I recently bought reloading eq. I was wondering if any one is shooting the Rem. 700 P in .308 with the 26" barrel? I am looking for good loads for this, as i am new to the reloading scene i am not great with figuring them out yet. Any help would b great.

I recently bought reloading eq. I was wondering if any one is shooting the Rem. 700 P in .308 with the 26" barrel? I am looking for good loads for this, as i am new to the reloading scene i am not great with figuring them out yet. Any help would b great.


Are so many .308 loads, it can get confusing. What you want to do with the rifle will point you in the right direction.

For just accuracy, not game, there are a few loads that have always worked for me (in several .308's). One is the 168gr.HPBT MAtch Sierra (or Hornady) over 42gr. of 4895 in commercial .308cases. I'd start with 39.5gr. and stop by 42.5gr., somehwer along the line you'll find a load that works.

Not real fast and the HPBT Match bullets really don't work well on game, but they shoot small groups.

The best accuracy with my Remington Varmint 308 has been with AA2520 and Sierra 168gr HPBT.

There are many excellent powders and loads available.

Enjoy.

The 308 has been used for so many diverse applications from varmint hunting, big game hunting, bench rest shooting to target shooting that as ribbonstone says there are lots of different loads.

You might check at the top of the page and click the loadswap section to see if there are any loads there you might want to try.

I'm using 4064 and 150 grain Sierra Game Kings in my 308 Remington model 7 carbine with excellent results for deer.

One of the problems with popular cartridges is the plethora of loads that work well, excellent, and even Exceptional that are published in the loading books. It is quite overwhelming when taken as a whole! But there are ways to mitigate any problem...

First: What are you wanting to do with this gun?
Second: What are the fiscal restraints?
Third: What are the "other" constraints?
Fourth: What is your definition of "good" ?

Achieving optimum precision for any given gun will take a lot of time and effort. Even if you get a lucky guess, you will still need to try everything else for completeness.

I don't have a Remington, but I do have a Winchester with a 26" barrel. In all honesty, with today's manufacturing capabilities, the barrel length and trigger are the only things worthy of consideration in production guns. Of course that is ignoring the "Lemons" and the percentage of "lemons" in any given production run...

In my, admittedly limited, experience any properly loaded round built from published data and constructed with any degreee of dilligence will perform well in any gun made in the last 30 or so years. Pick one and start investigating what your gun wants in tearms of "power" and seating depth.

My recommendation is to start with 4895 (either IMR or Hodgdon) or Varget powder, and either Hornady 165gr InterBond (for hunting) or 168gr Sierra Match King (for target shooting) bullets and start working from there. The important part is to pick a powder, a bullet, and a case brand to work with and change everything else to find what works best. Once you know what works best with this combination, you will know what directions to go in the future.

Also note: By the time you know what really works "best" in your gun, you will need a new barrel, and will get to start the whole process over from the beginning ;)

Good Luck!

The 308 has been used for so many diverse applications from varmint hunting, big game hunting, bench rest shooting to target shooting that as ribbonstone says there are lots of different loads.

You might check at the top of the page and click the loadswap section to see if there are any loads there you might want to try.

I'm using 4064 and 150 grain Sierra Game Kings in my 308 Remington model 7 carbine with excellent results for deer.


When I was stool sitting a friend Fred Heimler had a .308 40X with 26inch bbl and a combo of Sierra 150s and IMR4064 produced some of the smallest groups at 200yds I have seen, this was an accuracy load from an older Lyman manual. That is my go to when loading for any .308

I load 7.62 NATO/308 for two AR10s I've found that IMR 4064 is the go to powder with 168 grain bullets.
Jim

I use IMR4064 for 150..165 grain hunting bullets, and IMR4320 for 168 grain match. 4320 was my go to for years, and is still great for 150..168 grain bullets. Very good if you are on a limited budget. I use 4320 for 6.5x55 through 7mm Rem Mag. Great all around powder.

I use IMR4064 for 150..165 grain hunting bullets, and IMR4320 for 168 grain match. 4320 was my go to for years, and is still great for 150..168 grain bullets. Very good if you are on a limited budget. I use 4320 for 6.5x55 through 7mm Rem Mag. Great all around powder.
Vihtivouri 550, Fed 210 match primers, and Sierra168 gr. matchkings = very small groups !!! Shoot this out of my Rem. 700 Varmit Special, 23.5 in barrel, blue printed action , 3 lb. trigger, topped off with a Leupold 3.5x10x42 LPS scpoe in Badger Ordinance mounts and rings, awesome !

No mention of the following by the original poster but if young/lady shooter loads can be downloaded with H4895--NOT IMR..

Loads can be 60% of any published load for reduced recoil. Confirm on Hodgdon website.

