suggestions? new loader

[teddybaham]

well last year i bought my wife a .308 win A-bolt topped it with a nikon 3x9x50. i can shoot 1" groups with standard winchester bullets. so i bought some neck sizing dies on ebay or some where. and hadnt touched it till recently. yesterday i was in a local optics store where the sell berger bullets exclusively for BR shooters ect. so i thought id get a box of 168 gr boat tail hunting bullets and work up a load for them for her this fall. i loaded some once fired winchester brass trimmed to recomended length primer pockets cleaned, flash holes deburred, case mouths chamferred. i poured 42.0gr of IMR 4064 in the cases and seated the bullets to 2.80 COL the max that would fit in the box on the rifle. i loaded one empty case and closed the bolt pushing the bullet into the lands trying to get a guesstimate about the COL for a round close to the lands. which is 160 thousandths longer. i took them out today expecting to see some tight groups and got a pattern all across a 10" square target. confused all i can guess is the ogive on these bullets is so long that it has to jump a mile to touch the lands and it must be deforming the bullet. then i rememberd i also used magnum primers, being .308 cases are so small is this too much primer for such a small case? can both of these be part of the problem?
 

[Luckyducker]

I have never been able to get IMR4064 to work with a long bullet jump to the rifling, but this may just be my experience only.  When I develope a new load I start at or near the start load for the bullet or at least weight of bullet I will be using and work up in small increments in greater charge weights.  For rifle cartridges I usually increase by .5 grains up to or near the listed max load, loading either four or five at each charge wt.  When shooting these test loads I start at the lowest charge and shoot them in the same order they were loaded.  I shoot each different load as a group and look for best accuracy, and also watching for signs of excessive chamber pressure.  Just because a certain charge is listed as maximum safe load for the writers/testers in a data manual does not necessarily mean it will be a safe load in every firearm.  If no decent accuracy is found in any of these loads I will try a different powder.  If no consistent accuracy is found with this other powder I will usually move to a different bullet.  I have owned and loaded for a couple different 308Win rifles but it has been too long and I don't remember what I was using in them.  Hodgdon's Varget powder is a popular powder for the 308 and has been used by competition shooters in this cartridge, you may want to give that a try. 

[Luckyducker]

Also forgot to mention that the magnum primers will be okay to use in this application since you are still in the load developement stage .  BUT, never switch from a standard primer to a magnum primer without a workup as a completely new load, as it could be unsafe to do so.  Be safe!

[shot1]

Varget is the powder you want for the 308 and 168s. The Berger VLD bullets can be hard to get to shoot well sometimes. There are two types of Berger VLD bullets. On is a thicker jacket "target" and the other is the original VLD but is now labeled "hunting". Berger originally stated that you needed to be at the lands to jamming into the lands to get them to shoot but has since found that they will shoot waaaaaaaaaaay of the lands. Contact Berger or go to www.longrangehunting.com and go the the forums. In the handloading or bullets & barrels thread at the top of the page is a line on how to make the Berger bullets shoot. They do a ladder test with different seating depths that are waaaay of the lands.

[teddybaham]

thanks guys i talked to two local guys after posting is and varget and RL 15 seem to be the powders they use varget being the better of the two. they also said the bergers were finicky and that seating depth was critical. thanks again ill trysome of these but im still limited by box length for seating. may nee to switch bullets haha any body wana trade? haha

[Dave in WV]

If you can, seat the bullets deeper in the case a little at a time. It may sound silly but it can't hurt.

[shot1]

Go check out the www.longrangehunting.com site like I said in the other post and it will teach you how to seat those Berger bullets. By the way if you tried to go to the site as I had it listed and it did not work it was because I got an (l) at the end of the name my mistake.  I FIXED IT.