What powder for a 308?

[amlevin]

From our line AR-Comp(TM) is one to consider (aside from the obvious Reloder(R) 15)
If you prefer spherical powders for progressive reloading, Varmint from our Power Pro(TM) line is also in that burn speed range.
Shoot well,
Paul

I like your 2000MR but you guys need to get your "elves" busy. There hasn't been any on local shelves for way too long a time. Doesn't seem to show up at any of he online marketers either.

For that matter, the only Alliant powder I've seen make it to the shelf locally in the last year was some RL-15 (surprise, surprise).

I'd love to buy more of your powder if you just had more to ship 8)

Til then I make do with what shows up.

 

[Road_Clam]

I like your 2000MR but you guys need to get your "elves" busy. There hasn't been any on local shelves for way too long a time. Doesn't seem to show up at any of he online marketers either.

For that matter, the only Alliant powder I've seen make it to the shelf locally in the last year was some RL-15 (surprise, surprise).

I'd love to buy more of your powder if you just had more to ship 8)

Til then I make do with what shows up.

+1 on 2000MR , I'm also getting aggravated over all the "rebadging" within Alliant powders. Back in the height of the powder scare the only powder available out my way was 2000MR , a new powder, not much load data so obviously nobody wanted 2000mr , but I took a chance and purchased about 8# and started working it. Long story short an excellent medium burn powder that worked awesome in my .308 . Now jump to present time and you can't find 2000MR anywhere (not even over the past year). So a big tip to Alliant if you want us to continue to purchase your product stop playing the confusing rebadge game. Your "RL" lineup is proven and straight foreword , no need to be confusing us by adding "AR-COMP" , "Varmints" , "STEEL" , " BE-86" ,

As for the o/p's question , I've tested a LOT of medium burn powders , and for me I have had the best and most consistent luck with good ol' W748 , SO user friendly to meter. You ask a "what's the best powder" you will get opinions all over the place. Bottom line is there are MANY excellent .308 powders out there. Pick one and test. It takes some time, a chrono and LOG YOUR DATA ! I have had great success with W748 , 4064 , 2000MR , Benchmark , XBR-8028 . As a basic principal , you want a slightly faster burn powder for lighter bullets, and a slower burn for heavier. For instance my data showed Benchmark worked best with 155's but not so good with 168's. Notice that Varget and RL15 are not included ? That's because I purposely did not perform extensive testing on these powders. When the powder scare hit hard, Varg and R15 were the first powders to fly off the shelfs , so I wanted to work up some non-popular powders to keep myself shooting. So my tip is be diverse ! Good luck , buy up some powder , kill some paper , and get testing !

 

[minnesotamulisha]

With a 155 SMK, I've had decent groups with 45.5 grains of IMR 4895 which put the velocity around 3072, with a ES of 11 and a SD of 4.

I also had good luck with 41-41.5 grains of Benchmark under a Barnes 155 Match Burner. This was slower at around 2904 FPS with an ES of 27 and SD of 16.

Keep in mind, this is out of a 30 inch barrel.

 

[Sniper338]

I loaded up some varget rounds to test out... then im gonna play with 8208 too.. see what happens..

 

[Barlow]

I'm in the H4895 camp. Worked the best for me when I shot 308 with 168- 175 gr bullets. YMMV, Barlow

 

[paulT]

I mostly shoot 185g-215g weight bullets and have found varget to be best so far, tried H4350 for the 215g but verticals opened up due to low Velocities, will have to try H4895 witht he 215g bergers.

 

[dalej]

Have best accuracy using Varget and Lapua Palma brass. The same load with Lapua was opening up primer pockets. Take my load data from Hodgdon website as the latest load manuals show maximum powder charge where Hodgdon's starting load is.

 

[Semaje61]

My M1A likes 40.5 grs IMR 4895 for short line, using LC brass. I use my AR for ATC, so that's the only load I use for 308. I am using my M1A for games match(VMR, etc).
Best of luck
Phil

 

[bsc4444]

I load for a friend with the same barrel you have. Don't discount BL-C[2] bug holes.........if you have QuickLoad plug it in. Also using 150
Sierra Match Kings.

 

[DennisH]

I mostly shoot 185g-215g weight bullets and have found varget to be best so far

8208XBR is my second choice.

Dennis

 

[MNFinn]

I was getting great accuracy and 2975FPS with IMR4895 when shooting SMK PALMA out if my 26 inch bbl

 

[Corey Schwanz]

I'm planning on some new load development soon for a .308. Will be trying RL-15, IMR 4166 and 8208

 

[Dave Brown]

Varget