4) throw away the lightest 10 percent and the heaviest 10 percent of the 1000 pieces.
Anyone got a Load combo they believe to out perform Federal Gold Medal Match in .308
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I kept reading about 8208XBR on the Hide, so I got a jug of it when Graf's had a special and ...
Depends on what you really want out of the gun. In my case I'm using a DPMS 308B. It's a 18" heavy barreled AR platform in 308. I tested with federal GMM and got less than 1/2" at 100 yards. I was in a similar boat and wanted to copy the ammo so I'd have the quality without the cost if at all possible.
The bullets they use are the sierra matcking's and I'm going to assume you're talking about the 168gr load. Now that you know your bullet you've got the first step out of the way. From that, there's an infinite amount of brass, powder, powder weights, and primer combinations, but there are some details you can copy from the factory ammo, if it applies like the overal length. For instance, in my 308 I had planned on loading the rounds longer for better accuracy, but I'm limited in this gun because of magazine dimensions. The federal ammo shot so well that I decided to setup my reloading dies off one of the live rounds so I'd be seating the bullets to a depth that I'd already seen amazing results from.
I know a lot of guys who have used varget powder in their quest to copy the fed GMM ammo and I happen to be one of them. Before working up a load in my gun, I read from a couple sources that 43.0gr of varget was the best load in their guns. Upon working the load in my own rifle I also just happened to find that was the best group in my rifle as well.
My fed gmm 168gr 308 copy load is remington brass, winchester primers, 43.0gr of varget, and a 168gr sierra matchkings set to the same depth as the factory Fed GMM. This load is safe by any book I've ever seen, but work up to it slowly. In my gun this load is right at a 1/2" at 100 yards. If you want better than that you're going to have to go through the benchrest requirements listed above.
My reloading is a lot along the same lines as yours. I bought some Fed GMM to start with and it shot well for me but I wasn't going to continue paying those prices. Part of the reason I wanted .308 was the use of known military loads and components, so I'm using stuff that is pretty well documented in the M852 and M118LR ammo. My goal is to create loads that shoot as well, if not better than GMM as cheap and efficiently as possible.
I pulled a GMM to weigh the load inside, I came up with 42.5 grains. I've heard that they use IMR4064 so thats what I use in Federal cases with a 168 smk. I bought a bunch of M118lr brass and I backed off .5 grain since the cases are thicker and that seams about right. I can shoot either load with no noticeable change in point of impact at 100 yds. I have no complains with the 4064 and its cheaper than Varget.
Like you, my initial thoughts were in sticking the bullets out farther to gain accuracy but thus far I've been matching the GMM seat depth and the ammo & rifle are more accurate than me so until that changes (need more practice) I'm leaving it alone.
Then.... being the frugal cheap arse that I am, I put all the powder back in, seated the bullet and put it all back together to be shot at the range.
Well yeah, of course I did the same thing. That powder looked just like the 4064 but I suppose most extruded powder would. I splurged and bought an RCBS charge-master to meter out the loads. I wouldn't to run that stuff through a powder drop and hand trickle those long extrusions.
I've mentioned this before on some other threads, but one of the things I do to help my make reloading easier is that after I deprime my spent brass, I soak it for 2 hours in a solution of the works. 1 part water to 4 parts "The Works". It cleans them inside and out, and breaks ups any chunks left from the primers. I tumble in walnut shells and then the cases are clean and I don't have to clean primer pockets.
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