17
by LoveExplosives
Looks like yesterday was the last decent day for reload testing for us here around Chicago. Outdoors at least. Snow came in big time. (Sat nite and Sunday)
However, Friday nite I cooked up a new batch of .308 paper busters in anticipation of spending time at the range Sat morning.
Reloading is serious business for me. So there is no confusion, these listed home loads are for my 18" Stainless Ruger Gunsite Scout in .308 cal.
All cases prepped and trimmed to 2.0075"
All primer pockets cleaned with CCI #200 LR primers plugged in the hole. Primers were sealed with Markron Bullet and Primer sealer.
All loaded with the same 44 grain of Hodgdon Varget go fast.
20 ea. with 165 gr. Hornady BTSP Interlok. No cannelure. Loaded to C.O.A.L of 2.75"
20 ea. with 165 gr. Speer BTSP. Also no cannelure. Loaded to C.O.A.L. of 2.75"
20 ea. with 165 gr, Remington BTSP. Polymer tipped with cannelure. Loaded and crimped to C.O.A.L. 2.76"
Gives me a good base for apples-apples comparison. The only thing different was the different mfg. projectiles.
A little chilly at 30 degrees, slight 3-5 wind over the left shoulder. Sun was shining so it was party time.
Wife even shot her Nikon P-22 scoped .22 cal. Heavy barrel Remington Model 597 Yellow Jacket for awhile. At 100 yds BTW. She has even poked a few holes with it at 200 yds. She only started shooting middle of last year. She turned out to be a natural. I love listening to her laugh. Did some modifications to the extractor and installed a new target trigger set up. Little bit of work on the mags to get them to cooperate. Did the barrel break-in procedure when she first got it. That thing is a friggin' tack driver. She likes shooting the center out of all her targets so the daughters can't shoot at anything. Just plain mean spirited. So funny though. (As long as you don't have to follow up after her) She just goes around and shoots the bulls eye in all the targets. Just because she can.
Anyway....The .308 Hornady performed....OK. Fairly decent groups at 100 yds. for a soft point hunting bullet. Maybe out to 1-1/2 Minute with a few "wild" ones. Couple 2-3 MOA out. Not sure what the wild ones were about. Probably the shooter. Maybe shooter got skeered and flinched. Or just an unbalanced bullet. Yeah, let's go with that.
Next was the 165 gr. Speer. To date, this has been my go-to accuracy load. Nice groups. All sub-minute as expected. Dead nuts at 200 yards. Puts meat in the freezer.
Lastly tested was the new batch of 165 gr. Polymer-tipped Remington.
Shot 19 of the 20 rounds that I loaded thru the middle of (2) 1" diamond test targets at 100 yards. One landed just outside of it.
Didn't get to try it on the 200. The 200 yard range was closed for some activity they were doing.
Took it over to the 600 yd range and banged 10" metal targets with it. Did miss a couple times though. BDC wasn't quite right for the load I worked up. Add in the difficulty factor of the LEER Leatherwood BDC scout scope reticle bullet drop "spot" at 600 that actually almost covers the metal plate at that distance. Even though is was a 10" plate at 600, should have never missed it shooting with a sub-minute long gun. Had to be my fault. 10" plate should have been a walk in the park shooting sub-minute. (A minute plate at that distance would have been slightly over 6")
Along with the other quietly admitted difficulty factor of old-ass eyes.
The scout scope only has a max 7X power and is probably more at home under 400 yds than at 600. 7X scout scope at 600 yards is a bit sketchy.
Actually a really excellent scope for under 200 yards. Just couldn't quite get the target clarity at 600 as in a fine hair reticle.
I know the Marines are currently engaging targets out to 12-1400 yards with a .308 in other weapon platforms. Not with a scout scope though.
But with a scout scope, this Ruger Gunsite Scout is probably not a good 1000 yard gun. Maybe with a longer XS sight rail or the factory supplied scope rings and a regular higher powered rear mounted scope.
If you're looking for an extreme long distance gun, this is probably not it. But it does exactly what Ruger designed it to do. And in my opinion, it does it really well.
With the present configuration, I will comfortably take a shot out to 400 yards on North American game with it on any given day. I usually don't hunt animals out to 1000 yards though. There is that.
Not sure how the polymer tipped bullet will actually perform on soft targets, but after many, many test runs, this particular load in the 18" barrel is about as accurate as I am going to get. Done experimenting with this .308 load. For this gun, it is about as fine tuned as I can get it.
I now have a new go-to load.
It is about a 100% load. As you can just feel the powder start to nest around the boat tail and up into the shoulder as the cannelure is being crimped. Even though some recipes call for more powder, (103% loads) I do not feel comfortable loading compressed loads. This is about as far as I feel comfortable in compressing powder inside a cartridge. Besides, crushing extruded powder gives it different burn rates and qualities. Too unpredictable. Not interested in "Hot" loads.
Life is full of decisions. Make 'em count.
Til next time.
Shoot straight and hold the line.
Jim