308 AR loads

[ShooterSteve]

I recently picked up a 16" ar in 308. I have 168 Hornadys and Varget on hand, and will try those loads with this thing. I'm just looking to find out if anyone has favorites that shoot out of a barrel this short. Will be a general purpose 3g rifle so I want it to be reasonably accurate (2 min or so), but also affordable. I've loaded a bunch of 308 for bolt guns, but I'm new to a self loader. One thing I found out, with a 16" barrel, and a Rolling Thunder comp, the people shooting next to me don't like it too much

[bunsen27]

I recently picked up a 16" ar in 308. I have 168 Hornadys and Varget on hand, and will try those loads with this thing. I'm just looking to find out if anyone has favorites that shoot out of a barrel this short. Will be a general purpose 3g rifle so I want it to be reasonably accurate (2 min or so), but also affordable. I've loaded a bunch of 308 for bolt guns, but I'm new to a self loader. One thing I found out, with a 16" barrel, and a Rolling Thunder comp, the people shooting next to me don't like it too much

I just got my first AR-10 as well recently, although more for a LR application than 3gun (24" barrel). 168's & 175's with ~ 42-44gr of Varget are a pretty good load in most AR-10's although your 16" barrel might just be a little too short to realize the potential of the 175's at distance.

For a more economical 3gun load I believe many HM shooters are running Hornaday 150gr FMJ's over W748, AA2460, or TAC. All of those are ball powders so they meter well in a Dillon powder measure or other volume type powder measue. Might want to put up a post in the Multi Gun section. I'm sure several of the HM guys would be willing to share their hoser recipes.

One thing I can add as far as case prep goes for bolt vs. AR's use a case guage on every round after FL resizing and trimming. Also consider the small base sizer dies.

[Graham Smith]

168gr over Varget is a popular load for bolt actions, but it might not be that good for a 16" barrel AR. The main issue is that a moderately heavy bullet over a moderately slow powder just are not going to build up enough velocity for any kind of distance.

You might be better off going with a lighter bullet and a faster powder. I've seen loads for 125gr over a fast powder like TAC or H4895 up close to 3100fps (that's probably from a 24" barrel) as opposed to the max 2700 you will get with the 168's over Varget.

YMMV

[ShooterSteve]

Thanks for the help guys, I'll have to check into this and see if I can get this thing running good. Bunsen27- I hope to make the DPRC match in June. I have been helping with the match at Rowan, which is the same weekend, so I haven't made it up. We have soccer through May, so shooting a match then will be delayed. See you guys soon.

[SHinck82]

The Hornady 150 FMJ is a great round for 3 gun. it's cheap and I can shot sub-moa groups at 300m with it. I use 44.9gr of reloader 15 with an OAL of 2.815

[VegasOPM]

I load for a 16" FN SCAR and I have had good luck with 168gr Noslers loaded to 2.800" over 44.0gr of Varget. They run around 2550fps and reliably print sub MOA. That load is great in pretty much any match grade semi-auto rifle.