Lost in the wide range of powders

[MrBlu]

Hey y'all.

I just got into reloading and I'm excited that I finally found brass. Unprimed, new, NEVER fired, 308cal brass.

Amazon.com: Hornady Unprimed 308 Winchester Match Cartridge Case: Sports & Outdoors

It's $0.80 a piece, but at least it's something.

Anyways, I'm looking at my "Modern Reloading - Second Edition" by Richard Lee book and the list of powders for 150gr .308cal bullets is long (what I have is Hornady SST .308cal 150gr bullets), thus the reason for this thread.

I have NO IDEA where to start or what powder to use. I don't know what powders are good, what ones are bad, and what ones to NEVER use, for whatever reason. I know firearms pretty well. The Army got me qualified on more than I can count with all of my fingers and toes (and that's not including the explosives like M67's and claymores), but I have next to no knowledge about the ammunition itself and really feel like the high school nerd being hit on by the prom queen. The opportunity is there, but I have no idea what to do with it.

The help I need is to find a good "baseline" powder(s) to start with. Something I can depend upon not blowing up my rifle or my face, or leaving crap inside my rifle. I know this is a totally newbie question, but since I lack the "science" of it all, can anyone give me a short list of reliable powders to start with???

I can type of the list of powders in the book for y'all, if need be.

Thanks for any help provided.

 

[mike.h.]

start here:Sniper's Hide Reloading
Sniper's Hide Reloading Depot

 

[MrBlu]

I did and all I found were random powders for calibers I'm not using, or for a bullet weight I don't have.

 

[BapZander]

One recommendation is to reference a number of reloading books. You will end up with a list of powders for your bullet weight, and recommended min/max charges. Then try to find a couple of those powders in stock somewhere, then start working up loads. Even if every powder option was readily available, it would be impossible to tell you "use xx grains of yyy powder".

 

[turbo54]

There are dozens of 308 appropriate powders.

However, see if you can find one of these stand by powders that almost always work great:

IMR4895
H4895
IMR8208xbr
Varget
Reloder 15
IMR4064

there are many more. Some of these are a little better suited to lighter bullets, and some heavier...but all of these will perform well for 150+ gr bullets in 308.

 

[velillen]

You can look through the load data section found here and figure out which powders are most common for the desired caliber. For 308 you cant really go wrong with varget or reloader 15. You can also browse the powder manufacturers websites as they all have load data. If you plan to load other calibers it might be nice to see if one powder does good for both or does well in one and does good enough for plinking in another. Like varget can work well in 308, 223 and 30-06.

Also 80 cents for brass isnt that great at all. Can get new factory for that price and have ammo to shoot and then once fired. You can get once fired for around 30 cents and might be able to find it processed for that price too. I know my last batch of processed, once fired i got for 25 cents a case. Just an option to go. Only recommend it since you are starting out and you pretty much will ruin a couple cases during setup or just trying things. I know for each caliber i reload (other than 45-70, but its so close to to pistol is why) i ruined 3 or 4 cases if not a couple more.

 

[Twoboxer]

I don't shoot 308 so I'm glad turbo gave you a list lol.

Nowadays you often have to use the pwoder you find, not the one you "want" lol. But assuming all powders were available, and if I were beginning 308 without any advice, I'd look for a powder not only listed for (Hornady) 150-155gr bullets, but also for 165-168 and 130gr bullets as well. Logic would be the "requirements" of the 150gr bullets are likely well within the powder's design parameters.

According to Hornady's 8th edition, all of turbo54's recommendations meet that criteria as do a couple of others. One in particular is VihtaVuori N-140, a powder I've become fond of for 30-06 and heavier 223 loads. It's expensive, but it meters well and performs very consistently there - have no idea how it works in 308. Most important these days, because it's expensive, it also has been available on line lol. (Not in most LGSs, and not at this very moment however.)

Good luck, have fun!

 

[rookie101]

read carefully through the loading instructions in your Lee reloading book. You will find that all powders listed for a caliber, by bullet grain wt. are suitable. In general the more case capacity filled the better the performance. In the lee books those are usually listed first. In the Hornady books, ther are usually listed last. Get more reloading books, the Lee book is generalized, the other books are spec'd to particular bullets.

 

[MrBlu]

Awesome.

Thank you very much.

 

[FLIGHT762]

After many years of reloading for the 308 Winchester and the 223 Remington, I've narrowed my powders down to mainly two that work well with a variety of bullet weights in both calibers. IMR 8208 XBR and Alliant AR Comp. I keep some Varget around for the 75-77 grainers in the 223. Varget didn't shoot exceptionally well in my 2 308 L/R Rifles, but it also is a good powder to have around.

All three powders are less temperature sensitive to others out in the market. They all cost about the same, so it makes sense to me to buy the powders that will give you less problems when the temperature changes.

 

[MrBlu]

I ended up getting Reloader 15.

It came well recommended and it was just about the only one I could get, without paying more than I wanted.

I'm starting off small and just working on the "muscle memory" of reloading. I was only able to get 150gr bullets, but this way I can work my way up the line and see what weight works well with my rifle.

Now if I could just get it out of the smith's shop and take it to the range with ball ammo and see what the difference is.

I will post up comparisons of targets Remington's factory SPS stock vs Bell & Carlson's' A2 stock at some point.

Thanks for the help.

EDIT :

The order I placed ended up being "out of stock", but I found some IMR 4320 at Powder Valley.

 

[24Bsoldier]

I like to go to the IMR website and enter their reloading depot link that takes you to a large range of bullets types/weights and the recommended powder types, starting and max charges, velocities, and chamber pressures. It even gives you recommended seating depth for overall cartridge length. It is really easy to read and use, the only downside, obviously, being that it only gives you recommendations for IMR or Hodgon powder.. IMR - Legendary Powders