Basic .308 reloads

[AustinMRH]

I am just getting into shooting my new to me Savage 10 in .308 with the super heavy barrel and a choate Ultimate Sniper stock. I love shooting this thing. I am not a fan of paying so much per shot and was entertaining the idea of reloading 308. I've been toying with the idea of a progressive press (maybe a 550) for reloading .45acp since that stuff is priced like gold too. But lets say i have the patience for a nice simple table mounted single stage rifle reload setup. What do I need to know to pump out .308 (time not as much an issue as keeping costs low).

I am thinking about joining a range here in Houston with access to a 600-1000yd range. But for now I just want something that will perform well to 4-500 yds.

Thanks.

M

[Jumping Frog]

Lee Classic Cast Turret Press.

[AustinMRH]

That Lee press looks great. I'd love to be able to reload 200-300 round of .45acp a month AND shoot that much. but if the numbers folks are throwing out on Midway are right that is 1-2hrs on that 4 stage Lee.

I read a long and photo filled thread on another forum showing a good .308 reload setup. Are all necked down rounds going to be that much work? Oh well.

Thanks all. I'm going to order up that Lee press this month.

[Jumping Frog]

Thanks all. I'm going to order up that Lee press this month.

There are two Lee Turret presses. Make sure you get the "Classic Cast". It is a much stronger press than the other "4-Hole Turret" press.

Lee recommends their "4-Hole Turret" for handgun rounds, but says the "Classic Cast Turret" is for handgun and rifle.

http://leeprecision.com/reloading-presses/turret-press/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MoJo]

Back in the day that I shot NRA highpower I batch loaded my .30'06 ammo on a single stage press. Quality over quantity. For Handgun competition I use a Lee Loadmaster and load 500 to a 1000 rounds at a time. I've tried the progressive for .223 and it's a pain batch loading rifle is my way YMMV.

[xring]

Here is a different option. If you know you want to load only 308 win & 45 they both have the same casehead size and use same shellholder. If you get a single stage or a turret press it is all it will ever be ( not that there is anything wrong with either) I still have my old single stage press but use it for task like bullet pulling. I reload on my Dillon 550 I don't use the powder measure for my 308 and I leave the dies in the tool head for easy change. Since I have a 550 set up for 45 I use the auto prime system. and the case holder works on both 45 and 308. Yes the DL 550 costs $439.00 and a Classic cast Turret lists for $152.00 and that is a big difference.

There is another choice the BL 550, it is the same as a DL-550 less the powder measure and primer feed. The price of the BL-550 is 259.00 If you ever want to turn it into a fully progressive press you can get the powder measure and primer feed and your off and running. Another advantage is if you have limited bench space you will only have one press mounted.

Either way reloading can be both fun and rewarding.
Don't expect to save any money, you will just get to shoot more.

Best regaurds

xring

[medalguy]

I have a Dillon 550RL dedicated to .308 since I shoot that caliber a lot. One thing to consider in reloading .308 is whether you will use military brass. That's all I use so I know it's 1X fired. Here's my routine which might affect what press you want:

1. Deprime on Rockchucker with RCBS Heavy Duty Depriming die.
2. Swage primer pocket with Dillon Super Swager.
3. FL resize and trim on the Rockchucker with Dillon 1200 trimmer.
4. Tumble to remove any debris from trimming, usually none, and to remove any lube.
5. Prime on RCBS Autoprime bench mounted-- I prefer the feel to priming on the Dillon press.
6. Only now does the brass go into the Dillon, where I charge, seat, and crimp the bullet.

If you're using commercial or prepped brass you can do everything on the Dillon including trimming. One other thing to keep in mind is the resale value of a Dillon press, or any other Dillon equipment. You can resell Dillon equipment after several years of use if you feel you really don't need it, and recoup nearly all of your original cost. So don't worry about recovering your cost-- it's a very good investment. Google "Dillon 1200 for sale" and see what you can get a used one for.

[AustinMRH]

Great info.

