Beginner .308 reloading - where to go next

[Caseknife]

VLD reamer in the case mouth makes a huge difference in seating monos

 

[Saluki91]

I plugged your 24" barrel, 2.800" COAL and 150gr CX into QuickLoad... If you are willing to consider alternatives to the Winchester powder you mentioned, and want a highly efficient load with as much speed as possible (ie. monolithic bullets), I'd look at these three powders first:
VV N530 (may be difficult to find)
AA2520 (aka "Camp Perry Powder")
IMR 8208XBR

-OR-

Follow the advice of the guys at Hornady: "If you can shoot Varget, shoot Varget."

Re. seating depth and a load for shooting game at typical distances... not a rabbit hole worth exploring IMO, especially in .308. Seat your bullet of choice 5 thou under your lands and look your node. It won't take long to find what you are looking for.

Have fun!

 

[Fireflyfishing]

As others have mentioned, 130 TTSX is the way to go for a mono in a .308 Win.

 

[whoami-72]

Thanks for the input guys. After my last loading session I realized how much I hate measuring powder was about ready to stop reloading again.

Sooooooo, I designed up a couple different auto dispensers that use any beam scale and your existing trickler to dispense powders for you and stop when you hit the desired weight. Once I get that running I'll start testing again.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

Thanks for the input guys. After my last loading session I realized how much I hate measuring powder was about ready to stop reloading again.

Sooooooo, I designed up a couple different auto dispensers that use any beam scale and your existing trickler to dispense powders for you and stop when you hit the desired weight. Once I get that running I'll start testing again.

What issues are you having measuring powder?

 

[whoami-72]

What issues are you having measuring powder?

It takes forever..........

 

[Fireflyfishing]

It takes forever..........

What’s your setup? What’s the issue?

 

[whoami-72]

What’s your setup? What’s the issue?

In the beginning, Lee safety scale and a literal spoon. Now, rcbs 505 made in USA version and bulk drop with trickle finish. I just hate spending time weighing the powder. I find it very tedious and more importantly excesively time consuming.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

In the beginning, Lee safety scale and a literal spoon. Now, rcbs 505 made in USA version and bulk drop with trickle finish. I just hate spending time weighing the powder. I find it very tedious and more importantly excesively time consuming.

So using a beam scale? That would drive anyone nuts past 5 rounds. I’ve been running a chargemaster 1500 for years and life is great. I dreading the day it dies.

Have you looked at despenser/scale combos?

 

[bullmtn]

In the beginning, Lee safety scale and a literal spoon. Now, rcbs 505 made in USA version and bulk drop with trickle finish. I just hate spending time weighing the powder. I find it very tedious and more importantly excesively time consuming.

With a beam scale, I find if I can get the scale up even with my eyes, so I do not have to bend down to read the scale it's much more comfortable, still not great but much more tolerable.

 

[Sponge]

With a beam scale, I find if I can get the scale up even with my eyes, so I do not have to bend down to read the scale it's much more comfortable, still not great but much more tolerable.

I set my phone up with the camera pointing at the beam indicator with the camera app on...adjust the sleep setting so it doesnt turn off every few minutes.
Also make sure the camera is square to the indicator.

However, once I find a load, pretty much everything is thrown with a Lee Perfect Powder Measure.

 

[whoami-72]

So using a beam scale? That would drive anyone nuts past 5 rounds. I’ve been running a chargemaster 1500 for years and life is great. I dreading the day it dies.

Have you looked at despenser/scale combos?

Looked at them. Not a huge fan of them at this point. It feels like there is no real standout winners and they're all pretty expensive for having mediocre reviews. I'm building a contraption that spins the trickler until the beam scale measures the load and then an optical sensor trips which shuts off the trickler. Should be about $40 to build.

 

[whoami-72]

I set my phone up with the camera pointing at the beam indicator with the camera app on...adjust the sleep setting so it doesnt turn off every few minutes.
Also make sure the camera is square to the indicator.

However, once I find a load, pretty much everything is thrown with a Lee Perfect Powder Measure.

I also do the camera trick.

How accurate is the powder measure? I tried that once and my accuracy was wild so I gave up and just use it for bulk before trickling

 

[Fireflyfishing]

Looked at them. Not a huge fan of them at this point. It feels like there is no real standout winners and they're all pretty expensive for having mediocre reviews. I'm building a contraption that spins the trickler until the beam scale measures the load and then an optical sensor trips which shuts off the trickler. Should be about $40 to build.

True, they have gripes on the reviews for sure. But…the gripes pale in the comparison of messing with a beam balance.

In the meantime before you make a bigger jump, you could get a decent digital scale and trickle into that. That would speed thing up for you.

 

[Sponge]

I also do the camera trick.

How accurate is the powder measure? I tried that once and my accuracy was wild so I gave up and just use it for bulk before trickling

Depends on the powder. Pretty good with Varget and H4895, usually around 0.1 gr +/- variance. Decent with H4350, it will throw dead nuts 5 in a row and then throw one that is 0.1-0.2 grains heavy.

Part of it is getting it settled into a measurement, that can take 10-20 throws after each adjustment. I then check every 10th or 20th charge while loading.

Folks have issue with it leaking powder past the drum with ball powders, I've used it some with CFE223 and Leverevolution and haven't had that issue.

I have weighed 1000+ charges on a beam scale over the past two-ish years...I now use a thrower as much as I can and use the beam scale to set up and check. With sorta limited testing, if I find a good load with the above powders weighing individually, the thrown loads will group same or very similarly.