I have a savage 308 m10. I have fed. brass with varget powder and 200cci primers. i shoot a 168 grain hpbt sierra bullet. What over all cart.length should I have? Should I go by the book or run the bullet up to the grooves of the barrel? Im using it for bench rest shooting.Im new at this so I hope all this made since. Thanks for the help.

Sorry, wrong forum for this question

My 308 is a Rem 700 VS. I tried seating the same bullet up to the lands,about .010 off them. It shot really good, half inch or better if I remember right. I dont have my #'s with me as Iam deployed right now, but they would probably be different anyway. Thats a number(OAL)your going to have to find out yourself specificly for YOUR chamber, as each may be different.If your just using the load for benchrest, then I say try it. I had to stay with the book OAL 2.800 (no clearence in the magazine when seated to the lands), as it was used for hunting and rounds in the mag. Hope this helps some. Take a look at the "reloading" room, as well as the "benchrest" room. They have lots of info as well.

Everthing fine but get CCI BR-2 primers...and 2.79" to 2.80" on the COL is a place to start. Great selection for Powder using VARGET in the 308 Win.



VARGET loves mild primers like CCI BR-2 they go together like fish and fries.

Hunting-one option too have 2 different lengths of cartridge clearly marked. Chamber the favoured oal and put 3 magazine length rounds in the mag.
9 times outn of 10 it's only that one first shot that is the critical one.
I have rem.700 and it shoots better close to lands than at magazine length. 2.89-2.83 col.

With my .308 reamer, a Speer 168 gr. HPBT Gold Match is seated out to 2.9" OAL for good contact with the lands.

To really measure the seating depth, a Sinclair bullet comparitor helps.



I don't know what it is with the Sierra bullet.



Engaging the lands raises the pressure. I found that with H335, a 14% overload makes the bolt face impression on the case, 19% the extractor groove starts to grow, and 24% the primer falls out. I have not gone back to see if those percentages go up much with the bullet off the lands.



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