Thanks y'all for the good advice. Here's what I've decided to do:
I'm going to start out with what I've got-- H4895 and the Lake City Brass and the CCI Magnum Rifle primers. I'm going to load 20 rounds of 150 GR Hornady SP's and 20 rounds of 165 GR Hornady SP and see which the beast likes best. The next batch will be either 4064 or Varget, and I'll do the same. I was out at the store the other day and they didn't have 4064, and their Varget had a good coating of dust on it-- must have been there since Reagan's first term. That's okay, I can wait. Sooner or later one of the combinations will shoot better than I can. I'll load up a few hundred and it will last me until my family members pry it from my wobbly hands and cart me off to the home.
The one thing I'm going to question out of all this is why not military brass? Here's how I see it:
1) I like to load light to begin with; it's safer, cheaper, easier on the shoulder, and usually more accurate that way. BTW: that's a little light, not dangerous light. My finished loads are usually 5%-10% off max, but then my longest shot ever was 180 yards and that was this last Fall.
2) Everyone bitches about how not filling the case with powder can cause a lot of inaccuracies, because you never know how the powder's going to lay. With military brass, you've got a smaller capacity to begin with.
3) I'll be using RCBS X-dies, so the neck won't grow all that much after the first trim.
4) I got 500 rounds of cleaned LC '87 and '88 for under $20 off E-bay.
That's just IMHO, and I'd be happy to hear your responses.
As I have figured this out, when all's said and done, this is probably going to be a hot 300 Savage load done in a .308 case. As I thought about it, that was really what I was going after when I embarked on this gig: a dependable and accurate 150 yard gun that will eat cheap brass.
The other projects I have planned for this rifle are:
1) A 180 gr Elk load for when one of those bruisers finally makes it up onto my property-- we had one come by about 2 Mi away last fall with a tracking collar.
2) A .308 sabot round for general vermin. I love the 30-06 accelerator-- used it for years as my groundhog "vaporizer". I figure a heavier 75 GR .224 bullet might be awesome. If I can tune a load for this barrel, it'll be fun.
Anyhow, that's what's been rolling around in my head.
