Sighting in / handloads

Hello Fellas,
So I had covid a couple weeks ago and while at home I decided to start handloading. Bought the majority of gear online and started to deprime and do some case prep. I also have a new scope i Just put on my rifle. Im shooting a Bergara B14 .308 with a Leupould 4x12x40.
So my question is, Should I sight in my rifle with some factory ammo (Federal blue box 150g) then see what my rifle likes for handloads? I have never done any handloading so have know idea what my rifle might like.
Im thinking of 168g ELD-M or 165g SST with 2206H powder.

So what you want to do is use the factory ammo to sight your rifle in. Point of impact will be different with reloads but at least you'll be on paper
Then decide on your projectile and powder, and use a reloading chart to determine the STARTING POWDER WEIGHT. Once you've got the desired load in terms of accuracy and velocity, stick with that load and put the factory ammo away.
If you chop and change between factory ammo and reloads, you'll be lucky to hit an animal at the end of the barrel

For every new rifle I buy 100 new cases and load up a few loads with different bullets and try them out on the range. I then settle on the load that shoots best and stick with it. I can send you a range of 308 bullets to try. Did this for someone last week. The load was 150 gn Hornady SST and 45 gn 2208. Shot groups with all touching so he is one happy hunter. Same type of rifle as yours by the way

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Originally Posted by garyp

For every new rifle I buy 100 new cases and load up a few loads with different bullets and try them out on the range. I then settle on the load that shoots best and stick with it. I can send you a range of 308 bullets to try. Did this for someone last week. The load was 150 gn Hornady SST and 45 gn 2208. Shot groups with all touching so he is one happy hunter. Same type of rifle as yours by the way

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I agree on that load, getting 2208 bit of an issue now, i had good success with the hornady interlock 150g in an weatherby vanguard, also the 165g speer btsp are a good option and seem to be overlooked by everyone chasing the all copper projectiles at a much higher cost.

I shot 42.6 gns of 2206h with 168 amax it was very accurate

Yeah 43gr of 2206H and the 168 Amax shoots good in mine. 2.800” oal.

I would sight it in 1 1/2" high at 100 with the factory ammo, then its ready for hunting.
Then play around with reloads but dont change the scope until the reloads are perfected. If the reload groups are off to the side or up or down from the 'factory load zero' during load development it doesnt matter at all, they can still be measured and compared. All that does matter is that you find a load you are happy with and that might take time.
In the mean time, your rifle is zeroed and you can grab it at short notice for a hunt with no worries of getting the load work done.

That would be great if you could send me a range of bullets to try. My local gunshop has 2208 instock and Im headed back to Canada so will get some projectiles when I'm over there.

What where you shooting out of? This reloading in a fun rabbit hole to dive down but i'm starting to see how far one can go.

As GarryP said that load with the 150gr sst worked very well in my Bergara B14 308. It shot a group of .5 of an inch at 100 In which I am very grateful for Garry’s help.

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Originally Posted by Porter83

That would be great if you could send me a range of bullets to try. My local gunshop has 2208 instock and Im headed back to Canada so will get some projectiles when I'm over there.

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I'm using 2208 and 168 ELD-M in my 16" 308win. Seems to be a good combination.

You're on the right track, POI will move but not alot.

I use a A4 sheet with two targets to shoot at to capture the POI shift.

For the projectiles what are the recommendations for shooting out to 400 yards? I'm thinking of a bush load and a mid range.
Would an 168g ELD M be a good option with heavy SST for bush?

Greetings All,
A couple of years ago a bunch of loads were chronographed to test powder speeds with 165 grain Interlocks in my .308. A standard load of 43 grains was used. The velocities were AR2206 2,585 fps, AR2206H 2,575 fps, Dupont IMR4064 2,445 fps and AR2208 2,425 fps. Extreme spread was low and all loads were accurate. The 165 Interlock is much shorter than either the 165 grain SST or the 168 grain ELDM and in my rifle (20" barrel) at least it would be difficult to beat the velocity with AR2206H without severe compression of the powder. Hodgdons book max was 4.35 grains of AR2206H which should give 2,600 fps more or less.
Regards Grandpamac.

I have a friend that shoots a 308 and 200yds would be a long shot for him. He literally sighted his rifle in 6 years ago and hasn't touched it since, he just buys "whatever's cheapest" and shoots all sorts of stuff through it, sometimes he'll have completely different brands/weights of bullets in the mag and has never worried about it. Everything seems to fall over and he seems happy enough. I've tried to explain to him how velocity and bullet weight etc all have an effect on point of impact but his eyes just glaze over.

At sub-200yds, you can get away with a lot. Very anaemic loads might be up to two inches lower than factory ammo and on a 6" boiler room, it probably doesn't matter. 300+yds would be a different story.

Know it’s been awhile

What was your COAL and CBTO? or

Did you do mag length (what was yours)?

When I get a new to me rifle that I've never shot before Ill usually buy a couple of packs of factory ammo. Ill get the same brand and if I can I'll get different weight projectiles. That gives me at least 40 rounds then Ill go and shoot them at a target,This does a couple of things. It gets me familiar with the rifle I can get it roughly sighted in I can see what ammo it prefers and Im fire forming brass for my hand loads.

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Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

I would sight it in 1 1/2" high at 100 with the factory ammo, then its ready for hunting.
Then play around with reloads but dont change the scope until the reloads are perfected. If the reload groups are off to the side or up or down from the 'factory load zero' during load development it doesnt matter at all, they can still be measured and compared. All that does matter is that you find a load you are happy with and that might take time.
In the mean time, your rifle is zeroed and you can grab it at short notice for a hunt with no worries of getting the load work done.

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That ^^^^^^

Looks ok to me eh. But if i were you i would begin from book minimum load. You don't wanna miss any super comfortable nodes that produce excellent precision / low recoil.

Personally i like the kindle version of the hornady load book (if you don't have one already)

Those 165gr interlocks do seem to be quite effective pills for the .308win. Never had anything get back up with them... 165-168gr does seem to be a sweet spot as well, definitely a bit more authority than the 150gr loads not that there seems to be anything wrong with those though.