.308 SFAR AA5744 light load range report

[dixiecricket]

spent time looking for light and mild .308 loads for my son to shoot. Tried some 5744 Ive had for years and never used, was pleasntly surprised.

16" ruger sfar, TBAC Ultra9 suppressor. I ditched factory AGB for home made orifice style adjustable gas block.

Ultimately 33gr 5744 with a 125gr SST is tge load I was happy with. Plenty of power for deer and pigs.

125gr SST AA 5744 Reduced hunting loads for 16" SFAR. looking for 2600fps or so.
25 1992fps extremely mild, shocked it functioned
26 2076fps
27 2153fps
28 2227fps
29 2300fps
30 2376fps
31 2450fps. Recoil picked back up
32 2510fps
33 2597
34 2660

Loaded 6x more at 33.0gr for 2565fps avg. A curacy was mediocre at 2.5moa. Recoil and function was great.

155 TMK 2.81coal 5744 reduced loads, looking for 2500fps
27 2081
28 2164
29 2241
30 2318 still pleasnt to shoot.
31 2370
32 2434
33 2516
34 2602 first pressure signs
35 2668
36 2733
37 2775 blown primer

180gr SST 2.8" coal 5744 looking for 2300fps 28 2145
29 2187 pleasant to shoot
30 2261
31 2315
32 2368 real pressure sign, no extraction
33 2420.
Decided to stick with lighter bullets, too much pressure at my target velocity

 

[Zero333]

H-4895 kicks ass for reduced loads. You can start at 60% of maximum printed data and go from there.

I got superb accuracy with reduced loads with H-4895 !

And found it to burn clean as well. I didn't expect a full burn but it didn't soil the barrel at all.

 

[dixiecricket]

Funny you should say that. After being frustrated trying to tune the gun to run suppressed with Varget and CFE223, I tried imr4895 after the pleasantness of the 5744 experiment and remembering that a lot of m14 shooters ran 4895. I really liked it and the sfar runs much smoother. Settled on 40.2gr imr4895 with a 180gr SST loaded at mag length for about 2350fps. Killed a few dozen pigs with the load and the SST does well at the velocity and ranges I hunt.

 

[dixiecricket]

final report. I've been shooting 40gr of IMR4895 with a 180gr SST at about 2340fps for the last few months, killed a few dozen pigs with it. I also added a "ported gas block" with a 0.055" gas restriction orifice to tune for shooting suppressed. I am very happy with this load as it has been 100% reliable, penetrates thru and thru a large pig, and seems to be very easy on the gun and brass.

also shot a few deer with a 130gr TTSX loaded with 48gr IMR4895 for about 2820fps from the 16" barrel. I love the TTSX in any caliber, and it bores a thumb size straight hole thru anything including both shoulder bones or longways down a spine. this is a mild loading for the bullet, but very pleasant to shoot and probably appropriate for elk at 150yd or less. the 130gr TTSX is the most accurate bullet I've fired from the SFAR.

 

[Flycaster1977]

Limbsaver makes a recoil pad for the magpul moe. It made quite a difference on my sfar. Maybe something else to consider to tame some recoil.

 

[philip brousseau]

8208 and 4895 have always worked best in the 308 in my limited experience with it.

 

[mic2377]

IMR 4895 also works just fine for reduced loads with the 125 SST, and you won't run into pressure issues with it if you load full power either. If I recall correctly 40-41 gr generates about 2550 fps with a 125 SST, and is probably around a 40% recoil reduction as well.

 

[D the D]

Cool!
I've used 5744 for reduced loads in bolt guns, but never considered it for semis. I just figured it would take a lot of finagling load development to get semi function. It's one of my favorites for cast bullet loads in old mil-surp cartridges.

 

[dixiecricket]

I think I will always keep some 5744 and 4895 around since they allow me to make reduced loads easily. why get a youth gun if i can just run some reduced .308win? I think the main advantages of both are low gas port and muzzle pressures compared to medium range rifle powders like varget or cfe223. the SFAR with a suppressor is miserable to shoot with a full charge of Varget, the gas to my face is almost unbearable.