38supPat Posted September 16, 2017 Share Posted September 16, 2017 Picked one up for fun. Anyone have experience loading for it? Tested some factory loads yesterday and compared against my 700 PSS .308 24" rifle for accuracy and velocity. All loads lost around 150fps. Tried Hornady Precision Hunter 178 ELD-X, shot ok in 16.5" terrible in 24" (1/10 twist vs. 1/12 twist) the real surprise was Hornady Black 168 AMAX. In both rifles it kept poking .5" groups time after time. Right now I have the 16.5" barrelled action in a Bell and Carlson M40 stock, factory Hogue was in contact with the barrel, I don't mean it flexes and touched the barrel, it was in contact all the time. EGW base and rings, Bushnell 3-12 elite Tactical G2DMR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckfarris Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 I used to have an SPS with an 18" barrel. My go to load for it was 44.0 grains of Varget and a 168 AMAX loaded to 2.820 OAL. That load seems to shoot amazing in every 308 I have tried it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted October 23, 2017 Author Share Posted October 23, 2017 Yeah it really seems to like 168gr loads, doesn’t seem to matter if it’s 168SMK or 168 Amax (maybe a slight edge to the Amax) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balwolley Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Not sure the distance you're shooting this thing but I had a short ish barreled .308 that LOVED 125 speer bullets.. for plinking and varmints out to 3-400 yards it was a laser. With the short barrel a tad faster powder will make you a really nice load for a quick handling rifle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted November 14, 2017 Author Share Posted November 14, 2017 I put this together as part fun project and part as a deer rifle since most of the area I hunt in is thick bush and longer rifles are a PITA. This year it worked like a charm, easy to handle and manoeuvre with....but only deer I saw were at 600m and out of range. It works well with 168gr match bullets but over the winter I’m going to work up a couple loads with 175smk and 178 ELD-X and see what I get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old3GNR Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 In my Remington 700 LTR, 175 SMK over 44.5 Varget w. CCI BR-2 primers has been a great load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted November 14, 2017 Author Share Posted November 14, 2017 In my 700PSS 175 SMK over 44gr or Varget worked well, not so much in this 16.5” 1/10” twist barrel...it’s ok but not great, not nearly as good as the 168 AMAX or SMK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted November 26, 2017 Author Share Posted November 26, 2017 Well I had a good day doing load development today. Looks like I can get the 175SMK to shoot in both guns. Just need to run them a bit hotter. The 178 ELD-X still wasn’t as good but I may be able to come up with a half decent load for hunting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 Out with this again, looks like 44gr Varget with the 175SMK is dialed in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tophernj Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 The 168/175 bullets over anywhere between 43.8 and 44.8 seem to always run just fine for me. I always use this as a starting point for development. nice little group. Congrats and good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 44.9 worked best in the long rifle and seems to shoot OK in the short Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted March 11, 2020 Author Share Posted March 11, 2020 I think the brass made a difference, this was the first time trying Starline .308 brass. The long rifle is the one I’ve used for PRS the last two years and this is the best I’ve seen it group. It’s normally a 3/4” rifle. The shorty has been a bit of a struggle. It shot OK but not fantastic, now it seems like it’s coming into its own. Maybe it’s just broken in lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tophernj Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 11 hours ago, 38supPat said: now it seems like it’s coming into its own. Maybe it’s just broken in lol I'm a believer in this, actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted March 12, 2020 Author Share Posted March 12, 2020 I wasn’t but I’m starting to be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRG65 Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 My most recent 308 has liked H4895 better than Varget for accuracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tophernj Posted March 13, 2020 Share Posted March 13, 2020 On 3/11/2020 at 7:53 AM, 38supPat said: I think the brass made a difference, this was the first time trying Starline .308 brass. The long rifle is the one I’ve used for PRS the last two years and this is the best I’ve seen it group. It’s normally a 3/4” rifle. The shorty has been a bit of a struggle. It shot OK but not fantastic, now it seems like it’s coming into its