.308 MOR Bullets

[EricW]

BJ,

If you go .308 and decide to reload, take a hard look at the Nosler 168 HPBT's. They're substantially cheaper than Sierras ($130/k if you buy in the 250 pack versus $180/K for Sierras) and every bit Sierra's equal. I'm getting ready to buy a bunch more and go warm up the 308 here soon.

If you don't reload, everybody swears by Black Hills. Even with remanufactured BH ammo, I think you could save a ton of money by rolling your own. And I guess Black Hills is having their annual mega-sale on ammo here very soon, so if you're going to buy ammo, you'd best do it within the next week or two.

FWIW...

[MattBurkett]

I took a hard look at that caliber and the issue is brass, barrel life, cost, and reduced magazine capacity.

Try out some Berger bullets in your .308 with N550 powder. Think you may be surprised what you can do with it. Awesome BC's for the .308 and the 550 cranks them out! Use Varget for practicing since the availability and cost is significantly lower.

The .260 is a pretty cool round. I haven't seen the problems knocking down steel that some have reported. Practice brass check out the Remington - for comps you may want to run the Lapua .243 and size it up the .20, great brass. FYI N550 yet again.

Take care,

Matt

[EricW]

Try out some Berger bullets in your .308 with N550 powder. Think you may be surprised what you can do with it.

Matt,

Which version of the Berger? The VLD?

[MattBurkett]

Oh yeah!

[kellyn]

A second vote for the 168 Nosler. That bullet just plains shoots and does not hurt to buy. Clearly Nosler is out for Sierra.

Lapua brass = good stuff.

Better to neck up .243s as opposed to necking down .308s since you don't have to turn/ream necks. Yccch.

7WSM = expensive

[Chriss Grube]

Check Pwoder Valley for Lapua Scenars.. Great BC and the price is better than the SMK's. Just make sure you count them when they come. Last ones I ordered came up 360 short of the 1000 that was to be there.

If you are going to shoot 1K the 175's are a better choice than the 168's. I'm waiting to try some of the 185 Scenars.

[EricW]

How much of a performance difference are we talking about between a 168 gr. "Matchking" profile and the Berger VLD's and the Scenars? Is it mainly just better wind characteristics that are the benefit?

[MattBurkett]

Eric,

First you get a box of all of them and figure out which one your gun likes the best. If there is no difference then you use the one with the best BC.

:-)

[paraman1]

You can also order the 168 Nosler J4 directly from Nosler . I think it was 135 bucks shipped for 1000 when dad and I ordered them last time (we ordered 2K so we may have saved some money that way).

[cottyw]

173 pulled match bullets. 100$ per 1000

I make my ammo for .25 a piece.

I have lost my mind on this long range shooting. I am hooked big time. Some friends and I have been experimenting this entire year and have finally gotten consistent hits out to 1000 yards. My 3-gun and pistol shooting have almost died. I feel like an addict.

My load for my savage 10fp 20” (cut down from 24) is 44 grains of Varget. Cases are match prepped with all the gadgets from Sinclair.

I read the articles you guys posed here about the 20” barrels and tried it. They were right. I still get 2600 fps in the winter and due to the shorter barrel and less friction it does not seem to heat up as fast.

The gun will shoot 6” at 1000 consistently.

Hitting a man size target at 1000 yard first round impact with .308 is difficult. Humidity, temperature and barometric pressure all play a little role in dope. Out to 800 yards hitting is relatively easy. I think a lot of the guys who say it (.308) falls off fast are telling the truth. The flatter the trajectory the less the above-mentioned factors will effect your bullet. If you have a good spotter you can put –3 MOA for 1000 yards and your spotter can usually put you on the target second round.

We made out targets out of welded car suspension leaf springs. They are IPSC targets painted tan. When hit the hit shows up black. You can see the hits easily out to 1000 yards.

We also put together a remote viewing system that will let us look at paper targets at 1000 yards. We are building this to let us practice for F-class competition.

I think a laser range finder or a good eye is critical for ranging targets. Mil Dot reticles only go so far and at extreme distances. The target must be pretty big for them to be accurate. Mirage also affects their practicality. I have a 10x Super Sniper. It is a very good scope. The clicks are dead on and the glass is clear.

I tied my bipod legs together to make them quick extend. I also tied my bean bad to the rear sling swivel so it is always there. I used Velcro to put my Mil Dot Master and my slope doper on the gun. The reason I put all this on the gun was to make my shots as fast as possible under stress.

Matt,

You were right if you want to be good you will do whatever it takes to find a place to shoot. You can shoot in North Carolina out to 1000 yards but it will take some work to find the facility and partners who are as crazy about Long Range shooting as you.

TPS will be making a detachable magazine for the savage soon, which will complete my rifle. I will start competing as soon as I get the conversion.

Will