question for the reloader's

[bentwig]

what formula would you use to reload for a .308. my son-inlaw will be doing all my reloading and he suggested the hrn amax 168gr. i do not know what powder he plans on using. he also will be reloading a .243 i picked up real cheap the other day he suggested the hrn 95gr sst. what would you guys load these with, for target & hunting, what i use at the range is what i plan to use for hunting. and as for primers - large rifle or large magnum rifle and what brand ? what powder seems to work best for these two caliber's ? and by the way i put the redfield 4x12-40mm on the .308. thanks for suggestion on scope, i like it. thanks for your input.
jack

part of reloading is finding what combo works best in your rifle. sometimes large rifle primers with a certain powder and sometimes magnum primers. its best to start out with a suggested from the books. i always used imr powders and you can find load/powder info on line. i think its just imr.com. controlling chamber pressures is the biggest deal and there is a lot involved there.

[Predator]

What ever you decide to use dosent really matter at the range, but you never specified what you intended to hunt and that is where specific bullet style, weight and powder / primer combinations will be more important.

If your son in law has reloaded in the past, and I am assumeing he has, he should have several reloading manuals with recommended starting loads for the calibers you mentioned. take into account the closest load to the FPS you want to achieve and work from there.

[bentwig]

plan on hunting white tail, and do some hog hunting down here in texas. yes he has been reloading his own for 10yrs or more just wanted to know what every one else was using and if there was one formula that is most commonly used like brand of bullet grn , powder , primer brand ect- for these two calibers.

jack

[onehorse]

You can get lots of handloading recipes right off the internet. Hodgdon and Ramshot give lots of loading data, as do most of the powder makers. The bullet makers are stingy with these as they all want you to but their manuals. Do not use magnum primers for the .243 or .308. Those primers are for loads with large amounts of powder like the name suggests, and neither of those calibers warrants magnum primers. I'd also suggest you use powders that are not temperature sensitive so if you practice at the range all summer long in 80-90 degree temps, but hunt in much colder situations during the fall, your loads will maintain the same point of impact. I've been having good results with Hunter by Ramshot, and I believe that H4350 is also not effected by temperature. There are others, and you can get this info from the powder makers websites. Good luck!

[bentwig]

thanks onehorse thats the sort of info im looking for. somthing like tempiture sensitive powders could ruin a deer season, any recomendations bullet type and grn.

[onehorse]

Originally Posted by bentwig

thanks onehorse thats the sort of info im looking for. somthing like tempiture sensitive powders could ruin a deer season, any recomendations bullet type and grn.

All the name brand bullets are good. For deer only, I've had great results from the Nosler Ballistic Tip. It's a real killer! In the .308, 150 grains should be perfect. For a wider range of game, where larger animals may be hunted, the 165 gr. bullets have always been the way to go in the 30 cal. range ammo.

[guppy11]

I'd be concerned with using the 168gr amax to hunt with. this is a target bullet and although there are people who use it to hunt with even the manufacture doesn't recommend it because of its construction.

[Karl.Luhr]

A couple of things that came to mind on your post. I personally would buy a single ball powder that is designed for the midsize 308 cases. Each powder company makes there favorite 308 class powder. I personally have had good luck with Win 760 in my 3006s so I would try Win 748 with loading data straight from the manual. I agree that using a AMAX bullet on anything but paper or possibly a prairie dog is a mistake. With midsize cases don't worry about using anything but standard large rifle primers. Don't try to squeeze that last 50fps out of a load. Find one that shoots well in the rifle without signs of high pressure and just load up a bunch and shoot......

Karl

[Rozman62]

Try Varget for the .308 with CCI 200 primer and 165 Hornady SST or Sierra Game King or Prohunters. Amax is a very accurate match grade bullet but will not hold up to bone very well.

Powders:
Varget has become my favorite all around powder. It seems to work well in anything however if you are after velocity the there are better powders to use. I use Varget in 4 different loads. Varget and IMR-4064 have equivelent burn rates. I now use H4350 in my 30-06 with the 165g SST but Varget/IMR-4064 are also very good. Finding the powder that gets you to the velocity that your barrel like is key. (harmonic node) This is where having a chrono helps. Your bullet choice is secondary to this in regards to accuracy. These days there really isn't a bad bullet made.

Bullets:
30 cal-Sierra GK,Prohunter, SST, Accubonds, BT's all in 165gr work great.