Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Load development 308

Worked up Hornady 178 ELD X and Varget. Resulted in this 5 shot group at 100 yds.

Excellent, how much of Varget and I assume your OAL was 2800

Thanks. 44.0 grains of Varget at 2.800 COAL. I used a fed primer and winchester brass. I hit pressure at 45.0 grains. Shot decent with 44.5 but not 1 hole.

You need a better backer board. Looks pretty promising though. What velocity are you running? I've been running CFE223 in my 308's to get around 2,700 fps with that weight of bullet. Is there a reason you are running 2.800" OAL? How far off the lands are they? Or is it a mag box constraint reason?

My Rem 700 308 magazine is not much longer than 2.800

Have 2 Rem700 308's that the boys shoot and both have a mag that measures 2.825", but the mag is clearly the limiting factor. Thus is why i picked up a tikka 308 an added a long action bolt stop. You could possibly stretch them another .025" out if you wanted and feed with no issues. My Tikka load for the 130 ttsx is at 2.825" with Varget. That way the boys can also feed them. Load shoots well in both of theirs as well as my Tikka T3. Haven't tried it yet in my CTR.

I use Varget with a 150 GameKing, great in two 308’s I think it’s 46 grains

That’ll work

Excellent target. Very concise and informative. On cartridges like the 308win and bigger, I like to increase charge weight by 1/2 grain as well. You can usually always see the nodes that way. That is extremely important during load development, and finding out which powder works best. I'll also go back and test at different times of the year.

Posting a single group, does not say anything about load development. Albeit, it looks like the OP has a one time group there. Is it even verified? Meaning how many of those can he get? Also, he needs a better backer, so we can see the bullet holes. Looks like he threw a rock through that target.

Here's an example of some load work up I did with an AR10 I don't have anymore. Since we are talking 308w:

First group:


Second group:


3rd group:

You can see exactly where the node is in those different charge weights.

There's also been times when I have shot a great group with a 308, but it was showing pressure signs. This is from a rifle I bought almost exactly a year ago. Notice the OAL, and I also say how far off the lands these loads are. That kind of info is generally on my targets, along with temps and wind speed/conditions:



Had to actually back down and find the next best node, which is a shame because the 47gr (book max and over this rifle's max) shot pretty well:

10 shot group:


45.5 gr is what I ultimately went with:


Why?
46gr:


46.5gr:


Reconfirming 45.5 gr on a much hotter day:


At least that is how I like to do it.. YMMV.

Hey, i was starting load development and used book reference. Haven't chrono the load yet but guessing 2600ish? I will check it next range trip. I typically won't mess alot with coal because of components. I do have a mag box. May go to pics mags at some point. Good groups as usual from your pics.

Esox357,

What twist are you shooting those out of?

m

I'll check twist rate. It is a Bartlein barrel.

I'm running 180's at 2720 with Varget at 2.93 in a 700 SA with Wyatt extended mag. No need to swap the bolt stop out, just file it down. 22 inch 11 twist barrel.

Nice group! Varget and the 308 go together very well.

I used the 178 ELD-X on elk from my 30-06, 405 yards. Bullet performed well.

Regards, Guy

Thanks Cascade!

I'm running a 10 twist. 155 scenar aren't doing as well in this but I haven't given up on them yet.

Hey, you are doing great!! Looks like a good shooter. Sometimes I ask how far off the lands, because I may have worked with the bullet in the OP. I usually run .020" off the lands, with just about every bullet I load for, and also don't like messing with seating depth. You usually don't have to, just find OCW. As I showed in some of the above pics.

Partly because of this thread, and also my buddy that is in SWAT, I shot one of my 308's today. His SWAT rifles suck!!! Both older Rem 700's. One a short (20") barrel, and the other with a 26" long barrel. Both running old Leupold scopes, that he just got back from Beaverton. They both had issues. He wanted me there to help him get zeroed in, and reconfirm dope.

Here's what I shot (an old model 70):


Shooting with no rear sandbag, as per my club's longrange rules, for our longrange varmint silhouette match. I generally shoot my Tikka 6.5 Creedmoor CTR's for that shoot though.

This is how I like to confirm a load, and rifle. Conditions were written on the target. Slightly windy, but not horrible:

Rifle was zeroed for 100 yards, as per usual, but here are the 200, 300 and 400 yard groups. Using hold overs with the MOAR reticle:

200:


300:


400:


What I can't show is the ground squirrel that I head shot at 500 yards!!! Can't drive or walk out to the 500-1,000 yard targets. Bummer!!!

Nice shooting! 😀

What I found was that the 155's are not jump sensitive. I've run them at .005 off lands seated way out and then 2.810" COAL. My T3 lite runs them at 2860 with 47g varget and my 20" CTR at 2840 with 47.5g varget. I was debating on trying CFE223 for more velocity.

I need to work with them more. The 155s are doing good in a waypoint I shot. Good info from both you and BSA!