Need help with 178gr A-Max load

308sniper147

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jun 13, 2013
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Huntsville, AL
I picked up 200 178gr amaxes for my .308 and I have 5+ pounds of accurate 2460 to load up. Accurate powders nifty little load data PDF doesn't include a load for the 178gr. So I was curious as to what people have ran the 178grs with to get good accuracy. I have varget but I want to keep it for my match loads with the 155gr senars. I also have imr 4350 to get rid of if that matters. Just looking to make these sub moa accurate for long range shooting/hunting. I have shot my 155gr load with great success to right at .5moa so that is what my barrel and myself are capable of just for reference.

Thanks for any info!

Edit: I haven't done any research on the imr4350 for te .308 so if it's not even useable I apologize for mentioning it lol.
 
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If you could cram 49 to 50 grains of the 4350 into the case and seat the bullet long, it'll work.

2460 is going to be too fast for good load density with the 178's, but with the 155's it would work well.

Varget at 43.1 grains in Winchester brass, or 42.6 grains in Lapua brass is the main match load I use in my rifle. Try it out and see if it'll work well for you too.
 
If you could cram 49 to 50 grains of the 4350 into the case and seat the bullet long, it'll work.

2460 is going to be too fast for good load density with the 178's, but with the 155's it would work well.

Varget at 43.1 grains in Winchester brass, or 42.6 grains in Lapua brass is the main match load I use in my rifle. Try it out and see if it'll work well for you too.

Can I ask why it would work better with the 155gr lapua senars and not the 178's? The 155s are just about as long as the 178's( I can get exact measurements if needed). When considering load density?
 
I have run between 43 and 44 grains of the 2460 with 155's with very good results. With Winchester brass, get closer to 44 grains... with Lake City, Federal... try 43.4 to 43.6 grains. With Lapua... about 43.6 also.

I saw you post in another thread about how a .308 bullet wouldn't be stabilized at 100 yards or something along those lines. Could you explain the reasoning behind that?
 
I have had good luck with Varget and the 178 A-Max.If I recall correctly I think I jumped them 25 thousands.I was using Lapua Brass and just under 43 grains of Varget.Start lower and work up load for your rifle.If you can not find Varget try some IMR 4064.IMR 4064 shoots great as well.My 4064 Load was around 42 grains.

Regards,Mike
 
I have had good luck with Varget and the 178 A-Max.If I recall correctly I think I jumped them 25 thousands.I was using Lapua Brass and just under 43 grains of Varget.Start lower and work up load for your rifle.If you can not find Varget try some IMR 4064.IMR 4064 shoots great as well.My 4064 Load was around 42 grains.

Regards,Mike


My father in law has 16lbs of 4064 and Ive heard good things about it... Maybe I can com him out of a couple of pounds. Lol
 
I've found that I can use the starting loads for .308 using 175 gr bullets and work up for 178 gr A-Max loads. I usually end up a few "tenth's" less than the max for 175's with no pressure signs.

Some people even use the same charge weights as they use for their 175's. Always better to work up. As for the H-4350? Hodgdon doesn't even show a load for it in .308, probably for good reason. I like it in 30-06 and don't even bother with it in .308.
 
Thanks everyone! I am getting 2-4 pounds of imr 4064 for my amaxes! So please feel free to post up those loads. Anyone use 4064 behind the 175gr matchkings? I am aware that 4064 is the powder used in FGMM. But what charge do you use in winchester and lapua brass?
 
Thanks everyone! I am getting 2-4 pounds of imr 4064 for my amaxes! So please feel free to post up those loads. Anyone use 4064 behind the 175gr matchkings? I am aware that 4064 is the powder used in FGMM. But what charge do you use in winchester and lapua brass?

With Winchester Brass and 175 SMK's I get "bugholes" using 42.1 gr of IMR 4064. The rifle is a Benchmark 5-C that was chambered with a match reamer. I load the smk's at 2.825" OAL which gives me a modest jump.

With Lapua Brass 41.8 does the trick

Both loads use Wolf Primers which I've found to be interchangable with the Federal GMM210m's in my loads.
 
Thanks everyone! I am getting 2-4 pounds of imr 4064 for my amaxes! So please feel free to post up those loads. Anyone use 4064 behind the 175gr matchkings? I am aware that 4064 is the powder used in FGMM. But what charge do you use in winchester and lapua brass?

My favorite load so far is 43.0 gr of IMR 4064 with Lapua and CCI BR primers with the 175gr SMKs.