308 Win Federal Gold Medal Match 168 SMK Load Change ???

[smlzerolimit]

I was at the range and a guy had a new lot of gold medal match 168 SMK's, It still listed on the box 2650 FPS, Now I know back in the day they used Varget, 4064 and RL15 and they all work well but with the powder shortage I thought it would be interesting to see what they had loaded up. After pulling the bullet the powder weighed in at 41.0 gr even, I tried to compare it to all my powders and nothing matched it, I tried QuickLoad and I couldn't find anything close to matching, The powder was a stick powder , was darker grey and also was dull, not shiny, anyways I just threw this out there to see what people thought, I am betting it is not a commercial sold powder and maybe a military powder of some sort. Anyways I did not get to test the new Gold Medal match but the other recipe's always worked good for the most part.

 

[Straightshooter1]

I was at the range and a guy had a new lot of gold medal match 168 SMK's, It still listed on the box 2650 FPS, Now I know back in the day they used Varget, 4064 and RL15 and they all work well but with the powder shortage I thought it would be interesting to see what they had loaded up. After pulling the bullet the powder weighed in at 41.0 gr even, I tried to compare it to all my powders and nothing matched it, I tried QuickLoad and I couldn't find anything close to matching, The powder was a stick powder , was darker grey and also was dull, not shiny, anyways I just threw this out there to see what people thought, I am betting it is not a commercial sold powder and maybe a military powder of some sort. Anyways I did not get to test the new Gold Medal match but the other recipe's always worked good for the most part.

My AR-Comp with 41.0 grs pushing my 168 SMK's out of my 24" Krieger barrel is pretty much right on the button.

 

[smlzerolimit]

AR-Comp is a great powder especially in my 223 bolt or AR15, I use it for everything, I just was wondering if Federal threw these together with what ever powder they could get ! I wish I could have had 3 to try in my gun to see how they shot !

 

[LVLAaron]

They use AR-Comp for the 168/175g .308 loads.

 

[smlzerolimit]

The powder I pulled did not match up to AR Comp, I compared them, but I’m probably thinking they have allot of different loads they use because the powder shortage

 

[rijndael]

Now I know back in the day they used Varget

When did it use Varget?

 

[GaryL1959]

See how the powder compares to IMR 3031. 41 grains should put the 168 in the 2650fps area.

 

[joshb]

I thought they used 4064?

 

[venatic]

Maybe XBR8208 ...works great for me

 

[D-4297]

The original 168gr. and 175gr GMM loads used 4064 . Both used the Gold primers , not available to re-loaders , but data suggest a 205M to be a suitable substitute . The 175gr load lists 42.5 gr. of 4064 , ( No mfg. listed ) but didn't give powder load for 168gr load .

 

[rijndael]

a 205M to be a suitable substitute .

I suspect you mean 210, not 205. That's the large rifle primer, 205 is small.

 

[jk80]

I imagine its a canister powder that achives the pressures and ballistics their looking for. I know for sure powder used in shotshells may look like, say red dot, but it's likely not an exact match as what you can buy to reload with.

 

[D-4297]

I suspect you mean 210, not 205. That's the large rifle primer, 205 is small.

Yep . I stand corrected . I'm always thinking in terms of Lapua SRP cases , and it slipped by that Win were LRP . Another cup and couple more smokes to get "woke" up . ( Bad pun intended )