best bullet for 308 with 20 inch barrel and 1 in 10 twist

[gatorman]

Looking for a good bullet to use for F Class shoots in my 308 Rem 700 sps tactical
rifle with 20 inch barrel...Range will be 250 yards either prone or bench..
Tried 168 grain match bullets with no accuracy at all....

What would be nice would be a light bullet and reduced recoil that will still
be very accurate shooting...Maybe there is no such thing possible.

I have read where several bullets from 110 gr up to 220 will be accurate...But I find this
impossible to beleive..Or,maybe the powder will be a big effecting issue...

If anyone has any ideas what works,I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts....

Or,is it too much to even be asking for..Thanks.... :-\

 

[Will]

By a box each of Nosler, Hornady, Federal & Black Hills FACTORY LOADS either 168 or 175 gr. and shoot those to find the most accurate. That ought to give you a base line / starting point to work with.

 

[semo97]

I use 178 bthp

 

[jbpmidas]

What all did you try with the 168's? I have a 24", 10 twist that shoots the 168's very well. Also, what are you call "no accuracy at all?"

 

[jo191145]

I'd agree with Will.
Try a bunch of factory ammo first. If you find nothing that shoots half way decent maybe its not the bullet causing the problems.

When and if you figure the gun is capable of accuracy you want a powder thats a fairly fast burn rate for whatever projectile you choose.
Theres nothing wrong with 155's. Your only going 250yds. How long is the throat?

 

[gatorman]

What all did you try with the 168's? I have a 24", 10 twist that shoots the 168's very well. Also, what are you call "no accuracy at all?"

3 inch at 250 yards is no good...Using the 175 SMK I get close to 1 1/2 which I like..

I am just courious about using some lighter bullets like the 110's or 125's I have lots of them on hand
I got from a dead man...He no longer needs them....And maybe some 150 grains as well......Maybe none of these will work in a 1 in 10 twist with 20 inch barrel....So tell me about it please....Thanks zorro

 

[JeffinTX]

For 250yds as the OP posted, the speer 125 tnt works well for accuracy and minimal recoil. I shot it with IMR 3031. It shot well from powder puff loads to full power. If that bullet is too light, then try a 155 palma HPBT bullet. Its hard for a .308 not to shoot well with good bullets and a good barrel. What are you loading with the 168s that are not shooting well? The 168 sMK was designed for 300M shooting, BTW.

 

[XTR]

If you are looking for a light bullet at 250 try the 155SMK Palma bullet [2156]. Lots of people have good results with them, I've also heard good things about the Lapua 155.5s.

Most people get good results from 168s out to about 800 yards. After that the tail is too short, the BC is too low and they start to tumble.

I shoot heavies out of a 30" tube at 1000 and haven't done much load work with the light 155 class bullets so I can't say for sure what works. I've been told by some Palma shooters that the 2156 likes to be jammed, not sure, but it's a starting point. If it doesn't work Sierras are usually pretty forgiving of jumping.

 

[jbpmidas]

Try the Sierra, Nosler, or Hornady 168 with 41.5 IMR4895, seated to mag length. I've heard a lot of folks using that and it worked well for me.

 

[lal357]

since your shooting f class mag legth wont apply (load them one at a time ) i shoot 155 amax out of my savage lrvp in our clubs 300 yrd matches 46 gr. varget .005 off the lands (in my gun you will need to work up i start to get slightly flattened primers so i'm on the edge of pressure for my rifle) they come out of my 30" barrel @ 2925 fps. on a mr-63 target i regularly score 194-198 with a few 200's in pratice. last modified f class match i shot at another club went like this .
100= 50 3x 1" target 1/2 x
200= 50 3x 2" target 1"x
300= 49 2x 3" target 1 1/2 x
400= 50 0x
1000 44 0x
i have to read the wind more when i shoot out past 400 but the rifle likes this round like you i tried the 168's and they shot good just not great.
another thing you might want to try is sinclairs sells sample pack of bullets 30cal runs i think 10.00 for 12 or so heads
ymmv
larry

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

If it's only for 250yards, I would look to a flat base 125-150gr bullet; no need to bother with the long boat tail jobbies. Berger lists a number of them ranging from 115 to 150gr all flat base. I'll bet you can find a load with these ligther bullets that will be like shooting a laser; fast, precise and minimal recoil.

 

[amlevin]

How long is the throat?

On my Remington 700 factory barrel there's almost .200" of freebore when I load a 175gr Nosler Custom Comp HPBT at magazine length (2.800") For some reason Remington likes to "make em long".

