308 on Super 1050

[Taipan]

Hi I would like to get some input from forum members, who load .308 rounds on their 1050's.

A few friends and I want to start shooting 308's to the point where we would use about 150-200 rounds on a weekend.

What I would like to know is if the 1050 would load a decent round for our purposes I am not talking about desexing a fly at a 1000 meters just a basic target/hunting round.

I have heard that the Dillon powder hoppers do not like stick powders at all and people have added things like fish tank pumps to the powder hopper to get the powder to fall consistently.

Ball powders are supposed to be better but are very finicky when it comes to weather changes.

Which is the best case lube for these cases in the 1050 I have read of cases getting stuck in dies when using One Shot Case lube should I stick to Imperial sizing wax to avoid this problem?

Any tips/advice /warnings would be most welcome

Regards and Thanks

[dillon]

The Dillon pump spray case lube uses lanolin as a lubricant, best stuff we've found.

Personally, I like AA-2520 spherical powder in .308. It used to be referred to as "Camp Perry" powder, as it is very popular among service rifle shooters using .308.I-4895 will meter within +/- .2-.3 grain, just fine for any purpose out to 600 yards or more. I once disassembled and weighed twenty rounds of LC -73 match ammo. The powder charge varied a total of .74 grains, or +/- .37 grains. Bullets and cases varied much more.The ammo lot still shot well under 1 MOA.

[technetium-99m]

I've used Ramshot TAC in 308 with great results and that powder runs through measures like water.

[Taipan]

Thanks for the replies guys will do some research on items mentioned.

Just keep those tips and advice coming I need all the info I can lay my hands on.

Regards and Thanks

[freakshow10mm]

TAC is a great powder. Varget does well too. It's made by you guys as ADI 2208 or something like that. Short grain extruded that's temperature insensitive.

Hornady One Shot is great to smooth up loading pistol brass, but sucks for rifle brass and steel dies. Any lanolin/alcohol lube, like the Dillon lube, will be best for rifle.

[pjb45]

I do not load 308 but 5.56 on my 1050. I founding I could not adjust some seating dies because of the overall length of the case and bullet. I forget which seating die (company) did not like the profile of SMK. I called them and was told thier die was profiled to the shape of their bullet and for an additional $15 and 10 bullets, they would customize their die to my 69 SMK bullets. I choose to return the die and go with a differnt brand.

I use VV 133 powder and do not have any issues with major variations in the powder throw/weight. I get very consistent readings from the Chrono.

At first, I used two different tool heads; one to size and trim and the second one to prime, seat,and crimp. In the future I will buy fully processed used brass to eliminate the trimming. I also used the Dillon Super Swage, which I can not say enough good things about it. By buying processed brass I would have saved on the Dillon electronic trimmer (also an awesome device) and Super Swage. Processed brass would have cut my preparation time by 90% at least.

In summary, check to make sure you have enough room to easily seat the bullet and make sure the seating die profile works with your bullet.

[noylj]

I have 3 1050s. Two RLs and one super.

One of the RLs came set up for .223 Rem and the Super came set-up in .308.

Both were being sold because the owner just wasn't shooting any more due to health problems. Both "loved" their presses and, while I haven't loaded any rifle loads yet, they are certainly great presses.

My main thought about progressive presses and bottleneck cartridges is that the loading procedure just doesn't flow.

You have a bucket of fired brass, I inspect, deprime and sort. Then, the cases go into a tumbler with corn for an hour.

Remove the cases and run through separator. Now, I size the cases. Since I am not loading for competition with a sub 1/2 MOA rifle, I resize my brass so they chamber easily. Since I have the case in hand, I scrape out the primer pocket.

After sizing and repriming, I trim and turn necks as required.

Then, I charge the case and seat the bullet and have a loaded round in hand.

To really generate the rounds, IMO, you need some way to trim the cases on the press.

There just seems to be too much fiddling for bottlenect cases for me to feed very comfortable just cranking them out.

[freakshow10mm]

Tumble clean

Inspect

Lube

Size

Prime

Charge

Seat

Tumble to remove lube

Final inspection

I've never bothered to waste time cleaning pockets as it didn't make a bit of difference in accuracy with all the extra work. I simply clean the brass and load it.

[Baer45]

Stick powders like Varget don't flow good in any measure. I like Varget and Ramshot TAC for 308 and load all on S1050 as stated in above post. Best lube for me has been Dillon by far. I have 3 1050s and 2 550's and love them all. Thinking about another S1050 for 223....

Stick with it and after a 100 or so rounds you will have it down. I can get my stick powders within two tenths either way with the Dillon Powder measure and have no difference in point of impact that I can tell...If I really felt a need to see that they were all exact, Dillon makes a powder die where you can dump powder directly in the case when using an electronic trickle measure such as RCBS ChargeMaster, etc. ie pull the handle, dump powder and go to next case,,,,

Good luck!