Precision rifle series

[ShooterSteve]

38 Superman- check on those Bergers. Many of their bullets are designed to be on the lands when they are shot. Obviously it is hard to do that with mag length OAL. Berger makes great bullets, and I'm not saying that bullet won't work for your application, just check to make sure that their bullet design will go with your intended purpose because many of them will simply not shoot worth a crap with a big jump or the wrong twist barrel

.

Rob01- I've been looking at bags and they are quite pricey, so I'm looking in to making some of my own like you are talking about. I can sew ( don't tell any of my shooter friends), so I'm looking at getting some cordura and experimenting a little bit. I have some nice Protector leather bags for the bench, but they are too low for the field type use. I'm looking for the doll fill. The local Wal-mart doesn't have it. I have some other places to check next.

You should grab a partner and come down for Woody's DMM. Good people down here, but they set up some very challenging courses of fire.

[ShooterSteve]

Also 44gr of Varget and a 175 SMK go into one hole out of two different rifles. For once things went my way

[38superman]

Interesting,

Look at the graphic below.

The Nosler handbook says that you can go up to 46 gr of Varget and they got over 2800 with a 24" barrel.

It also says they got around 2750 at 44 grains in their test rifle.

I didn't.

I've gone up to 44.5 and gotten only 2658 and I'm starting to see the primers flatten a bit.

I would be very hesitant to push this past about 2700 or 45 grains of powder which ever comes first.

Some manuals show max loads of Varget to be 43.5 with their 168's.

Perhaps I'm just too conservative, but I prefer to err on the side of caution.

Edited March 17, 2014 by 38superman

[38superman]

38 Superman- check on those Bergers. Many of their bullets are designed to be on the lands when they are shot. Obviously it is hard to do that with mag length OAL. Berger makes great bullets, and I'm not saying that bullet won't work for your application, just check to make sure that their bullet design will go with your intended purpose because many of them will simply not shoot worth a crap with a big jump or the wrong twist barrel

.

Rob01- I've been looking at bags and they are quite pricey, so I'm looking in to making some of my own like you are talking about. I can sew ( don't tell any of my shooter friends), so I'm looking at getting some cordura and experimenting a little bit. I have some nice Protector leather bags for the bench, but they are too low for the field type use. I'm looking for the doll fill. The local Wal-mart doesn't have it. I have some other places to check next.

You should grab a partner and come down for Woody's DMM. Good people down here, but they set up some very challenging courses of fire.

Steve,

The Bergers I bought are Hybrids which are supposed to give you the benefits (High Ballistic Coefficent) of the VLD bullets without the sensitivity to seating depth.

It has a tangent ogive at the bearing surface and transitions to a secant ogive forward of the bearing surface.

They may not work well in my rifle but I'm going to experiment with a wide variety of bullet weights and styles.

If they work, fine. If not, so be it.

Sounds like the Hornady 178s come highly recommended. They are definately on my shopping list.

I will probably try the 175 SMK as well

Tony

P.S .

I'm glad to hear you made it to Woody's practice day.

Sounds like you're ready to jump in.

Fun stuff isn't it?

Like most things, its a lot harder than it looks.

Edited March 17, 2014 by 38superman

[Rob01]

Steve check arts and crafts stores like Michael's as well or you can order them on the internet. Nothing wrong with being able to sew. I can and that's how I make my bags. I fill a sock with doll fill. Not too full though as you want some adjustment room cut off unused sock and fold the end over and sew it. Then i take that sock and put it in another sock and cut fold and sew the end again but this time I put some shoe goo on the threads to protect them so they don't open up. I have one sock i made that is about 6 years old and has been used hard. Had spots in it I had to repair but it's easy to throw in a few stitches. I have also made an addition in a piece of 550 cord that I can wrap around my stock and hook over the front of my stock pack so the bag stays attached to the rifle when I have to jump up and run.

I wish I could make it down more to NC but it's an 11 hour drive and I can only take off so much time from work. Being a firefighter i don't have weekends off unfortunately. My brother lives down in Lillington now on Christian Light Rd so i always have a place to stay only about 20 mins from range.

You can see how the bag hangs off stock in this pic

[Rob01]

Interesting,

Look at the graphic below.

The Nosler handbook says that you can go up to 46 gr of Varget and they got over 2800 with a 24" barrel.

It also says they got around 2750 at 44 grains in their test rifle.

I didn't.

I've gone up to 44.5 and gotten only 2658 and I'm starting to see the primers flatten a bit.

I would be very hesitant to push this past about 2700 or 45 grains of powder which ever comes first.

Some manuals show max loads of Varget to be 43.5 with their 168's.

Perhaps I'm just too conservative, but I prefer to err on the side of caution.

.308 Loads.jpg

Tony manuals are good places to start but not always right on. Some are very conservative like the Sierra manual. Use them as reference and work up slowly looking for pressure. Also brass makes a difference as some like Winchester has a larger internal capacity so you can get more powder in before seeing pressure. LC brass has a much smaller capacity. I use 45grns of Varget with BH/Win brass and 178s, which is the max listed by Hodgdon, but that would be unsafe in LC brass where usually people are in the 43-43.5grn max range with the 178s.

Also barrels and chambers will be different at where they show pressure so load what's safe for your rifle.

[38superman]

I've been using Nosler brass which probably isn't as small internally as the LC but there is a noticable difference between Nosler and Remington,

(at least in my .223 loads there is).

I think I'll try some Hornady Brass and / or Winchester and see how that works out.

Also think I can push the OAL out .010 and still fit the magazine.

That should show some improvement.

Tls

[rrflyer]

My comp rifle is around 18lbs with a 28" barrel plus muzzle brake.

20" is a more practical size for general purpose use....but then again you don't see people driving Indy cars on the street r using open guns for concealed carry guns.

For 308 the 175smk and 44-45 of varget is a pretty standard load.

Timney or jewell are great triggers.

There's a load of Chassis and stock options out there that are ready to ship.

Mcree, xlr, Manners and McMillan have distributors or are usually ready to ship.

[Chriznak]

No

[Mthomas0001]

Great info guys, thanks!! PRS looks like a ton of fun and I'd like to look into it!