Reloading .308

Ok, this is a bit of an open question, I understand that... but trying get an idea of why it might be worth it.

I've always had a hankering to reload, but figured that my calibre of choice because I'm poor .308 is so cheap to buy that the cost of reloading makes little sense.

But now and then I think that I'd like to buy some match ammo to see just how straight me an my rifle can actually shoot - and then find that there is not much choice of match ammo around so reloading might not be so daft, and in fact, probably justifiable!

Reloading for .308 - some match, mostly hunting, yay or nay?

Esp. given I can buy Belmont 150gr SP's for $135/100. Hmm, no, wait, it's R150/100 except they are out of stock....

Edit: I suppose that if you reload, then you probably spend a whole lot more time at the range, hence may be more match than I'd think?

Buy a pkt of rem 150 corlokt. They shoot pretty well.

If you are looking to save money stop right now.
If you are looking to improve the performance of your rifle reloading 308 really is one of the best calibers out there....so much projectile choice in 30 cal and so much data available.

A lot of people dont like to mail order and or want the best ammo they can get without the high cost attached to it , $60-70-80 for 20 rounds !! depending on the brand , as you mentioned theres a shortage of stock coming into the country so to have all the components sitting at home to reload at your leisure is also a good reason to load your own , Personally i spent most of my time developing a load but once I have it thats it i never change it so the only time I do any range shooting is now & again just to confirm zero ...like everyone should be doing now before the roar ! .

308 reloading is the way to go to make it a do everything gun

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Originally Posted by davetapson

Ok, this is a bit of an open question, I understand that... but trying get an idea of why it might be worth it.

I've always had a hankering to reload, but figured that my calibre of choice because I'm poor .308 is so cheap to buy that the cost of reloading makes little sense.

But now and then I think that I'd like to buy some match ammo to see just how straight me an my rifle can actually shoot - and then find that there is not much choice of match ammo around so reloading might not be so daft, and in fact, probably justifiable!

Reloading for .308 - some match, mostly hunting, yay or nay?

Esp. given I can buy Belmont 150gr SP's for $135/100. Hmm, no, wait, it's R150/100 except they are out of stock....

Edit: I suppose that if you reload, then you probably spend a whole lot more time at the range, hence may be more match than I'd think?

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Greetings Davetapson,
Contrary to what you may have been told you don't save money by handloading you just shoot more for the same money. If you feel as though you might like to start handloading then the .308 Win is a great place to start. You have to try pretty hard to turn out a load that won't shoot. If you decide to get into it see if you can get an experienced and older handloader to act as your mentor. Its not overly complicated but there is much to learn. You are also hereby warned that is both highly addictive and rewarding. If you want to PM me with questions or suggestions on what you want to achieve please do.
Regards Grandpamac.

I didn't save money by reloading, I ended up shooting more and buying more rifles.
The projectiles are the biggest part of the cost, powder is about 1 cent per grain, primers are cheap, but you have include something for the cases.
My 308 load costs about 80c for the projectile, 45c for powder, 10c for primer, and say 20c for brass. So thats $1.55 per round without including my time or the cost of the equipment.

I handload 308 because it's fun.

What’s your main purpose? Plinking targets or hunting ? If hunting what range do you shoot animals and want to shoot. If your answer is sub 300 yards then factory ammo SPs will be all you need. If you want to stretch out longer then you need high bc pills designed for hunting- not always available in factory ammo and if they are, then expensive. The said high cost factory ammo may not shoot worth shit in your rifle. Reloading will give you choice of projectiles plus ability to tune load to suit your rifle.

Seems like reloading gets you a whole lot more engaged with shooting, which can only be a good thing.
And like the man says, fun.

Spoke to my brother in the US about reloading, he reckons there's no ammo there either, particularly in military like calibres. They reckon it's the preppers loading up their garages...

when they were legal (pre stalinda) i used to load sabot rounds in 308
48gr jhp (22cal) . we kept increasing powder and checking for pressure signs as load data was pretty vague. never figured out how fast our hottest load was as the chrono only went up to 5000fps

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Originally Posted by davetapson

Spoke to my brother in the US about reloading, he reckons there's no ammo there either, particularly in military like calibres. They reckon it's the preppers loading up their garages...

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Probably stocking up for the zombie apocalypse. Their garages must just about full by now so things should return to normal by the end of the year based on previous cycles. One of the funniest things I have seen on TV was an episode of Doomsday Preppers where the prepper shot himself with his 10-22 and had to be helicoptered to hospital. In a survival situation he would have been dead in three days. Most of the rest would have been dead in 3 weeks. Off topic I know but couldn't help myself. In penance I offer the following. For the .308W you could probably load a 150 grain flat base soft point ahead of 44 grains of AR2206H and have an accurate round in 99.9% of .308 rifles and never want for anything more for 90 % of NZ hunting. It just wouldn't be as much fun.
Regards Grandpamac.
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Spot on with that recipe there @grandpamac

Hard to go wrong with AR2206H in 308. Its projectiles I keep mucking around with...

46gr N140 150gr interloc thank me later.

The .308 was too boring to reload for so I sold mine.

Other thing was 30 cals being a bit heavy and slow.

6mm&7mm is the future.

