168gr. Nosler Custom Competition Bullets

[308PDHB]

Has anyone here had any luck/experience with the 168 gr. Nosler Custom Comp. bullets? Im working up a load with them right now since my local supplier was out of 168 gr. SMK's and i think its still too early to tell for sure, but so far im not having exactly stellar results. I tried a load with Win. brass neck sized and chamfered with cleaned primer pockets, Fed. GMM primers, 46.0 gr. of BL-C,2) with an OAL of 2.850, a couple of the groups looked promising but as a whole performance was kinda sad. Tryin another load hopefully tomorrow if i can get out to the range with everything the same as above but with 45.2 gr. of Varget. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[M700]

The 168's and the 155's are shooting fine for me.

One time, several years ago, I got some 168 Nosler "seconds" from Midway. They looked bad, there were obvious defects in the jackets of some of the bullets, and they shot badly.

Never bought the "seconds" again, and have been quite happy with the results from the 155's and the 168's at several matches and during a lot of practice sessions. I load them the same way I used to load Sierras, but at less expense. Frankly, I think the 155 Noslers shoot a little better than the 155 Sierras from my rifle. With the 168's it seems to be a tossup.

Regards, Guy

 

[sewwhat89]

I tried both the 155s and 168s in my 300 RSAUM, and I could not get any of them to shoot well. I did manage to get several targets with two bullets in the same hole, but I have yet to get the third Nosler CC to go to the same place. I am going to pull them back out and measure the bearing surface on them to see if that is the culprit. Otherwise, 175 SMKs shoot lights out and only cost a little bit more.

I also tried them in my '06. Those ranged about 3.5" at 100 yards, but I did not play with the load. I just used my proven 150 and 165 gr loads, and those obviously did not work.

Best of luck!

 

[memilanuk]

Nosler 77's, 80's and 155's shoot as good or better than the equivalent Sierra's out of several of my guns. I've never had a lot of use for the 168gr bullets so I've never tried them in recent times. Got a box sitting on the bench for a rainy day when I run out of other things to do...

 

[308PDHB]

Posting this kinda late...been in the "lab" most of the night. I did get out to the range today and the 168gr. Nosler CC's look promising on top of 45.2 gr. of Varget. It usually takes me a few rounds to get my self together on the bench which proved to be the case as my groups kept getting smaller, that is until i started to get rained on. So i took my frustration out with my last 20 or so rounds on the permenant steel "gongs" out at 2-3-4 and 500 yards then packed it up and went home. I got about 160 rounds of brass all prepped tonight so hopefully i get some more 168gr. SMK's tomorrow........although the Noslers do look pretty good, and cheaper in price when quality is the same is never a bad thing.

P.S. - Guy, what is your "magic" load for the 168's?