• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

Ball powders in 308 with 168g match bullet?

Who uses ball powders in their 308 match loads? I like AA2520 for my 69g, 80g 223 loads, it flows from my measurer great. I am looking into shooting "modern vintage sniper matches". I am thinking one of the 168g 308 bullets. I will try the AA2520 also.

Mike
 
AA2460 is a bit on the fast side but works well with 168's. Shooters World Match Rifle is worth a try also.
 
Win 748 was the "go-to" powder for the 308 for a long time, not that I use it anymore - but plenty do. I do want to try Staball Match at some point, which is in the same ball park - but not in my FTR rifle, as I prefer to use single base powders.
Just as a cautionary note,
I had a really old can of Win 748 that had been sealed and unused but was about 30+ years old and when I used a fairly conservative dose behind a 168gr Hornady A-Max; the first {and only} shot went off with gas blowing back through the action and the primer falling out when the case was extracted...!!!
A week later someone else at the range had the same experience, also from some very old 748.

I suspect that like some wet looking dynamite I saw many years ago in an old gold mine I was foolish enough to explore, the nitroglycerin had sweated out and now making the whole lot very unstable.
I quietly backed out of the mine that collapsed about a year later when the shoring timber failed and think myself lucky that all had not ended in disaster {Fatal} for me...
The same with the old Win 748... It got tipped out on the garden and I felt lucky that I didn't have a bolt through the face.
 
Last edited:
Who uses ball powders in their 308 match loads? I like AA2520 for my 69g, 80g 223 loads, it flows from my measurer great. I am looking into shooting "modern vintage sniper matches". I am thinking one of the 168g 308 bullets. I will try the AA2520 also.

Mike
I have had good luck with Shooters world match rifle. It's probably around the BLC-2 range. I don't know if it's been in stock for a while though. Also, Ramshot Big Game. I cannot find any online, but I see it locally pretty often.

If I were shopping right now, well the market is scarce for a med-slow burning ball powder. I'd try some Vihta N540 as my first choice. I would be comfortable buying an 8# without having tried it first. Other than that, I would only try 1#ers of the following that also may work for you. Winchester StaBall Match Precision Rifle, or Accurate 2700,
 
Might want to check , but the "HOT" set-up for the 168gr SMK back in the day was 42.5gr of IMR - 4064 , and I'd suggest the Rem 7-1/2 BR primer with that load . Adjust from that point , up or down . That was the original Federal Gold Medal Match load .
 
I haven't seen any shooter world in forever, I had that on my list. I should be able to get staball match, maybe 4064, and blc-2. I will be on the lookout for N540.

Mike
 
I have had great results with CFE223 around 49.0 grs which also gave me low SD's and sub-moa accuracy. Right now I use Alliant PP2000MR behind the Berger 185 Juggs which is excellent for windy days on the 600 yd. range. I can get 2780 fps with single digit SD's and have won a couple of club matches when the wind was whipping up the 6 mm guys. I use the above in a 28" Shilen, 1-10 twist barrel, just for reference. But I have also used AA4064 which gave better results than the IMR4064. Lots of good combos out there... just don't count on Varget for speed or great accuracy, at least in my joy sticks.
 

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Forum statistics

Threads
165,139
Messages
2,190,558
Members
78,722
Latest member
BJT20
Back
Top