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new and i need some help on relading .308

I have a tikka t3 tactical .308 with a bushnell elite 6500 5-30x60 tactical scope, burris tac. rings
the gun has a 20" barrel with 11" twist..
my goal is to target shooting 500+ yards
This is what i plan on using.... CCI large rifle primers, Rem. brass, Sierra 175gr match king and varget powder. start at 40 gr.s and go up by .5grs up until 45gr unil i start seeing pressure issues and see which one groups the best.
any suggestions? any help would greatly apprepicated
Thanks Justin
 
That is a good plan but if I was doing it with remington brass I would sort them by weight. But I would realy rather use Lapua brass.
Terry Pohl
 
first things first.welcome to the site.now I can say that it sounds like it to me you are of in the right direction.but you may want to work up in.3gn increments.sometimes the .5gn can walk you right up to pressure before you know it.and with your shorter barrel you want be able to load up like the guys who are loading with longer barrels.you will hit pressure alot faster than we will.

I will guess and say that 43-44.5gn of Varget will be your load with a 175gn bullet.but you may be able to work up to 45gn with little pressure on the primers and case head.but as soon as you see a good old flattened out primer and mark on the head of the case I would back off a bit and work around that.being safe is what its all about.

good shooting and welcome,John
 
alright so ill go in .3 gr 40. 40.3 40.6 40.9 41.2 correct?
I also have some win. brass, would it be a better choice then the rem.?
and im just wondering do you guys crimp your bullets?
I really apprepicate your your help
Justin Miller
 
Don't crimp the bullets. Use a bushing die to adjust neck tension. 2 thousands is a good place to start when jumping the bullet to the lands. Rem brass can be very good if you weight sort and do all the other prep. When I used rem brass I neck turned just enough to clean them about 50%. CCI br2 primers take a little more pressure than some others.
 
i have a 2 peice RCB due kit? sorry im a little lost on the whole 2 thousands neck tension
and sounds like i just need to go to lapua brass
Justin Miller
 
no need for Lapua brass unless you just want to spend the money for it.tyr the rem brass and see what happens.you might get what you are looking for.and for right now just resize the brass with the die you have.but you can adjust it to just bump the shoulder back enough to give you a good round.and to keep it from giveing you trouble chambering.

and yes I would also try the win brass.it should give you more space to help out with pressure.or thats what the guys say that load with it.I load up rem and lapua.but still keep an eye out for the pressure signs when useing the win brass.
 
43.5 grns of Varget, start .030 off the lands and work up to the lands. If you start see pressure signs as you get closer to the lands, STOP. But this is the magic number for my 308 shooting smk 175's. The COAL is up to your gun!

If for some reason if 43.5 seems hot, go lower before you go higher!
 
what do your mean by off the lands?

Depending on how your rifle has been chambered by the manufacturer, you may be able to seat the bullet in the case at an overall length that sees the bullet reach the rifling 'leade', the tapered start to the rifling lands in the barrel. If extreme, you won't be able to chamber the cartridge as the bullet shoulder (or ogive) will be a jam fit before the bolt handle is down.

VLD bullets often like to be just seated into the rifling, so you'll see references to so many thou' into the lands - ie the point at which the ogive touches the leade is ascertained then the seating die set to give a slightly longer cartridge overall length (COAL). How do you ascertain where the bullet just kisses the leade? There are varioius methods - most people buy a simple tool such as the Stoney-Point / Hornady OAL gauge that needs a modified cartridge case that screws onto the end of the gauge body.

http://www.hornady.com/store/OAL-Gauges-and-Modified-Cases/

To do the job properly, you also need a bullet comparator and appropriate calibre size insert from Hornady or Sinclair to measure the distance from case-head to bullet ogive once you've tried the bullet in your rifle using the aforementioned tool and locked it at the setting that has the bullet in contact with the rifling. You then set the seating die to seat the bullet at whatever length you want in relation to that initial index length. So if your case-head to bullet ogive measurement is 2.226" and you want the bullet 20 thou' off the rifling, the seater would be set to seat the bullet so the comparator measurement is 2.206". This is an actual example from one of my .308s for the 175gn SMK and it gives a COAL (case-head to bullet tip) of around 2.806" right on the SAAMI figure. You can't use it as every rifle is different. Each make and model of bullet varies too, so you have to do it for every bullet you try.

At this point, you're thinking you'll take up golf!

A simple and cheap if slow way is to use your bolt. Seat a bullet very shallow into a sized case and see if it'll chamber. You'll likely hit the rifling first so the bolt won't close. Adjust the seater die to seat the bullet marginally further in and try again. Keep doing this until there is no resistance to bolt closure and you're just 'off the lands'. Keep the inert cartridge as a gauge to reset the seater die. To do this method properly, you really need to dismantle the bolt and remove the firing mechanism as you don't want any resistance to bolt closure from compressing the mainspring or the mechanism catching on the sear. As the bolt cams a lightly touching bullet into the lands very easily, you need to do this job with a very light touch, holding the bolt handle between thumb and forefinger tips and very slowly and gently feeling the bolt handle down into the closed position.

The good news is that unlike some bullets, most SMKs are very jump-tolerant. that is they'll shoot well anywhere between just kissing the rifling and being fifty of sixty thou' away. Most people set them to have around 20 thou' jump, ie 20 thou' off. If you want to use a magazine though, you have to keep the maximum COAL that will fit and feed in mind too.

