I'm new to reloading and on a very tight budget. That being said, I'm dipping my toes into long range shooting. I'm shooting a savage hog hunter .308 that loves factory hornady eld-x 178gr. I have no problem shooting .5 inch groups at 100 yards, so why mess up a good thing. Just looking for the factory load specs on this round.
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Reloading .308 Eld-x
- Thread starter KyleW
- Start date
Sorry my phone messed up and wouldn't post the first one, but after I posted the second one the first post showed up.
I did something similar for 6.5CM with ELDX which my rifle loved. Got velocity of factory round. Made 10 reloads using factory dimensions and stepping powder charge .2gr until I matched the factory velocity. Wrote it down and that has been my load for nearly 4 years now.
This. Find a temp stable powder, probably Varget, and match your charges to factory velocity.
Start low and work your way up.
Edited to different powder reference.
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H4350 for a 178 gr. .308?
I've never seen that powder listed for that weight class in .308 in any load manual.
Without a chronograph, should I just reference my hornady book and go with a combination that groups best or try to find a chrono?
For shooting at long ranges, a chrono is very desirable. You can work up a load that groups very well at 100 and have it not group well at all at longer distances due to inconsistent velocity. According to the Nosler manual, IMR 4895 was the most accurate powder they tested but as you can expect, they didn't test the Hornady bullet. Varget is very temperature stable and many shooters see great results but all that can change from rifle to rifle. You already know the ELD-X shoots well in your rifle, now it's just a matter of finding the best powder.
You should also be able to find something that groups well without a chrony. But whether or not that will shoot like the factory stuff is anybody's guess.
I tried to mimic the Berger factory 135g Classic Hunter load. I used H4350 and loaded them until I found something close to factory velocity. The velocity was there, but it grouped like garbage. I'm still chasing this load, but the barrel may be toast so I haven't put much effort into it.
Isn't H4350 a little slow for .308, especially with a 135gr bullet? I just looked in four loading manuals and can't find any load data for H4350 and .308. The Berger manual lists loads with bullets all the way up to the biggest .30 cal bullets they make and list no data for H4350 like Howland said.
Yes. What I'm saying is, just because I matched the velocity of a factory offering, it didn't shoot as well as the factory offering.
Well, I need to know what powder load you are using because I cannot get the Hornady 178gr ELD-X using IMR-4064 to shoot in my Remington TAC-21 with a 1in10 twist bolt action worth a darn no matter what powder load I use. 1,2,3,4 were the first four groups I shot so I was thinking, damn is this me or the ammo. I know I can shoot better than this. So I knew my rifle shot 168 GR HPBTMK rather well so I shot groups 5,9,11,16 and was happy. I then went back to the 178 GR ELD-X and hell I may as well had a shotgun. These were all at 100 yards not much wind. Do you guy think the twist rate is wrong for the 178 ELD-X or this rifle just doesn't like that bullet. I was going to try this bullet in my Remington 700 - R5 with a 1 in 11.25 twist to see if the 178 GR ELD-X group any better but am not sure I should waste my time. Any constructive thoughts? The orange pasty is .750" in diameter.
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1:10 should be plenty fast for a 178.
I would find a charge weight with low SDs and play with seating depth.
I would find a charge weight with low SDs and play with seating depth.
I have not tried the 178 ELD-X but shoot the 178 AMAX which I think is similar, could be wrong. My 20" 1/10 factory Rem 700 barrel loves that bullet with 44gr. of Varget. Velocity is 2504 and it's sub MOA out to 800, which is the furthest I've tested it.
Good luck working up your load.
ETA: I also have a Hog Hunter and will try this load in the next week or so to see how it does. It's a good shooter for a budget stick.
Good luck working up your load.
ETA: I also have a Hog Hunter and will try this load in the next week or so to see how it does. It's a good shooter for a budget stick.
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