculators to estimate bullet drop.
http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi
Understand the ballistic differences in bullet like the quoted 168SMK. This book is a good read for LR reloaders:
http://www.appliedballisticsllc.com/index_files/Book.htm

If possible, find someone ahead of you in experience and learn from them on the reloading bench and at the range. I'm not stating you can't shoot. It takes trigger time and target to prove a load and a observer helps.

The reloading practice should put you against FGMM as a good comparison. I would'nt cease to purchase FGMM in practice as it provides a good control group against your new reloading efforts. I would'nt expect to much additional from reloading at range/condition vs. someone with experience with production match ammo.

HTH

 

[5R Milspec]

Re: Looking for opinions.

hey just starting is great for ya.the fed 210 primers will work for any kind of loads you want.the alliant powders sre just as good to start out with( R15 )and the 168gn SMK will get you out to 500 for right now.anything past it you will need 175 and up.but palma guys use a 155gn bullet.its just what YOU want to load with thats all.

loading is a fun and great way to get you and your rifel at its best.reading and reading some more will take you a long ways in the reloading world.site like this ine and many others have really greay guys to help you out.just make sure you search first then ask.

yeah watch your brass( fed that is )my try with fed brass showed it to be really soft.got 2 times with it.but it was all so oler than todays brass so it might be better brass now.

 

[esromvre]

Re: Looking for opinions.

ok this is gonna be a long thread with all kinds of answers.

1) If you can get good powder than use what you can get RL15 4064 Varget are all good powders. I load 41.3 RL15 with a 175SMK

2) If you choose to buy powder on line go ahead. Vith powder is good stough also. Pricy though. N150 N140 N550 and N540 all work in the 308.

3)Yes primers do have a effect on the round and I would suggest either Fed 210M or Russian. But to note the differnce will only show in benchrest.

4)Reread the answer to #3

5) The 168 SMK will not consistently go to the 1000y mark dont waist your time tring,all it will do is mess your mind thinking that you are doing something wrong. The berger VLDs will but its a 168g bullet. The Sierra was made as a 300M bullet and dose work well at the 600y mark But is a train reck after that. Try the 175s you will be much happier with the long range preformance. Also if you hunt the 178 A-Max is no slouch either on game or on targets. For my systems its the same load data.

 

[ChivaLRy]

Re: Looking for opinions.

Great info! So, a couple of you have stated that Fed brass won't be the greatest. The reason that I was going to use Fed brass is because I have been saving my factory brass that I have been buying until now. That said, when I do need to buy new brass, what brand(s) would be the best; or what brand could I expect to get the longest life out of? Thanks again guys and gals.

 

[esromvre]

Re: Looking for opinions.

Lapua is the way to go... Hands down

 

[Jeremybj]

Re: Looking for opinions.

I have used some Federal brass, and it was fine. I prefer Winchester brass because of the price/preformance. Lapua is so darn expensive is the bigest problem. For all of my reloading I go with CCI large rifle primers, I don't bother with benchrest primers because of the price. But I think CCI makes a great primer.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Re: Looking for opinions.

If you have Federal brass, shoot it. It may not last as long as some brass or it may last longer than others. Just remember there will be some minor changes to your load when you change brass.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Looking for opinions.

Federal brass is good enough to learn on.

Beyond a tendency to enlarge primer pockets earlier than average, it's good in pretty much every other respect. The way to prolong its life is to avoid working at the heavier end of the charge weight range.

Speaking from experience, running hot loads tends to bring fewer benefits than problems, better to skip that practice from the start.

By all means use the Federal cases and watch primer seating effort. When they go in too easy, or even fall back out, the brass is (over?)due for retirement.

Lapua is good brass, but so is Remington and Winchester. The latter two just tend to benefit a bit more from brass prep techniques. Lapua is prized because it can usually be loaded without any prep.

I prefer IMR-4064 for .308 (and .30-'06) using 150gr-180gr bullets. Many here have had good results using Varget.

Greg

 

[ChivaLRy]

Re: Looking for opinions.

Wonderful, now I am going to tread on thin ice and ask a question that I have seen covered in another thread, but it was so muddled up that I couldn't tell what the major consensus was. Concerning the bullet type, I will be starting with Federal Sierra Matchking BTHP (correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they can be abbreviated as 'SMK'?). Now has anyone witnessed either first-hand or otherwise if the Hornady A-Max is a better overall bullet (eg. flatter trajectory, better stability, etc.). I realize this is kind of a time-tested bullet vs. newly-developed bullet battle, so-to-speak, so I am simply looking for hard evidence, instead of partiality. If there is no hard factual evidence, I will probably err on the side of the time-tested and proven SMK. Unless one of you more knowledgable individuals can convince me otherwise of course.

 

[diriel]

Re: Looking for opinions.

Brass = Winchester, unless you REALLY got money to spare then Lapua.

Primers = Winchester LR as first choice, or Wolf LR.

Powder = Alliant Power Pro 2000MR

Bullet = Sierra 175gr Matchking

Buy yourself some wind flags, and learn to read/use them. Also, you need to learn to read mirage.

Buy the best quality scope you can possibly afford. In all honesty about 14-16 power is plenty if you have GOOD quality glass.

Good shooting,
Gary

 

[ChivaLRy]

Re: Looking for opinions.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: diriel</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Buy the best quality scope you can possibly afford. In all honesty about 14-16 power is plenty if you have GOOD quality glass.

Good shooting,
Gary </div></div>

diriel,

I have a USO SN-3 3.2-17x44mm T-Pal, 30mm Tube dia., MIL Scale MPR reticle, Red adjustible reticle illumination, EREK 1/10 MIL elevation knob, US#3 1/10 MIL Windage knob with stop, all on a USO 20 MOA down base, with USO XL rings(.88" height). I hope that this will be able to get me out to 1K. From all the research that I've done, it should be able to and DANG it looks great!