The leade is eroded back over time through pressure and heat from each cartridge fired. .308W sees 20-30 thou' erosion for every 1,000 rounds. So if you shoot a lot, your bullet gradually finds itself further off the lands. Many people measure the jump and recalibrate their ideal COAL at the start of every competition season.

Incidentally, the 175gn SMK is a good performer accuracy-wise in .308W and works with lots of powders, but it's not in the running against many other models for BC, so gets moved around more by the wind. That's not an issue at up to 500yd, but is increasingly from 600yd on. It will shoot at 1,000yd, but is often subsonic at this range and is inferior to other less blunt designs such as the 155gn Lapua Scenar, 155.5gn Berger BT Fullbore and new 155gn Sierra Palma MK (#2156), or the Berger Target BT Long-Range models in 175 and 185gn weights. As a beginning handloader avoid VLDs as they're tricky to get to shoot well in most barrels.

Don't feel like an idiot - everybody has to start somewhere and learn the tricks. Get a good book on precision handloading like Glen Zediker's 'Handloading for Competition' - $25.95 from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Handloading-Competition-Making-Target-Bigger/dp/096269259X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273621993&sr=1-1

I hope these tips help - good shooting.

Laurie,
York, England
 
hey hondaracer,
before you start with this whole reloading thing you might want to pick up a copy of a reloading handbook/manual. There are a bunch of them out there...the guys on this site could probably recommend a good one for beginners...I first used one by Hornady...gives a pretty good description of the basics. Another good resource is this forum. There's more information and experience here than you will ever want to wrap your head around. Just start looking at the topics under the reloading section, find something that looks interesting and start reading the posts. As you read more and more you'll begin to figure the lingo. Don't be afraid to ask questions...always seems like there's a friendly voice here to help. One word to the wise on this reload thing though...be careful it can be addictive once you get into it!!
 
Wow.... I will def. Have to order that book. And I understand the whole off the lands thing now I think haha but thanks for the very useful information
 
Honda,
Don't be over whelmed either! aked a TON of questions here in the Forum. That is what were here for. ask the "old timers" at your local range. Most of them will give you years of knowledge for a cup of coffee. 308win is where i first started loading. i had a couple of mentors keeping an eye on me. with a little effort and understanding you will be making great ammo, saving money, and feeling great about all the 10's you are shooting. Varget and SMK's are a great place to start. you will find lots of little "tricks" to make better ammo as you go along. The way i see it Bench rest guys pioneer the new stuff. the sling shooters try it without all the "stuff" and the F-classers perfect the both of both worlds. the disciplines feed each other for creativity. best of luck to you, work up slow, be safe and enjoy! welcome to the forum.
 
thats just the thing there is no shooting ranges around where i live i just shoot at my house so asking experience people is kind of limited. As of right now i have 100,200,300,400,450 yard targets and i could probaly shoot up to 800 yards over my buddies house
 
hondaracer-

Glen Z's book is a good one to get. Also, you might get a copy of John Feamster's "Black Magic-The Ultra Accurate AR-15." Although the book is about the .223, Feamster goes into great detail about developing your handloads, tips & tricks, case prep, etc. that are applicable to developing the greatest accuracy out of YOUR rifle. IMHO.

Bill
 
Honda
+1 on zediker's book about reloading. Since your profile say you live in eastern Ohio. tak e acouple of days and your checkbook and head to Camp perry to buy your supplies. While your there enroll in the Hornady basic reloading class. The instructor last year was Dave Emery, Hornady's ballistician. You can gain alot of knowlege fast. and if you enjoyed it, enroll in the advanced class. i took the advanced class last year. got some cool handouts, class time and hands on with some more advanced tools. The class fee was returned to me when i showed up in the form of a hornady gift certificate, which i gave to Sinclair to buy some new toys. check the schedule ou tand try it out it was pretty cheap. If you decide that you did not like the class, let them know and go have a couple of cold ones at put-in-bay.
 
Well i ordered the book from amazon that you guys suggested but in the mean time i was cleaning my old cases deburring and cleanging the flash hole. I went to take a lenght measurement of 20 random cases, now i dont know how much tollerance your allowed a but this is rem. brass that has only been shot once. The hornady book calls for a max lenght of 2.015
case #
1, 2.011
2, 2.014
3. 2.014
4, 2.006
5, 2.005
6, 2.010
7, 2.006
8, 2.013
9, 2.010
10, 2.013
11, 2.010
12, 2.012
13, 2.010
14, 2.012
15, 2.013
16, 2.010
17, 2.013
18, 2.012
19, 2.012
20, 2.007

Is it even important if some are roughly under by .010? Im just curious
 
Your measuring from base of the cartridge to the tip of the bullet, right? The bullets themselvse can vary by this much in length. Try measuring a sample of 20 random bullets (not yet loaded), you'll see what I mean.

I measure to the ogive of the bullet using a Hornady bullet comparator. (The ogive refers to the part of the bullet where the curve of the nose begins. Check this page out to learn more about bullet terminology)

The ogive of a bullet is a much more reliable point to measure from. I'll usually get about a .0005" variation among a lot of 25-50 cartridges.
 
gearheadpyro: His measurements are case length's, no bullet included. hondaracer408: if you really want to do it right, get a Sinclair chamber length gauge, part#G-308, page 39 of Sinclairs 2010-A catalog, 6.95 each and re-usable for any 30 caliber. With it you will be able to measure the actual length of your chamber, record that number, keep it for future reference when trimming cases. Most chambers have lengths that are .020" to .040" longer than max. case length, so to trim to the often suggested .010" shorter than max case length is a "one-size-fits-all" number.
 

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