I have 3,637 on my factory 308 barrel. Fired mostly 175 SMKs with it and have been getting very good groups like that too. I notices my groups opening up a little (seemed harder to keep them tight) and took off the break, which hadn't been taken off for a long time, and found quite an uneven build up over the muzzle. Cleaned that up and good to go. While getting good groups, I've had to chase the lands as I've been keeping all my loads at .010 off where I can count of them doing their best.
Had always planned on swapping out the barrel for a good precision/match type barrel at some point and finally did that this week end dropping in a Krieger SS barrel. As I started the break in procedure and zeroing my scope using FGMM 175's, the first three shots were touching (though off the paper). Once zeroed, I was getting consistent tight groups touching each other with a 5 shot average MV of 2,612 fps (Temp: 62°F, Humidity: 41%, Altitude 1,660ft). Now I've gotta do some load development and see what my hand loads can produce.
Since the factory barrel was still shooting fine, I cleaned it up and holding onto it in storage until I decide what I really want to do with it.
.These were my only 2 groups of the day, packed up and went home to continue reloading. My setup is Atlas bipod , rear bag, Bushnell elite tactical 6-24x FFP Mil, I have removed the middle 2 screws on the top of the muzzle break to help reduce muzzle rise. Conditions today were 35 degrees, wind gusting 5-10mph,5000 ft ASL. Load was 76.2 gr H1000, 212 ELD-M, 3.597" OAL touching lands, virgin Hornady brass FL sized and trimmed and weight sorted, Federal mag match primers(GM215M), approx. 2908 FPS with SD 13 (I cant get single digit SDs no matter what I try). 75 rounds down the tube so far. trigger came at 2 lbs. the muzzle break on this beast is very effective feels like a .556 with no break
