I just returned from a long-range precision class in Alabama with Frank Proctor of wayofthegun.us. I shot a borrowed rifle, an older 26" Rem 700 police sniper rifle in .308. I loaded 46 grains of Varget with 168-grain Nosler BTHP's at a measured 2740 fps. Once I free-floated the barrel,five-shot groups at 100 averaged somewhere less than .5 inch, but were mostly a ragged hole. During class, once I established a range card, I could easily hit a 10x12" plate at 710 yards, and broke a clay pigeon at 685. Brass was once-fired Federal GMM with CCI 200 primers and loaded using a Lee collet neck sizing die. I do not have a .308 so I bought the dies a few weeks before the class and, being in a hurry, took the load right out of the Nosler manual, starting at 44.0 grains. Bullet runout was .002 or less. Another officer donated several hundred pieces of brass collected at a recent sniper school, and I got a good deal on 1,000 Noslers from Mid-South. I bought an 8-lb jug of Varget at a local gunstore. I had figured that the .308 would be easy to work with, and I was right. The 175's have a little better BC, but I was extremely satisfied with the 600 rounds I loaded for class and the 50 or so I used in load work-up. Don't know if I'll ever load for the .308 again, but I'd have to admit it was about the highest level of satisfaction with the least amount of effort than any other load work-up I've ever had. I've used Redding bushing dies before, but this was my first try with the cheap Lee collet dies, and I will definitely be buying more in the future.
