308 loading advice

Reloading equipment, methods, load data, powder and projectile information.

Re: 308 loading advice

Post by JimTom » 22 Feb 2019, 7:52 pm

Nice one mate. Have to be happy with that load. It's a cracker. :thumbsup:
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by Oldbloke » 22 Feb 2019, 8:06 pm

I'd be very happy with that.

Reloading is certainly the way to go. Most rifles respond to a bit of experimenting. Even the cheaper ones.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by Oldbloke » 22 Feb 2019, 8:16 pm

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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by Sako 85 » 17 Mar 2019, 9:30 am

Hi everyone,
I have just started realoading for my 308. I have started loading 165 gr sierra game kings and 165 gr nosler spitzer balistic tips with bench mark 2. I shot my groups yesterday with none of the loads grouping under 1.5 inchs at 100 metres. Just wanted to ask if anyone else has tried bench mark 2 in their 308? I also have some ar2208 that i want to try out soon. Any advice would be much appreciated as i am new to reloading
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by Oldbloke » 17 Mar 2019, 3:39 pm

AR2208 is certainly suitable. Give it a crack. I use it with success in 223 & both 30-06s. One is loaded with 180gr & the ither 130gr bullets
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by sungazer » 17 Mar 2019, 8:16 pm

I have used along with a few other people I know 8208 with good success. Not so sure about BM2 it is listed as faster again. It may give you too much pressure without the velocity.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by SCJ429 » 17 Mar 2019, 8:35 pm

You should be able to find a node with any of these powders, the faster powders may not be able to produce the same speeds so you may find the node at a lower speed.

Did you use a chrono? And if you did, what was the lowest SD you produced?
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by Sako 85 » 18 Mar 2019, 6:43 am

I did experience a slightly high pressure with one cartridge i loaded with a slightly hard bolt lift and flat primer but tried the same powder weight with the bullet seated 0.025 further from the lands and got my best group shootin 1.260 inch with 2 touching. That load has 39.5 gr of bm2 with the 165gr sie hpbt seated 0.035 off.
I was thinking of moving away from bm2 due to little success and higher pressures but have loaded a few more groups starting at 39.5 and finishing at 39.8 all seated 0.035 off the lands. I am going to try ar2208 next do anyone have any advice on were would be a good place to start with 2208 adi say between 42gr and 46 gr being a compressed load.

No i didn't have a crono. I am thinking of getting one though as i really woud like to know what sort of velocity im getting
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by sungazer » 18 Mar 2019, 8:46 am

Rather than go to 2208 my advice would be either 8208 or AR2206H both much better for the 168grn in a 308.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by Sako 85 » 18 Mar 2019, 4:25 pm

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I will try a few of those other powders and see how they go.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by SCJ429 » 18 Mar 2019, 5:56 pm

sungazer wrote:Rather than go to 2208 my advice would be either 8208 or AR2206H both much better for the 168grn in a 308.


Why would the faster powders be much better than 2208?
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by TassieTiger » 18 Mar 2019, 6:56 pm

A friend uses ar2209 with very good results - I tried some in my 06 and that’s now my go to powder for that caliber.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by SCJ429 » 18 Mar 2019, 7:02 pm

TassieTiger wrote:A friend uses ar2209 with very good results - I tried some in my 06 and that’s now my go to powder for that caliber.


You have a fair bit more case capacity in a 30/06, you won't get much speed for a 308 using 2209. I have heard of a few guys using 2206h and say they get a bit less carbon fouling but 2208 has the runs on the board with heavier projectiles.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by TassieTiger » 18 Mar 2019, 7:26 pm

SCJ429 wrote:
TassieTiger wrote:A friend uses ar2209 with very good results - I tried some in my 06 and that’s now my go to powder for that caliber.


You have a fair bit more case capacity in a 30/06, you won't get much speed for a 308 using 2209. I have heard of a few guys using 2206h and say they get a bit less carbon fouling but 2208 has the runs on the board with heavier projectiles.