own. Maybe it’s just broken in lol How many rounds down the pipe? I usually get awesome groups in the first 20 rounds or so. Then it falls off a bit. Then it comes back after, maybe a hundred or so. The brass forms to the chamber. The leade angle smooths out. The lands/grooves settle out. It all makes sense to me... At least in my head it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted March 13, 2020 Author Share Posted March 13, 2020 Probably around 200? After the last session I really wasn’t happy where the accuracy level was, it will shoot some loads ok like AA 168 match, but other match not so much. So I took everything apart and reassembled it and gave the barrel a really good scrubbing. Now it shoots awesome. I’ll give it another good cleaning and then try some previous loads through it and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tophernj Posted March 13, 2020 Share Posted March 13, 2020 10 hours ago, 38supPat said: Probably around 200? After the last session I really wasn’t happy where the accuracy level was, it will shoot some loads ok like AA 168 match, but other match not so much. So I took everything apart and reassembled it and gave the barrel a really good scrubbing. Now it shoots awesome. I’ll give it another good cleaning and then try some previous loads through it and see. I will also say this... Some guns seem to prefer clean barrels. Like, really clean and scrubbed. Most of my rifles (thank God) have been happy with a Hoppe's and brush in the chamber and a dry patch or three to make sure everything is out of the chamber after 200 or so rounds and that's it. Then a good scrubbing before it gets put away for the winter. As a guess, I'd say you may have a tighter bore and that's why when "dirty" it doesn't shoot as well. That's pure speculation on my part as I'm far from an expert in these matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted March 13, 2020 Author Share Posted March 13, 2020 Given that it’s a factory barrel I’m not sure. It doesn’t seem like a particularity fast barrel. The 24” load of 44.9 was around 2650fps and in the 16.5” it was right on 2500fps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee blackman Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 Best thing I ever did to my Rem 700 SBS tactical 20” was throw the hogue stock in the dumpster where it belonged, drop the gun in an HS Precision I picked up used off this forum, recrown that barrel, and drop an old adjustable factory Remington trigger on it. I went from an extremely inconsistent 2ish moa pain in the rear to a solid sub minute rifle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted August 13, 2020 Author Share Posted August 13, 2020 If the Hogue stock was just a bit more rigid it probably wouldn’t be a half bad stock for a budget gun, it’s just too flexible as is. Ok for a hunting stock but not for precision. I did the same thing as you with my .223 SPS tactical. Picked up an HS precision take off and swapped it out. I did nothing else and turned it into a one hole rifle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SGT_Schultz Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 @38supPat did you ever get the Hornady 178s to shoot? That's all I've been shooting for years in a 24" 1-12 Howa 1500 with stellar accuracy and with plenty of stability out to 1000 yards. Now I'm having that barrel cut to 17" so I imagine I'll have to bump the powder a bit more to speed them up and maintain stability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted August 15, 2020 Author Share Posted August 15, 2020 The 178 ELD-m shot pretty good in the 24” but the 16.5” really seems to like the 175 smk. I’ve got to get out with the rifles and do some more testing now that the ranges are open again. I’d love to know what Hornady is doing with their superperformance line. The 165SST Load will go out the 16.5” barrel at around 2700fps, most other equivalent loads are around 2550fps. Expect to lose 150fps going from 24” to 17” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SGT_Schultz Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 On 8/15/2020 at 6:56 PM, 38supPat said: Expect to lose 150fps going from 24” to 17” Sounds good. Couple of points, I've checked stability using the Miller formula calculator in JBM ballistics for the 178 ELD-X, 178 ELD-M, and Prvi Partizan 175 gr B593 (a close clone of the SMK 175) assuming 2450 fps and zero degrees. All checked well above 1.3. I'm ready to re-start load development if my current load (178 ELD-X, 42.5 gr Ramshot TAC, S&B LR primers, Win brass) falls apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
357magag Posted December 11, 2021 Share Posted December 11, 2021 Unfortunately my experience wasn't great with this factory REM. Mine must have been made on Friday afternoon..It would shoot better than 2 MOA with any load. Even put a HS Precision stock on it. Finally just sold it as a donor action gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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