Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles I have a DPMS Gen II Hunter on the way, now a couple of questions...

Would I want to use small base dies for reloading?

How do the Magpul mags work in these? Is the 20 or 25 round best?,

For a good hunting load, 150 Barnes Tipped, or Berger 155?. How about 165's or 175's? Twist is 1:10 with a 20" tube.

Any other suggestions?

FWIW, I believe I will put an IOR 2.5x10 Ill MP8 on it in a QD PEPR mount. Probably will put a small reddot on the scope ring top.

We started with small base dies just because the weapon is a semi auto. I am not sure it is a require item.
Magpul mags are golden.
think about a nosler ballistic tip 165 grain slug and somewhere around 42.2 to43 grains of h4895 with a LRP, we are using military brass.

We did find out a proper crimp makes a big difference in accuracy.

After a lot of work done on the load bench my sons dpms is shooting 3 round groups at 200 yards that could be covered with a quarter. Good luck.

Thanks for the information, Warlock.

The chambering is shown as 308/7.62 Nato, so I assume either brass would work fine. Midway has some 7.62x51 Nato brass reasonable. Might pick up a few hundred, unless someone think 308 would be a better choice. I'll load for accuracy but also speed, all within pressure constraints. So would more speed be easier with 308 brass?

7.62 brass is typically thicker so you will get higher velocities with less powder than most .308 brass.

Don't worry about small base dies unless you are shooting mostly once fired surplus brass.

For a hunting load it's hard to go wrong with any quality bullet in the 150-165gr range.

Ricky, either brass is fine. If it's a bench gun buy Laupa, other wise, so long as you don't mix headstamps, and start low and work up, don't worry about it too much.

What do you plan to kill with it?

I'll probably use it for late season does in Iowa, and pigs wherever. I'm just hoping I don't have the same experience as Jimmy.

I like Lapua but can't like it enough with autochuckers to pay the price,though it's close to reasonable at Midway now. I put an ad in the classifieds for some 308 1x fired. A member has some and is checking number and headstamp later. I'll probably try the 7.62 also.

What I've heard of the way it handles and other potential makes it somewhat of a must have. If it doesn't live up to it, a must go. We'll see but I don't want it to go even before I get it, so I'll give it a good shot at staying.

Ricky I see one in my future as well, so I look forward to your range report. For deer and pigs, 150gr NBT's will work just fine. My FAL likes them with a max load of WC846 (BLC-2) and a CCI match primer.

It's a game-changer!

You will find out that the rifle will prefer loads at about mid range load info.
Don't get caught up in the speed kills idea.
You will have to work for a load that is accurate by causing the action to function the same time everytime.
We tried CFE223 due to the velocities printed and found out it is not only a waste of time and powder, it is a little scary on the pressure signs also.
I am not sure about the 150 size slugs, but the 165/168 are very good at about 2750fps.

So I've heard.

Yep I wound up with the Ruger SR-762 and Varget is a good choice whatever 308 you shoot.

Pigs require a much larger, heavier, tuffer bullet or those 308's will bounce right off.

That Ruger is a sharp looking rifle and accurate from what I've read on it. I hope it treats you better than the Hunter.

Agreed on the Varget. Hunter's been good for me, too. But that is with bolt guns. I've got the two mentioned and a couple more. It'll be fun, if I'm lucky.

I wanted the hunter to work. It's weight and configuration were very practical. I did not care about the cratered primers, but tearing up brass made me worry about it. My hope is that mine was just a fluke. They just took too long in getting an answer or were backed up some how. They are a stand up company however and refunded my money. I thought before I sent it in (and I am not an expert) that it was over gassed. It was flinging brass to 4:30 could hit a baseball cap with spent brass but 1/3 of it was torn up, specifically hornady match ammunition. Never seen ejectors drill holes in the back of a brass case before in my life. Please let us know, hopefully mine was a total fluke.

Also everyone knows that a pig cannot be killed with a lowly 308

i agree with one exception, which i stumbled upon purely by accident. since i don't have the 'game changer' model or special bullets, i snuck up reeeal close and jabbed the can in his ear. yes - the bullet bounced off, but the blast gave him a concussion which resulted in a nose bleed and severe ear trauma.

Nicely done.

An obvious fluke...

Ricky to one of your original questions, I use regular redding dies.

Thank you!

I picked it up tonight. Looks good. The forearm is a little slicker than I'd like, but if that's all, I can deal with that. It does handle and balance nice.

I had a "loose" 4.5x14 Leupold LR B&C, so I stuck that on in a PEPR. Might put an IOR 2.5x10 on later. I found a set of RCBS dies on the shelf I thought I'd sold. Brass and 165 Partition blems are on the way. Got a couple hundred 168 TSX on the shelf, too. I'll buy a box or two of Remington's, since that's the brass on the way, and sight it in this weekend. It's supposed to be nice so it should be fun.