Load Development
Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:14 am
For those interested, I have a Savage Model 10FP in .308 Win that I have been working up loads for. As far as I can tell, this gun is a shooter and a bargain at that!
Here is a picture of my rifle...
The gun has a 20" barrel which is short as far as most bench gun nuts are concerned, but it is a delight to carry compared to my Savage Model 12lp. I got the POI close in with a box of Winchester 168gr Ballistic Silvertips, and cleaned the rifle a week before the test.
After prepping 400+ cases of .308, I was ready to go shoot the thing! Here are a few of them!
Bought up the supplies to get some loads going. After getting suggestions on a few other boards...It had been pretty much noticed everywhere that VARGET and IMR4064 were the two best powders for the caliber.
Loaded up my first batch of rounds, data as follows...
--------------------------------
10 rounds fired of 43gr Varget, Nosler 165gr Ballistic Tip
10 rounds fired of 44gr Varget, Nosler 165gr Ballistic Tip
10 rounds fired of 45gr Varget, Nosler 165gr Ballistic Tip
Max from Noslers newest manual was 46gr, at 45gr the rifle showed no signs of excessive pressure.
--------------------------------
Turns out, the 44gr Varget load was most accurate, putting 6 shots touching and had 4 flyers due to barrel heat and 10-20mph gusting winds, or user error
I plan on fine tuning this load this week, on a nice day
Also have a batch of 168gr SMK's to try out and I am going to check them at 44gr as well. Once I run out of umph to search for the most accurate load with Varget, I have a pound of IMR4064 to try out as well. People on a few different forums said that 41.5gr of IMR4064 with a 168gr SMK will match the Federal Gold Match stuff. We shall see!
Check on updates!
Justin
Federal Cases
CCI LR primers
2.800" OAL
Here is a picture of my rifle...
The gun has a 20" barrel which is short as far as most bench gun nuts are concerned, but it is a delight to carry compared to my Savage Model 12lp. I got the POI close in with a box of Winchester 168gr Ballistic Silvertips, and cleaned the rifle a week before the test.
After prepping 400+ cases of .308, I was ready to go shoot the thing! Here are a few of them!
Bought up the supplies to get some loads going. After getting suggestions on a few other boards...It had been pretty much noticed everywhere that VARGET and IMR4064 were the two best powders for the caliber.
Loaded up my first batch of rounds, data as follows...
--------------------------------
10 rounds fired of 43gr Varget, Nosler 165gr Ballistic Tip
10 rounds fired of 44gr Varget, Nosler 165gr Ballistic Tip
10 rounds fired of 45gr Varget, Nosler 165gr Ballistic Tip
Max from Noslers newest manual was 46gr, at 45gr the rifle showed no signs of excessive pressure.
--------------------------------
Turns out, the 44gr Varget load was most accurate, putting 6 shots touching and had 4 flyers due to barrel heat and 10-20mph gusting winds, or user error
I plan on fine tuning this load this week, on a nice day
Also have a batch of 168gr SMK's to try out and I am going to check them at 44gr as well. Once I run out of umph to search for the most accurate load with Varget, I have a pound of IMR4064 to try out as well. People on a few different forums said that 41.5gr of IMR4064 with a 168gr SMK will match the Federal Gold Match stuff. We shall see!
Check on updates!
Justin
Federal Cases
CCI LR primers
2.800" OAL