I’ve only tried 3 powders in my 260 - but ar2209 works best in that so far as well...with much less capacity?
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by SCJ429 » 18 Mar 2019, 7:42 pm

Very different application using 2209 in a 308 compared to a 6.5mm. Yes if I was loading 140 grain pills in a 260 I would start with 2209. If I was shooting a 168 grain pill in a 308 I would start with 2208.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by TassieTiger » 18 Mar 2019, 8:54 pm

But a 160/180gn in a 30/06 would be 09 again over 08...it’s not hard to confuse me and I’m there again...
So 09 in a 260 and 30/06 but not in the somewhat middle - 308? If 09 is a bit slower burning, shouldn’t 08 or 06h work better in the 260 if the projectile is say 120gn?
Is there a formula of sorts to explain powder burn rates vs weights vs caliber?
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by Oldbloke » 19 Mar 2019, 4:46 am

TassieTiger wrote:Is there a formula of sorts to explain powder burn rates vs weights vs caliber?


In general terms. The heavier the bullet the slower burning powder you should use.
But not that simple. For example in a 12g pushing 32grams of lead the powders are much faster than say ar2208.

AR2208 & and AR2206h are very flexible/versatile should be fine in this case.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by sungazer » 19 Mar 2019, 7:19 am

I am not sure of all the reasons that 8208 and AR2206H work better that 2208. But from experiments and the asking the top shooters in FT/R and F Standard these two are what the use.

One of the reasons is probably that the powder fills the case completely and is slightly compressed (just). 8208 is a finer powder and meters very well it was actually designed specifically for the Fullbore target shooters. Not many of them have changes as yet a very slow group in general to change however the F class group is much more adventurous and open to change. I started with AR2206H but am changing over to 8208 for 155s and 168 it just works better and that is evidence based. I shot on electronic targets a lot and can look back at results and use them to assess system changes.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by SCJ429 » 19 Mar 2019, 7:35 am

Thanks for that Sungazer. I see most 308 shooters still using 2208 and a few using 2206h for heavier pills. What powder are the Fullbore shooters using that are winning?

My understanding was that 8208 was for the 155 or lighter pills in a 308. It was also made with 6mm BR shooters in mind however I am yet to speak to anyone using it in competition.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by sungazer » 19 Mar 2019, 10:02 am

I would say very few are still using 2208 that shoot 308 in any of the clases TR (Fullbore) F/TR any weight bullet, F Standard 155grn The person that won the Vic Queens was using 8208 in F standard. This year a mate has done a lot of testing for loads shooting F TR he will be using 8208 with 155s and 168s and 2206H for the 185berger Hybids. This was done with a lot of testing using the crono and ballistic programs to make sure real benefits were being achieved.

The most used powder would be AR2206H without a doubt. Winners do the experimentation and move from the norms when it has been proven.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by SCJ429 » 19 Mar 2019, 5:14 pm

Do they give up a bit of speed when using 8208 behind a 168 grain pill or are you able to keep adding powder to make it up?

I have found 308s needing to shoot at close to 100% load density, how does that go with 8208?
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by sungazer » 21 Mar 2019, 7:00 am

Actually the opposite you can get a bit more speed out of the 8208. Looking at the ADI book you would think it is a higher pressure which it may be. However using the Lapua SP Palma brass and in a Barnard action smaller 0.062 firing pin and good tight tolerance firing pin hole high velocities can be reached. In fact a little bit of backing off the powder to get away from any pressure signs can be done and still get very good gains over shooting a 155 at 3000 fps. A 168 can be shot at the same velocity.
Disclaimer, Disclaimer ect re reloading. This is in a 30 inch barrel.
Yes a 100% or close to it, a well settled load tends to give better results in heavy guns. I was doing some load development yesterday with a new shooter who was using a 20 inch Tikka while another rifle goes of to get re barreled and we found that the higher loads tended to open up. A lighter load worked much better. My guess is that the higher loads were causing too much barrel whip and gun turbulence in general. His sweet spot was at only 44.5 of AR2208 that's the powder he has ATM and he his using LR primers his ES will shrink when he switches to SR.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by SCJ429 » 21 Mar 2019, 6:01 pm

How much 2208 can you jam into the Lapua case behind a 155 and how fast does that go? For your Barnard?

