Thread: 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

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?

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

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...

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.
.

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.