Gentlemen,

We have a Steyer Scout, in 308 Winchester. It has a barrel of about 19 1/4" long.

We will start developing some loads for it, and will keep you all posted on the results.

Nice rifle, I have .308's with barrels from 18" to 22"'s. I lose about 90fps going to the 18" barrel.

Saeed,

If you have time and material, you may want to try the 175 grain Sierra Matchking and 45.0 grains of Varget, this with the obligatory CCI BR-2 primer.

Believe it or not, this load recipe has yet to exceed MOA in any decently constructed .308 rifle I'm familiar with.

I developed this load using a load development method I've described here and elsewhere, and it does work well.

If you're going to test 180 grain bullets, try 44.0 grains of Varget for those, as that recipe has done well with 180 grain Sierra Gamekings and 180 grian Sierra Matchkings.

We're interested in your results.

What has happened with the McMillan rifle to date?

Take care,

Dan

Dan,

The McMillan rifle broke its stock. We are trying to find a way of fixing it, but that has to wait until at least early next month, as we have quite a few things going right now.

One thing which might be of interest to some of you is that we have obtained an attachement we can fit to a bore scope, and take digital photos of the bore.

The thing is we need one of those tiny lights one can insert into the barrel to light up the area, and that has not arrived yet.

I have some barrels that are absolutely facsinating to look at.

Saeed,

My wifes .308 has a 20" barrel, the velocities I've achieved have been within 100 fps of published 22" barrel data. As a ball park figure, I've gotten 150 gr @2800, 165 gr @2700, 180 gr @2600 and 220 gr @2150. Powders that have worked well are RL 15, Varget and VV N 550.

I even made the mistake of carelessly following a recipe in Handloader for VV N-550 and 165 gr bullets, but didn't think about the fact that the article didn't mention what brand of bullets they used. I managed to get 2850 fps, but the primers fell out of the case I've since learned to take a bit more care when approaching max loads, especially those not tested in a lab.

Saeed,

I have a corrospondence with Kelly McMillan... Would you like me to ask him about replacing the stock? I feel like he would if it broke in normal use.

Let me know...

Take care, and keep us informed of the Steyr testing...

Dan

Saeed,
I just posted this elsewhere, but. I have the Savage Scout with 20" bbl. I am getting about 2630fps with 44.5 grains for Varget (max load according to barnes) and respectable hunting accuracy. Average groups for me shooting are 1.25" @100 yds. I have shot better groups but that is a good averaging. Looking forward to your results.

Can't help but chuckle a little as you may think I'm kidding you.

I have three 308 rifles and so don't make up special loads that might be dangerous in one with a longer barrel.

What I can tell you is that the plinking load I build for the Rem. 7400, an NM M1A, and the SIG AMT (a semi auto SIG 510P4) ... also work fine in a standard length and shorty M-60 bbls. They're just load as hell and make a terrific muzzle flash in the shorty.

The load is 43.5-43.7 gr BLC-2 with 150 gr IMI FMJ bullets on LC cases.

Haven't chrono'd this load, but the M1A likes it pretty well ... shooting about 1 MOA.

I know this sounds like BS, but it is real.

R-WEST......ROFLMAO!!!!!!I did the same thing,but it was my dad's truck cap window....HE WAS'NT HAPPY...

Saeed,

I have a Steyr Scout in .308 Win too. They shoot very well, and I have had mine on several hunts (Africa and North America). I have been shooting 150 gr, 165 and 180 grain factory loads.

John Schaefer had an extensive Scout Rifle web site with a lot of data, but it is down now while he looks for a new host.

jim dodd

This should be interesting. Shot some .308 in my Rem M7 SS today; BL(C)-2 and RL15 unchronographed. The RL15 showed only .25" vertical spread, the BallC about 1.75".

RL22 seems to give less velocity spread than any other powder I've tried in my .300 WinMag.

I'm going to chrono these .308 loads and see the spreads.

[ 11-10-2002, 05:19: Message edited by: steve y ]