New to the forum and to reloading brass. Dad was an avid skeet/trap shooter so we grew up loading thousands of rounds of shotgun shells, but never attempted brass loads. Well, MidwayUSA is loving me right now and Santa will be loaded down when he arrives at my house. He's bringing me a Lee Turret press with all the extras.
Now the question for the reloaders on here. My daughter and I both shoot Remington 788 rifles chambered in 308. Currently shooting Barnes TTSX in 168 grains because that's what our closest ammo supplier carries. I've talked to Barnes, told them we are shooting the 788 with 18" barrels and they recommended the 150 grain TTSX for that setup. They replied back to my email about a load workup and they sent me the standard load sheet, but recommended Varget powder.
Any thoughts, suggestions, what not to do's, etc.? I have purchased everything but the bullets, powder, and primers. Oh, if it makes a difference, I have plenty of 'once fired' Barnes brass from those spent 168 rounds I've been shooting.

I use mostly 150-155 gr bullets in my 308. I use a lot of IMR 4064 and IMR 4895. With my Hornady A-Max bullets with a mid load of 4064 I can get 7/8" groups @ 100...

Varget is a very good powder in the .308. I use RL15 in my 150 grain 308 loads for my Savage 99. Oddly, I never shot those in my 788 though.

M Dad bought a 308/788 when the first appeared. We tried most of the bullet weights between 100 and 165 and most of the medium burning powders available in those days. This particular rifle using the old "hammer" Lee hand loading die set shot best with a stiff, dipped load of 4895, 4064, or 4320 and 130 gr Horn SP's and almost as good with 165 SP's...basically bugholing 4-5 shots...AND basically...no case/bullet prep...does almost as good today being very finicky with all loading components...I still can't believe the groups it produces every time I shoot it, and I have a WHOLE lot of very accurate shooters in my rack.

Today I use more 748, CFE 223 and Benchmark in my several 308's depending on bullet weight and what use I built the rifle for.

A 308 is a 308 no matter the brand or model...you load for the case/caliber/bullet weight...not the brand. Any good reloading manual or online reloading resource for the 308 will have a ton of data to REALLY confuse the issue.

LUCK

I'm a 788 fan. They're tack drivers. I bought my first when I was in High School for $94 - new in the box with a 4X scope.

I like Varget for 150 grain loads. I killed 2 or 3 elk with 150 grain partitions, so they'll surely do well for Texas whitetails.

What you might consider is dropping down to 125 grain bullets and pushing them with W748 powder. I get super accuracy and plenty enough power for deer, hogs, and an occasional antelope. Mine shoots Sierras really well (< .35" groups), and Nosler Ballistic tips really well (.4" groups) - and I just bought a bunch of Nosler Accubonds that show promise. All right at 3000 fps. Recoil is light, but I haven't heard any complaints from the animals I introduced them to...

48.5 grs. of WW 748 is my standard 150 gr. load in my .308s..Have not found anything better over the years..47.5 with a 165 Nosler. The .308 isn't picky about powder or bullets..

My 788 cost me $104.95 ($5 more for being a lefty) but it has the 22" barrel. It loves the 165 grain Hornady BTSP with 44 grains of IMR 4064.

i am all for moderate book loads, seated -0.0275 to -0.030 -- and then work up max for that OAL ...

win748 is good powder, i'd start lower than Ray's load, .. but would likely not worry about vel first, anyway, as 788s are tack drivers