Thread: Powder recommendations for short barrel 308?

Originally Posted by John Duxbury

Basically the powder that gets the highest velocity in a long barrel will get the highest velocity in a short barrel. This idea that shorter barrels benefit from a faster burning powder is not really a thing.

This means use 2208 or 2206H. Either will work well. I use 2208 in my .308 for what its worth.

Using the faster powders often means you will get near complete powder burn before the bullet leaves the barrel. Might not mean much for velocity or accuracy, but not having all of that unburnt powder meeting an oxygen rich environment in your suppressor is always a bonus.
I bought a second hand 10" 308, and the poor suppressor on that was in a poor state after only 100 rounds of factory ammo. Shooting without the suppressor would invariably show a massive muzzle blast.

Still get 2750 from factory superformance 150gr sst from 14.5" barrel

2206h or 2208.
But heard stories of no 2206h in the next shipment

Originally Posted by bjp

I've had good accuracy with both 2208 and 2206h with 150-168gr projectiles. Just recently got a Bergara with 16.5" barrel, plus just picked up some IMR3031 powder so will be trying some 168gr projectile loads in the next few weeks in 3031, 2206h and 2208 to see how they compare - also hoping to line up a chrono to borrow! I'll respond here with the results... but if I had to pick one right now, I would say go with 2206h. Shot a few 168gr a-max last week with 43gr of 2206h in my 22" single shot 308, and was happy with the 30mm group at 100m. Could have been better most likely, but I was in a rush...

The 3031 is a faster powder, slightly faster than 8208 according to the ADI chart, similar to Benchmark 2, so will be interested to see how it goes. I was after some 8208 a little while ago as I thought would work with both my 222 and 308, but seems hard to find locally...

At the range today was lucky enough to be able to borrow a chrono (thanks Flock) Tried 3 shots of 3 loads with 168gr HPBT, with suppressor: 44gr of 2208 (2520 fps) 43gr 2206h (2500 fps) 41gr 3031 (2420 fps). Accuracy of the first 2 was good, opened up a bit with the 3rd. Not very scientific, but just wanted to get a feel on velocities. The 3031 was slightly compressed, but still below book max. It might do better with a bit more powder.