Like the team have said, reloading is the best way to go, yes there is an initial set up cost but you will recoup this, but you won’t save anything, you’ll just shoot more, then the sickness sets in as the 308 is a “gateway drug” soon you’ll be paper patching .577, testing the hardness of your 25/06 cast loads and sorting out what best polenta to use in your 6.5 cast Carcano load, you’ll then start casing 000 and sabots, dabbling in suppressed loads and then one day someone will give you a percussion cap black powder rifle......then your journey really starts, so yeah, id give reloading a crack

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

Probably stocking up for the zombie apocalypse. Their garages must just about full by now so things should return to normal by the end of the year based on previous cycles. One of the funniest things I have seen on TV was an episode of Doomsday Preppers where the prepper shot himself with his 10-22 and had to be helicoptered to hospital. In a survival situation he would have been dead in three days. Most of the rest would have been dead in 3 weeks. Off topic I know but couldn't help myself. In penance I offer the following. For the .308W you could probably load a 150 grain flat base soft point ahead of 44 grains of AR2206H and have an accurate round in 99.9% of .308 rifles and never want for anything more for 90 % of NZ hunting. It just wouldn't be as much fun.
Regards Grandpamac.
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Or if you have 2208 then 45 grains of AR 2208 does the same trick. I use this in all my .308s

My mix is 47 grains of 2206h with a Barnes TTSX - expensive but super accurate through my 308

I’m new to reloading and like others have said it’s addictive. I was shooting factory 150 soft points (SP) and had great success on all animals I threw them at 250m and under. Over lock down last year I started to reload mostly 9mm but had 308 dies too and just went from there. The forum was a great help. Ultimately I was chasing accuracy - the 150s were good maybe 1cm spacing ( I don’t understand MOA so I’ll use basic terms ) but the 130s were touching in groups of 3 (key holing) My tikka loves the 130s accuracy wise but the 150s just put animals on the deck better. It’s worth it in my eyes not for the $$ but for that added bonus of you made the bullet that put the deer on your table - or in my case others tables.

Slight hijacking I'm about to load up some 168 amxs have 2206h and 2208 and ideas gents? 43 gns sounds about right to me as a start but which powder was thinking 08?

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Originally Posted by Kelton

Slight hijacking I'm about to load up some 168 amxs have 2206h and 2208 and ideas gents? 43 gns sounds about right to me as a start but which powder was thinking 08?

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This was a pretty warm load so work up watching for preassure signs.

Lapua brass fed 215 primer 47gr 2208 168gr amax @75.5mm coal for 2750fps from 22" Sako 85 and 75

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

This was a pretty warm load so work up watching for preassure signs.

Lapua brass fed 215 primer 47gr 2208 168gr amax @75.5mm coal for 2750fps from 22" Sako 85 and 75

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Cheers dude very much appreciated il still start low was just unsure of powder out of the two for the 168

Thanks again

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Originally Posted by Kelton

Slight hijacking I'm about to load up some 168 amxs have 2206h and 2208 and ideas gents? 43 gns sounds about right to me as a start but which powder was thinking 08?

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Greetings Kelton,
I chronographed some test loads with 165 grain Hornady Interlok projectiles using 43 grains of AR2206, AR2206H, Dupont IMR4064 and AR2208. They delivered 2,585, 2,575, 2,445 and 2,425 fps respectively. The rifle had a 20 inch barrel and a DPT suppressor. The AR2206 and AR2206H loads would have been near max from the Hodgdons Data. All were accurate. The AR2206 and AR2206H loads were as predicted from the Hodgdon Data allowing for barrel length and The last two slower.
Regards Grandpamac.

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Originally Posted by Cigar

I didn't save money by reloading, I ended up shooting more and buying more rifles.
The projectiles are the biggest part of the cost, powder is about 1 cent per grain, primers are cheap, but you have include something for the cases.
My 308 load costs about 80c for the projectile, 45c for powder, 10c for primer, and say 20c for brass. So thats $1.55 per round without including my time or the cost of the equipment.

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Your budget is similar to mine. I bring in Berger Hybrid projectiles direct from the US at NZ$1.00 per projectile landed in NZ.
I include replacement cost for a barrel $0.20 per shot.
Cases $0.16 per use, aim for 10 firings.
Powder $0.40, primer $0.10.

Cost per round $1.86

I run 168eldms and was getting pressure at 46gr of 2208 according to my mate so settled on 45.5. Need to double check speed but around 2730 from a 20" suppressed barrel. About 2.85" coal in federal brass and federal LR primers. Likes 43.5gr as well but as you know work up

I did read some where that 43.5 was a bit of a pet load very accurate in most cheers lads somewhere to start anyway.

Regards

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Originally Posted by Boaraxa

A lot of people dont like to mail order.................................

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ESPECIALLY now as it takes Constable Plod months + to send his approval to your supplier to send it to you.

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings Kelton,
I chronographed some test loads with 165 grain Hornady Interlok projectiles using 43 grains of AR2206, AR2206H, Dupont IMR4064 and AR2208. They delivered 2,585, 2,575, 2,445 and 2,425 fps respectively. The rifle had a 20 inch barrel and a DPT suppressor. The AR2206 and AR2206H loads would have been near max from the Hodgdons Data. All were accurate. The AR2206 and AR2206H loads were as predicted from the Hodgdon Data allowing for barrel length and The last two slower.
Regards Grandpamac.

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Thank you kind sir.

I picked up a fresh 1kg of 2206h today very unexpected

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Originally Posted by Dama dama

I handload 308 because it's fun.

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same

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Originally Posted by Kiwi Sapper

ESPECIALLY now as it takes Constable Plod months + to send his approval to your supplier to send it to you.

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That doesn't apply to all AO's. My local AO does it the same day, usually within an hour or two.

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Originally Posted by Cyclops

I include replacement cost for a barrel $0.20 per shot.

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You should add that to the cost per round of factory ammunition too, if you're comparing.