For the .308 I have near zero brass, since so far I have just plinked (is it plinkng at 300+yds?) with the cheap steel ammo. I'll start buying a box of decent stuff before each trip to save brass. I totally understand the point of a cheap and cheerful press if I am just loading 50-100 rounds at a time for the .308. But I've got about 400 rounds of once fired (by me).45 brass and I'd like to get into the swing of loading 200-300 at a go, since I would like to be shooting that much per trip to the range

Is there any point in loading .223/5.56? If i get into 3-gun I might want something a little more accurate than my cheap russian surplus.

[cyphur]

Great info.

For the .308 I have near zero brass, since so far I have just plinked (is it plinkng at 300+yds?) with the cheap steel ammo. I'll start buying a box of decent stuff before each trip to save brass. I totally understand the point of a cheap and cheerful press if I am just loading 50-100 rounds at a time for the .308. But I've got about 400 rounds of once fired (by me).45 brass and I'd like to get into the swing of loading 200-300 at a go, since I would like to be shooting that much per trip to the range

Is there any point in loading .223/5.56? If i get into 3-gun I might want something a little more accurate than my cheap russian surplus.

I have the same dilemma as you - I have a distance rig built in .308 that I want to start reloading for, as well as 45ACP 1911 that I would like to shoot a lot more than I do right now.

I've decided on the Hornady Single Stage LnL to get started with, one reason being that a lot of accuracy-based reloading focuses on tolerances, which means a lot of manual case prep work. Down the road when you start squeezing every last mil of accuracy out of your rounds the focused hands-on process will aid in that goal.

On the other hand, when you get ready to go progressive, you'll have just about everything you need and you can just upgrade to the Hornady LnL AP and start cranking out far more rounds per hour. The collars for the dies fit in both presses so no worries there....



As far as economy - do the math. Figure out what you pay per round for the cheap surplus, then do a breakdown on what you can find the components for. Excel helps with this, you can track the bulk purchase price per component, track shipping and ORM-D/Hazmat fees, etc, but also allow you to easily break down per finished round. Once you can nail down a cost per round for each, you'll know whether it's up to you. You're almost guaranteed to get better accuracy with decent components than most surplus rounds - those were mil-spec and unless you're running the Mk262 it wasn't meant for high accuracy - it was meant to go bang in battlefield condition rifles.

[APynckel]

For rifle ammo, I will never use a progressive press, if I'm trying to shoot precision. Too many variables. I want hands on, watching every step, so that no mistakes can be made to mess up my groupings.

I have a Savage 10FCP LE, 24" heavy barrel w/ McMillan stock, I have a 12-42x56mm benchrest Nightforce scope coming in for it.

[Salty1]

I found a used Dillon 550 that I use for my 308, 30-06 and some handgun loads. I have seem some good deals on Craigslist for loading equipment recently, may be worth a look. Lots of people buy reloading equipment and think they will start and soon after feel like it is too much work or they do not have the time, reloading takes a bit of a commitment.

Typically I load all the brass I have and then use the caliber conversion to simply move to the next without a lot of effort and tweaking. This allows me to load faster than a single stage and long as I take my time and take many measurements when setting it up I have not had any issues or problems with the quality. For 308 I am utilizing Sierra HPBT match king 168 gr with 45.1 gr of IMR 4064. this load works very well in my FNAR.

[Richardc]

I know this post is old, but if it helps any new comers. I have a 700r .308win that i wont get into details about, but it will hit targets consistently at 1000+ yrds. I also have a Wilson Combat 1911, that... well its a Wilson that should sum up its accuracy. I weighed the pros and cons of reloading for them and many others. I dont know that i will ever reload for my .308, I use Hornady T.A.P 168grn for 500 and closer, and Federal Gold Medal Match 175grn for over 500yrds. The time it would take and components it would take to match the performance in my rifle for these is more than it is just to by the factory loads. As for my .45 I load a 185grn LSWC over 5.0grn of red dot, and a federal match large pistol primers(they were the cheapest i could find at the time). it cost me about $0.08 per round and i load them 500 at a time on a Lee turret 3 hole press. they are good enough for when i do get the chance to shoot IDPA, and just plinking usually getting one tattered hole. I use nothing but Lee, does every bit as good a job as any other stuff at much less cost on every thing I'm loading so far.