What to do with my 308? Ranges out to 1500 yards

[Mike F H]

Hello,
I shoot .308, I would appreciate it if you were to share your components and configuration to achieve your results. I have read of your countrymen achieving such results, would appreciate anything that you would be willing to share.

The Match Rifle load I have used for years is 208 Hornady A Max moly coated,Winchester cases,Federal GM 215 M primers and 49.2 grains of 2209(H4350).I use a long drop tube to fill the case.this will give a velocity of around 2670fps in the 34" True Flight barrel.Using plain uncoated bullets,start with 48 grains.These loads are competitive at 1200 yards.

 

[Papa Charlie]

The Match Rifle load I have used for years is 208 Hornady A Max moly coated,Winchester cases,Federal GM 215 M primers and 49.2 grains of 2209(H4350).I use a long drop tube to fill the case.this will give a velocity of around 2670fps in the 34" True Flight barrel.Using plain uncoated bullets,start with 48 grains.These loads are competitive at 1200 yards.

Thanks much mate. Much appreciate your post. I am having a new barrel made for my .308, it will be 30", 1:10 twist, 5gr, I have been using Lapua brass large primer, CCI BR2 primers, Berger 185gr Juggernauts and Hodgdon Varget. With the new barrel will stick with Varget and juggernauts and but will also include the Berger 200.20X rounds. Once I get my barrel mounted will start to develop a new loads for both. When I do I will take into account the pressure and velocities that you provided.

Thanks again for the information.


Hope to be able to match your success. All the best to you.

 

[fgregorio]

Have you checked JBM how many MOA you need to 1760 with that load?

Nope, how many? This is important info

 

[Mike F H]

Thanks much mate. Much appreciate your post. I am having a new barrel made for my .308, it will be 30", 1:10 twist, 5gr, I have been using Lapua brass large primer, CCI BR2 primers, Berger 185gr Juggernauts and Hodgdon Varget. With the new barrel will stick with Varget and juggernauts and but will also include the Berger 200.20X rounds. Once I get my barrel mounted will start to develop a new loads for both. When I do I will take into account the pressure and velocities that you provided.

Thanks again for the information.


Hope to be able to match your success. All the best to you.

The Juggernaughts are never a mistake,the 185 Hybrids work well in my 30" 1-10 as do the 200 Hybrids,haven't tried the 200-20x,think I will wait until someone else sorts them out.I am also using Varget (2208) with the 30" barrel.

 

[Papa Charlie]

The Juggernaughts are never a mistake,the 185 Hybrids work well in my 30" 1-10 as do the 200 Hybrids,haven't tried the 200-20x,think I will wait until someone else sorts them out.I am also using Varget (2208) with the 30" barrel.

One of the better shooters at the club I shoot 500 yard F-Class had built a rifle with the same config barrel as my new one except he went with 1:9.5 twist. He shot the 200.20X and did very well. He lent the rifle to another member for a state championship and I my memory serves me correctly said that that member won or took second place with it. He no longer has the rifle, instead has gone on to Open class and is shooting .284 Win. I was in the pits when he shot a string with a score of 200-20X.

I am excited about getting my new barrel and seeing how much better my rifle will shoot over the stock Remington Varmint barrel. The waiting is the worst part. I probably won't get it until late December or early January.

 

[dttheliman]

The 308 doesn't have the horsepower to go past 1000 yds. and make hits all the time.. When I shot 1 mile the 308 shooters gave up at 1200 yds. and they were pushing big bullets.. The 308 can't push them fast enough. when shooting past 1000 yds. don't bring a knife to a gun fight... You need to push bigger bullets faster than a 308 can do...Good luck and keep them in the center..Going past 1000 yds there are a lot better choices than using a 308...

This ^^^^ - At my lowely altitude around 1200' ASL I am basically mortaring 308 to make random hits on 36" steel plates IMHO you are wasting your time past say 800 with a 308 (altitude dependant) and you absolutely need more gun - re-barrel as suggested above even the little 6.5 x 47 out performs it

 

[DirtySteve]

This ^^^^ - At my lowely altitude around 1200' ASL I am basically mortaring 308 to make random hits on 36" steel plates IMHO you are wasting your time past say 800 with a 308 (altitude dependant) and you absolutely need more gun - re-barrel as suggested above even the little 6.5 x 47 out performs it

There are guys shooting a mile match in NE Wyoming with black powder rifles making repeated hits. So I think it is the Indian not the arrow... By the way this is a 4 year old thread.

 

[XTR]

Steve, anyone who has seen QDU knows that a 45-110 will shoot half way around the world.

 

[Kurz]

IMHO you are wasting your time past say 800 with a 308 (altitude dependant) and you absolutely need more gun

Oh my! Think of all those Palma Shooters who have been competing at 800, 900, and 1,000 yards for decades! Think of all the records which have been set by those shooters over all those years! This could represent millions of dollars wasted just here in the U.S. let alone the rest of the world.

I wish you would have told us long before now!

By the way this is a 4 year old thread.

Absolutely correct.

And in some instances, a very good point. I've done it myself.

However, today and on a couple of other occasions, I was fortunate enough to have found a very informative thread from a few years ago here on AS which saved much typing and covered more ground better than I wanted to. It can be beneficial sometimes...

 

[David Milisock]

Oh my! Think of all those Palma Shooters who have been competing at 800, 900, and 1,000 yards for decades! Think of all the records which have been set by those shooters over all those years! This could represent millions of dollars wasted just here in the U.S. let alone the rest of the world.

