Range Report

[Brian in Montana]

Yeah a picture would help. You can also get a small ring about 1/8-1/4" above the case head from multiple resizings. I believe it is about where your dies stop working on the brass.

I'll try to take a pic tonight when I get home, but yeah when I say "bulge" it could also be described as a raised "ring". You can run your thumb over it and feel it. I'll also measure it. I'm certain its not from the die, wasn't there before I shot it.

 

[Don Fischer]

COL is 2.8"
Measured from the polymer tip, not the olive.

I have some test loads for .308 I wanted to shoot more the other day, before the blizzard started. The first 2 loads were surprisingly awful. 4-5 inch groups.

Olive????????????

 

[huronmtns]

Olive - means ogive in smart phone language.

 

[Brian in Montana]

I was going to post a couple of pics of the brass I mentioned that has the bulge/ring at the base, but I really couldn't get a pic in which you could very well see what I'm talking about. I showed them to a friend who reloads a lot. His opinion was that I should back off on the load a few tenths and maybe give it another try.

Another interesting thing is those casings all measures about 7 or 8 thousandths long whereas the others, maybe only 2 or 3 thousandths.

 

[Brian in Montana]

Olive????????????

Yeah, somebody else already scolded me for drinking martinis while handloading. I don't even like martinis. Or olives.

 

[TheJason]

Yeah, somebody else already scolded me for drinking martinis while handloading. I don't even like martinis. Or olives.

WTF is wrong with martinis? And drinking one while hand loading?

 

[mtmuley]

WTF is wrong with martinis? And drinking one while hand loading?

Ahhh... Martinis and the Needmoor. Makes sense. mtmuley

 

[TheJason]

Ahhh... Martinis and the Needmoor. Makes sense. mtmuley

Haha, I knew that would catch your eye. Not really a martini guy, but damn do I like olives and asparagus in my Caesars!

 

[Elkhunter24]

Good group! how far?

 

[Brian in Montana]

Well, I got out to the range this morning before this awful weather set in. I have determined that Varget pushing 165grn Scirocco II's is a no-deal in my .308. Wow. Surprisingly bad. Most groups looked like buckshot. Maybe another powder? I have on my shelf the following: Varget, H4350 (which I understand is not recommended in .308), and H4895 (maybe I'll give this a try).

7mm-HT: I got one load to group about 1" using 48.5 grains of H4350 behind 139 grain Hornady Interlock BTSP, doing about 2800FPS, but it's hard to get too excited about that when I have another load of Nosler AB's grouping at slightly over .5".

Anyway, it was fun. Gonna keep loading and trying new things.

 

[N2TRKYS]

I've no personal experience with Sciroccos, but have heard that they seem to be more sensitive to seating depth. It may be that instead of your powder?

 

[Knight.54]

Good info, good advice and yes a good feeling when something you have crafted performs to top expectations and brings dinner home!

 

[Brian in Montana]

On Saturday I shot some of my .308 loads using Varget pushing 165grn NABs. I should have just held off because the wind was awful and gusting. I could get good and settled in, start to squeeze, and the wind would gust up. Oh well, don't have a lot of range time at present so gotta get what got. I didn't haul out the chronograph but despite the wind the 43 grain load was about .75MOA. 44 grains was interesting too. 5 shots - 3 touching and about a half inch low/right the other 2 were touching. I have more loads in the batch.

150grn ELD-X, H4350 out of my 7-08 - I shot my 1st 3 loads in this batch, so far not too bueno.

 

[BRI]

I did some load development for my niece's ruger American 308 last year. I tried varget, H4895, RL15. That gun really liked 44.5 grains of RL15 pushing a 165 grain Accubond, .038 from the lands.

I started reloading about 4 years ago and it's addicting. Good luck.

 

[Brian in Montana]

Varget and Accubonds seem to do good things together. Seem to be like peanut butter and jelly. I seem to have accuracy nodes around 43.5 grains and 46 grains. 46 is the max. Sure seems like a lot of power in the little .308 casing but it's accurate and I didn't have pressure signs. I'm going load up some more and break out the chrono.

On the 7-HT I was testing 150grn ELD-Xs with H4350. My very first load, in a hyper-clean barrel, shot a group about 1.75". It just went down hill from there. Every load increased by .5 grains was a little worse than the last. I didn't even shoot my last load. I'm just gonna pull them and do something else. Maybe H4895? A little disappointing. I was hoping for something good out of that batch.