How fast can the little Tikka send the 155? With 2208 and 8208?
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by sungazer » 22 Mar 2019, 10:09 am

Im not using 2208 but for 2206H I could get a bit more in the case than I am using which is 45.3 and now trying 45.6 this puts the 155s at about 3000 fps and 3020 fps. We put the 45.3 through the little 20inch Tikka and it was in the 2700 fps range from memory. it lined up well with the 30fps per inch.

I have also tried the 8208 and probably switch after full testing and I use up a lot of the 06H I have. I will be adjusting the load for the same speed of 3010-3020 fps ATM 44.5 is just under the 3000 so it will be about 44.8-44.9 each 0.1 gives about 6 fps. There is a point when adding more doesn't give the same linear increase. You get less fps for each added 0.1grn
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by Sako 85 » 06 Apr 2019, 11:50 am

Hi Everyone,
Thank you for all the advice. i have just gone out and shot my second round of re loads from the best group in my first trial increaseing the charge .1grain at a time. all groups shot consistantly smaller then my first but still not where i want to be yet (there was abit of wind on the day).
i am looking for opinions on whether i should keep trying with the Bench mark 2 or leave it for my 223 which i want to start loading for at a later date and try the 2208 that i have recently purchased.

i have attached a photo of my target

loads starting at 39.5gr moving up .1gr at a time all seated 0.030 off the lands

target 1 and 2 are both 39.6gr BM2 1 had a federal primer 2 had rem primer.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by JimTom » 06 Apr 2019, 12:00 pm

mate I only do 0.5 gr increases when loading for .308
0.1 might be a little to extreme, and I doubt most scales would be that accurate. Mine are accurate to 0.2 gr.
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by TassieTiger » 06 Apr 2019, 12:13 pm

Opinions are like a* - here is mine;

Dial the scope up, all shots are, consistently low.
The groupings are pretty inconsistent - so as long as fundamentals are 100% right, something has to change.
The inconsistency might be powder related / speed burn but it’s hard to tell.

Personally, I’d try the 08 and as others have said - go .5 because .1 is just to finicky.
Here is what I’d do IF I were in your shoes - and it is only a step forward, it’s not my normal.
Id reload 5 shots at ADI lowest rec weight and then 4 shots each in .5 increments up to max rec plus one 4 shot group over max by only .5
1st reload shot of new batch is ALWAYS from the hip. Then discount the worst of a 4 shot group and then start looking at tightening up powders and look at seating depth...
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by tom604 » 06 Apr 2019, 6:14 pm

Hey Tassie,why from the hip? im thinking its a figure of speech and you mean discount the first shot?? 1st shot from a clean barrel/fouler ??
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by Sako 85 » 06 Apr 2019, 6:56 pm

Thanks Jim Tom and Tassie, i will try some 2208 working up in .5gr increases. The adi site says that 46gr max load is compressed is it safe to go .5gr over the that? I would keep an eye out for high pressure signs.
Also what would you recommend for a starting seating depth for 165gr sierra game kings? The last lot i shot were 0.030 off the lands.
i am new to this and appreciate any advice from people with experience
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Re: 308 loading advice

Post by SCJ429 » 06 Apr 2019, 7:56 pm

Sierra Game Kings are very forgiving regarding seating depth so 30 thou is a good a place as any to start.

When going over a max load I would do it slow and steady, 0.2 of a grain is better. Just load one of each powder weight to see how far you can go. Use a long drop tube if you have one. If not a bit of tapping the case will settle the powder. If you are getting a crunch when seating the pill it is time to stop.
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