I wish you would have told us long before now!



Absolutely correct.

And in some instances, a very good point. I've done it myself.

However, today and on a couple of other occasions, I was fortunate enough to have found a very informative thread from a few years ago here on AS which saved much typing and covered more ground better than I wanted to. It can be beneficial sometimes...

In defence of no one but to relate my experiences. Shooting matches out to 1,000 yards on a range under range conditions is significantly different than shooting and making not just hits but kills at that range under varying field conditions.

Now before the cries of how many times that it has been done drown out the discussion let me add this. From my experiance we all talk about our hits but to balance the scales we should also talk about our misses, then do the math.

I know 1,000 yards field hits have been done with 7.62 x 51 however my recommendation for 30 caliber shooting with an expectation of 95%+ hits in excess of 400 yards in what ever conditions you're in would not he a 308 or a 7.62 x 51.

 

[ROBARRC50]

Shooting a large target and not wanting extreme accuracy. 308 will do that all day long. Expecially if you are shooting the same range day in and day out. As long as you have enough dial in your optic and its repeatable. 260 and 6.5 will get it done easier but the cost of barrel life . 30 cal will give you better splash and signature at the distance you are seeking

 

[XTR]

Shooting a large target and not wanting extreme accuracy. 308 will do that all day long. Expecially if you are shooting the same range day in and day out. As long as you have enough dial in your optic and its repeatable. 260 and 6.5 will get it done easier but the cost of barrel life . 30 cal will give you better splash and signature at the distance you are seeking

I, and a fair number of other shooters, have in the past put 20 out of 20 into a 10“ circle at 1000 yards with a 308. I personally lag behind the best of us, my best clean is only 10 out of 20 in the 5” X-ring. I will never argue that there are not better chamberings than the 308 for long distance, and it may not be BR level accuracy, but in more cases than not a 308 can be made to shoot better than the trigger puller.

 

[ROBARRC50]

I, and a fair number of other shooters, have in the past put 20 out of 20 into a 10“ circle at 1000 yards with a 308. I personally lag behind the best of us, my best clean is only 10 out of 20 in the 5” X-ring. I will never argue that there are not better chamberings than the 308 for long distance, and it may not be BR level accuracy, but in more cases than not a 308 can be made to shoot better than the trigger puller.

Yuup i shoot a 308 alot at steel . I usually shoot targets at 1200 yards and beyond 18 to 20 inch in size. Across valleys and canyons not on flat ground off benches. Op stated he wanted 1500 to occasionally 1mile and was not interested in extream accuracy or shooting small targets. 308 will do that no problem. Stuff changes when your in the field also, not on a square range. I had a day where i went 1480 yards 10 out of 10 on 18 inch round . That will probably not happen again. Have a paper target i shot 2 5 shot groups at 600 yards stone cold off bipod rear squeeze 4 shots touching on 1 group i believe they both measured under 1.5 inches. Not benchrest accuraccy but more than fine field accuracy. 308 is under-rated they dont fall out of the air at 8 to 900 yards that most people think. In the end it really does not matter what caliber you shoot if you cant read wind they all miss. Wow this is a 4 year old thread im sure op has figured it out by now

 

[JohnKielly]

Admittedly in British Commonwealth Match rifle, we shoot at a 2 MOA bullseye. Here's a result with 210 Bergers back in 2009.

 

[Laurie]

The 308 doesn't have the horsepower to go past 1000 yds. and make hits all the time.. When I shot 1 mile the 308 shooters gave up at 1200 yds. and they were pushing big bullets..

I think you need to Google 'Match Rifle', or look at the GB UK NRA MR page

https://nra.org.uk/learn-to-shoot/match-rifle/

MR matches are shot at three distances in the UK / Canada with 1,000, 1,100, and 1,200 yard stages. On the high elevation / temperature range Coonabarabran range in Australia, 1,500 yards is the max distance stage.

http://matchrifle.org/Ranges/Coonabarabran.htm

MR is an offshoot of Target / Palma Rifle, controlled like them and F-Class by ICFRA and like TR/Palma is limited to 308 Win and 223 Rem, although nobody uses the latter. Exceptionally long-freebore chambers, heavy bullets seated shallow and some heavy loads allied to long barrels are used. A major restriction on rifle spec is a barrel upper weight limit of 5.5lbs though. 2-MOA five-ring / 1-MOA V-Bull targets are used as per Target Rifle.

In addition, the GB F-Class Association has an annual 'long-range' meeting in its 8-fixture league calendar, again with 1,000, 1,100 and 1,200 yard stages at Bisley in Southern England. The 1,000 yard F target is used at all three distances, so the five-ring diameter is only around 0.8-MOA at 1,200 yards, 0.4-MOA for the 'V'. F/TR scores are shall we say 'down' on F-Open at 1,200, but most competitors will get through the 1,200 yard stage with few or even no complete misses unless the wind is 'hard' to read and very changeable.

I agree absolutely it's not easy making 308 shoot beyond 1,000, but it can be done with the correct set-up and the right handloads. Before today's uber-BC Bergers, Sierra MKs were the norm in British Commonwealth MR with the 190gn model surprisingly popular, although many competitors loaded the 200 or 220gn variants.

 

[dsinfour]

Why bring a knife to a gun fight - I have shot a 223 at 1k yards but would not in a strong wind . There are better calibers to use . When I shot a mile why the the 308 people stock at 1200 yds ?