That said, with my 24" 5-R Milspec barrel that bullet and OAL shoot nice small groups out to 300 yards with 43.5 gr. of Varget. Can regularly get sub 1/2 MOA groups from this load and it seems like the longer the distance, the more accurate it is (or maybe I just pay more attention when shooting long).

I too have had difficulty with my stock Remington Barrel with the lighter bullets. Best weight so far has been the 175 with some success with the 178 A-Max.

 

[gatorman]

I appreciate your kind and thoughtful replies...

But when I am shootin aganist fellows who are
shooting 1 inch groups at 250.I need all the edge
I can get,,Without shelling out the big bucks like
some guys do...

Thats why I am thinking about trying some lighter
bullets that MAY be accurate at 250 to surprise their
a$$.....Another think I have always wished for,was
being able to get powder in smaller size for load
testing....Oh well,I am gonna try afew and see how
it works out...If good,then ok if not,,,At least I tried.

 

[BoydAllen]

Gatorman,
What were your powder, load, and seating depth in relation to the rifling when you tried the 168s? I had a slightly longer barreled .308 that just loved 168s and 190s, back before the 175s were made. It never shot the lighter bullets well.

 

[2506]

A one hole shooting load @ 100 that I use in my 21 1/2" Heart barrel Rem 700 in 308 Win is 46 grs IMR 4895, CCI BR-2 Primer, Federal match case that is match tuned and 125 gr Nosler ballistic tips. Right at 3000 fps and will smoke a deer also.

 

[rjtfroggy]

Out of my 20" Savage I use 150SMK'S 42gr. IMR 4895 ragged hole @100 and just a little larger @200. About 2600fps. Works for me.

 

[gatorman]

well,I am still searching for that light bullet and load for the 08 1 in 10 twist 20 inch barrel...The best accuracy is with 175 gr SNK and Reloader 15 powder...

With a bad shoulder I get damn sore at the end of a 20 round relay...

What would make me happy is if the powder company's would put out like a 1/2 lb.
can,to make it cheaper to try different powders..

So I am still open to ideas if you have any more to share..How about some 5744 powder.Anyone tried that stuff..Just seems like there should be a bullet and powder combo,that will be accurate out to 250 yards...Thanks

 

[amlevin]

I loaded a bunch of 130 gr Sierra JHP's with 45 gr of IMR 4064. Was a nice low recoil, accurate round, out to 300 yards. If you want a match bullet, look at a similar load with the 135gr SMK. Since the 45 gr load was at the starting load end, there's lots of room to play if you need something a little faster. Definitely a low recoil bullet with a normal weight rifle.

 

[GNERGY]

In my 20 inch SPS Tactical barrel the Barnes 130 gr TTSX with 50.5 gr H4895 zips them at 3148 FPS with an OAL of 2.810 and puts them in an inch at 300 yds for 5 shots. I was using hornady brass with CCI BR2 primers.
If you want a heavier bullet the Berger 168 VLD loaded with 44 gr of IMR 8208 with a CCI BR2 primer in a hornady case zips at 2680 FPS. OAL is 3.00 and it will shoot right at 3 inches at 560 yds ( 500 meters )
Them short barrels can shoot.
Tarey

I weigh cases and keep them in 1 grain increments and weigh bullets and keep them in 1/10 increments.

 

[FroggyOne2]

I appreciate your kind and thoughtful replies...

But when I am shootin aganist fellows who are
shooting 1 inch groups at 250.I need all the edge
I can get,,Without shelling out the big bucks like
some guys do...

Thats why I am thinking about trying some lighter
bullets that MAY be accurate at 250 to surprise their
a$$.....Another think I have always wished for,was
being able to get powder in smaller size for load
testing....Oh well,I am gonna try afew and see how
it works out...If good,then ok if not,,,At least I tried.

Instead of trying to buy points, why don't you take what you already have that shoots 1.5 inch groups at 250 yards and perfect your hold and see if that group don't tighten up a bit. When you burn that barrel up, think about going to a 11.25 twist on the next barrel if your still wishing to run a short barrel, though, on a bolt gun, it is a lil better to run a lil longer barrel, if you get the chance to shoot at 1K, your short barrel rifle may have a hard keeping up with the ones that have the longer barrels on them. But for now, use what you have, perfect your position and keep working at it. You may be surprise that the diver may have a lil more to your group size than thought. Do a lot of dry firing, you will be surprise to know that a lot of verticle comes from trigger control!