I am using RL 15 compressed charge (maximum-0.5 grain); Hornady 200 gr SP bullet; Nosler premium brass (.308 necked up) necksized only on the FL die adjusted to touch the shellholder on the upstroke but not lower, and ever so slightly stiff to close the bolt; and CCI BR2 primers. I get 5 shot groups at 100 yards usually in the 0.5-0.8" range, but sometimes the groups are 0.3" one SRH (single ragged hole), and sometimes i get a flier that opens the group to 1.5". I can live with this, as i have 2 pounds of RL 15 powder and don't want to spend too much on ammo used for hunting deer at 100 yards at most. The good part is that the POI is consistent in time and at different temperature ranges. I suspect that some of the fliers and larger groups are due to my shooting, but some are probably due to rifle, wind, etc.
I have no chronograph, but i suspect that i am shooting at about 2500 fps, about max for this combo, and i have no pressure signs whatsoever, the brass does not even stretch or expand.
Nosler premium brass is incredibly consitent and of high quality. I weighed them and checked them for burrs, flash holes, primer pocket uniformity, etc, and they are of incredible quality. I fired some cases 5 times and they have the same dimensions as new, i did not even have to trim them.
I did try Hogdon Benchmark before the RL 15 and i got very poor results, either because the rifle did not agree with the powder, or the bullet and powder did not match, or it was too hot in July to develop loads, or whatever.
Interesting thing about groups in .338 Fed and Sako 85: if i shoot 5 rounds as fast as i can, the groups are smaller than if i wait 1 minute between shots; this, at 60 F temperature. With my 6mm remington and my daughter's 7mm Mauser, i can only print sub MOA groups if i wait 2 minutes between shots and the weather is cool (sub 65F).
Another interesting thing about the Sako 85, and this may well be true of Tikkas, is that it does not copper foul whatsoever. I have shot 50-60 shots between cleaning, and there was no copper in the bore. It took only patches and solvent and oil to clean. I never use any brush directly on any rifle bore, but i do sometimes use and patch wrapped around an undersized brush. For the .338 i use patches wrapped around a .30 or .270 brush (i am not sure which) and i push (push only) that through the bore. I hope that i am not damaging anyhting.