As already mentioned, you need to decide what you want to do with this rifle.
Shoot at paper targets, or hunt with it?
You cannot go wrong with the 150 grain bullet, from any of the manufacturers, as a good bullet for the .308 Winchester. Good accuracy as well.
Many target loads for longer distances (300 + yards) use the 168 grain match bullets.
Once you decide on the use, then you can decide on the powder, although all of the suggestions above are good.

4064 with 150 grain Remington bulk bullts has given me MOA groups in 308.

If you're looking for accuracy here's how I would do it. For a factory barrel you'll usually want a 168gr bullet for your best accuracy. Sierra 168's are supposed to be good, also consider Nosler Custom competition, and if you have the money get Bergers. Now to primers, use Federal 110's or 110M's for maximum accuracy. Now that we have a bullet and a primer you need a good powder. Stick powders are less prone to temperature issues so if you don't want to change your load much from season to season I would go with a good stick powder(you still may have to back off if you work up a load in the winter and then shoot on a hot summer day). I prefer N-140 or N-150(N-133 wins a lot of hunterclass matches around here but is faster than what you want with a factory barrel and 168gr bullet. N-140/N-150 should be good as well). To find your load you need to get some cases that have already been fired in your chamber(fire-formed. This DOES NOT mean they have been in a fire). Go to a re-loading manual and select the middle load(NEVER go strait to a max load) for the powder you've chosen. It is most convenient to load at the range and adjust as you go, but if you can't, load 7 rounds at that load, add .25-.50 grains and load 6 more. Add again and load 7, add again and load 6, ect... until you've gone slightly above the max load in the re-loading manual. CLEARLY mark which rounds have how much powder. Now go to the range. Run a dry patch through your barrel(assuming it has been properly cleaned and stored with Hoppes No9 in the bore. Always store a barrel with Hoppes 9. It is oily and will protect you from rust and does not contain ammonia which will etch your barrel if you let it soak for days on end). Start with the cases that had the LEAST powder in them. Shoot 1 shot on a sighter target and disreagard. Now shoot two 3 shot groups with the first batch of ammo and two 3 shot groups with the second batch. After EACH SHOT pay close attention to how hard it is to open the bolt AND look at your primers. If you it gets exceedingly difficult to open the bold or if your primers get a sharp edge(look at a loaded round and how round the edge of the primer is) then the load is getting a bit hot, and you should stop shooting and use less powder next time. If your primers look OK then run a wet patch of Butch's Bore Shine(contains a little ammonia and is great for getting copper out) through the barrel and then brush with Butch's for 15 strokes. Let it soak a minute. Run another wet patch to get the grunge out. Now WRAP a patch around a Parker Hale or Dewey style jag and use some Iosso or JB's bore cleaner. Work this patch back and forth in the first 8-10 inches of the barrel to remove powder fouling. Run a few more wet patches through until they come out clean, run one dry patch and then run one patch with just a drop of Butch's Gun Oil NOT BORE SHINE through the barrel. Shoot one shot on a sighter and again disregard. Repeat the above process for three shot groups. Continue with the increased loads until you start getting flat primers or get a grain or so over the max load in your manual. If everything looks good on the primers I still don't recommend going much over max if you're new to re-loading. Some day you'll encounter the primer issues I'm talking about and, after having seen them, you'll be more comfortable pushing loads a little. Now that you've shot quite a few 3 shot groups lets take a look at them and compare. Toss out the loads that were clearly worse than the others on BOTH groups. Test a little further if you think you have a promising load or two, or if one is clearly the winner then stick with it. That's how I would go about picking out a good load. There is a lot to be said about the brass you're shooting as well. I'm assuming you already have brass and only mentioned the components that need to be replaced every time. For the BEST in brass go with Sako or RWS. Neither is cheap or easy to find. For the best READILY available brass go with Norma, Lapua is only slightly behind and is nearly half the price. Both can be found at Midway USA and a number of other suppliers. I don't recommend any other brands of brass. A whole book could be written on proper case prep so I'll leave that alone. I would recommend a Wilson hand die for seating the bullet and after finding a load would fiddle with seating depth in a similar manner if you wanted to eak out just a little more. For re-sizing for a beginner I would go with a Redding Type S Full Length die and only partial size(screw the die in only enough that the ram stops about 3/16ths of an inch from the base of the die). You may notice that your gun needs more than one fouling shot after you clean or that you can't get 13 shots off without the groups spreading. You'll have to fiddle with how many you load at each level to work around this. A good way to work around fouling is to use Molly or Danzac coated bullets, but they too come with their share of issues. Good luck!!!

For a hunting load it depends on what you're hunting. For smaller game(whitetail and the like) it doesn't matter much, just don't get too big a bullet(stay around 150 or less). For the bigger stuff you can go as high as maybe a 180 or so and put as much powder in there as you can w/o getting signs of pressure. For the lighter bullets try BL-C(2), N-133 or N-140, and for the heavier ones try N-150. Pick the powder that your re-loading manual shows the highest velocities with. You should be able to hit a deer where you want to with just about any load and at just about any reasonable range.