Hi guys,

I've just treated myself to a Tikka M65 Supersport heavy barrelled rifle in .308 (I'll post a photo when it comes back from the riflesmith after bedding).

I'll be using it primarily for paper punching and would welcome your favourite fmj loads in .308 please.

Cheers

For long range I use 42.5 gr IMR4064 and a 175 gr. SMK. The 175 is a lot better than the 168 at long range and will stay supersonic to 1000.

Don

Hey Pete, I had a situation a couple of years ago where I needed to put a shooter in his place. Went to looking for my "old" Load notes and they were long gone. But, I did remember enough of it to get where I wanted.

First off, get 200-300 new unfired cases from the same Lot of your favorite brand. I used Federal Gold Medals, but lots of folks use other brands and are just as happy. Do a FULL CASE PREP on all the cases and SORT BY WEIGHT to 0.1gr.

Get some ElCheapo bulk bullets, primers and powder to "Once-Fire" the cases. Then after firing them, using your Full Length Sizer Die, do a Partial-Full Length Resizing. The Die should be adjusted so the Bolt closes with a bit of resistance on an empty case. This will cause the Case centerline to become closer to the Bore centerline than Neck Sizing.

Get a brick of Bench Rest Primers. Here I used Fed-210Ms, but use whatever you've had good experience with. Always seat them with a "Hand-Held" Primer Seater.

Depending on your particular rifle, chances are it will respond well to either a 150gr, 155gr or 168gr Sierra MatchKing (#2190, #2155 or #2200 respectively). I prefer them over FMJs, but if you have to use a FMJ, try a 150gr Sierra FMJBT (#2115) or the 150gr Speer FMJBT (#2018).

Stick a Benchrest Primer in the Once-Fired Cases, and use the Minimum Load shown for that Powder in your Powder Manufacturers Manual for that weight Bullet in 3-Cases. Continue to increase the Powder 0.2gr and do 3 Cases at a time until you are 1.0 full Grain above the Minimum Load. (Ex: 3 at 30.0gr, 3 at 30.2gr, 3 at 30.4gr, etc. to 31.0gr)

Seat the Bullet you choose in those Cases so they are 0.010" "INTO" the Lands, not "OFF" the Lands.

Shoot at the "Corner" of a Black Square on an 8.5"x11" Target so you can snug the crosshairs right up against the Square. Do not use a Circle for your Target.

After shooting, record your actual Load information on the Target, 3-hole punch them and stick them in a 3-ring binder. Try 5-8 Powders to see what your rifle likes the best.

My 308Wins all respond well to any of the Sierra MatchKings and a Minimum Load of H380 with Bench Rest Primers in the Fed Gold Medal fully prepped Cases.

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Good hunting and clean 1-shot kills, Hot Core

A mild load that seems to work very well in many rifles is:

168 gr Sierra MK
40.5 Gr IMR 4895
Winchester Brass
Federal 210M primers

I have real good luck with 46.5 grain of 4064 and a CCI BR2 primer behind a 155 grain Sierra Palma Bullet. I get 2850 fps and sub half minute of angle accuracy out to 500 yards with this combo out of my rifle ( 788 Remington with a Douglas Premium Air Gauge number 4 heavy sporter barrel with a 1 in 12 twist.)The rifle has been tricked out and all the accuracy work done to it. But even before that it shot that load sub minute of angle out to 200 yards.

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight........RiverRat

Phew! Thanks guys - especially Hot Core - if I didn't know how to reload before, I certainly do now

Hey Pete, That "buddy" of mine was outshooting my regular Hunting rifles just often enough with a very accurate factory stock BOSS equiped M70 in 270Win to be seriously aggravating. He couldn't do it all the time, but often enough that it got under my skin and cost me a few BBQ suppers.

Bought a Bull Barreled 308Win M700VLS, mounted a 6.5-20x VariX-III on it and used the above procedure to squash him into submission. And enjoyed "lots" of FREE BBQ in the process. ;^)

Didn't want to leave out part of the Load Formula, because each little piece contributed to the Load. If you are already using most of those methods, then you should get nice small groups very quickly. And if a Beginner happens onto this Thread, perhaps he will realize there is more to getting good "consistent" groups than dumping a few things together.

Good luck to you.

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Good hunting and clean 1-shot kills, Hot Core

Sierra 168 HPBT Match
Federal Match Primers (210M?)
VV N550 at 47.1 grains.
Lapua Brass
My rifle liked: .001 off lands.
Averaged: 2790 fps

It gave me consistent .3 out of a Remington Heavy Barrel that was re-barrelled and accurized. My favorite group was a .718 at 300 yards.

One hole at 100 yards were common.

We tried the load in other rifles, and all shot it very well. Though we couldn't reach the lands on many of those rifles. It gave excellent velocity, and was very consistent from each rifle we tried.

The load also is a very clean load.

The load, reduced to a 46.6 VV N550 with the Lapua Scenar 167 grain was just about as good.

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Live Free! Madison, Jefferson and all the boys paid for it, and so did our very own fathers.