Reloading for 308 win SA

[greg vess]

If you buy unfired brass it will most likely be SAAMI spec and you will not need a small base die or shoulder bumping. However bulk fired brass (especially military such as LC) may have been run through a machine gun that have looser chamber tolerances and allows more case expansion. I have an FN/FAL that was a full auto and it allows the brass to expand more than my AR-10 and I keep this brass separate.

I use a small base die for resizing because I have a lot of various headstand brass but you can avoid this is you buy unfired brass to start off with. As folks said above, there are different ways to achieve the same goal it depends on how much effort you want to put into it. Good luck and enjoy.

My buddy bought some used brass from Sportsman Warehouse and it was awful. I prepped it for him and I think I threw out 25% of what was there. The count was higher than advertised to compensate for bad brass.

 

[greg vess]

OP, one of the things you'll find is that there are many, many ways to skin a cat when it comes to reloading. Like @CTS Tactical above, I use the Lee Factory crimp (although I'm still evaluating whether it really gives me any benefits). My original thought was that I'd have more consistent neck tension and more 'robust' ammunition if I was moving them around.

Now I'm starting to think that maybe, I'll be better off actually mic-ing the neck size for consistency. It may not be clear to you, but these kinds of ideas can really drive you down a rabbit-hole when it comes to experimentation (for a not very extreme example, differences in brass thickness in different brands of case, means that the dimensions of the outside of the case neck don't necessarily tell you very much about the inside diameter of the neck, and vice versa)

I think the thing is - you will try things and get equipment that after a while, you realize you won't use. It's just one of the characteristics of the hobby.

I use a Hornady seating die on my 6.8 and .223. It imparts a tapered roll crimp. It's not as pronounced as the LEE crimp die. It somewhat easier to knock the projectile out if you have to for some reason but it's not like butter. You have to bang the dickens out of the bullet puller to get them out. Mine has a micrometer to make fine adj. on the fly and I love it. It's good enough to squeeze out .50 MOA in my 6.8spcll. I am still trying to work out a decent combo for .223. I managed to get one ragged hole at 50 yards with 25.3gr. of Varget seated at 2.250. That's by far the best load I have worked up so far with my ballistic Advantage Hanson profile barrel.

I also ran into some shelf ammo for my BA Hanson 308 barrel and it prints between .660 and .700 with Federal white box 149gr. FMJ. It's great range ammo and about 40-43 bucks a box and you will have excellent brass to load. I will post a pic so you know what to look for. I think you can find it by looking up Federal M80C. The Walmart up here has it all the time and I buy a couple boxes every trip. Good Stuff!

 

[BHPSteel]

I had an early introduction to the challenges of "once fired" brass as some of you may remember.

Some of the brass had been fired ( probably thru' an HK) that had a fluted chamber. Either because of that, or coincidentally, it was really resistant to resizing, and every piece had a ding in the case side, presumably from some kind of brass deflector. Some had definitely come from firearms with very loose chambers - resizing needed a fair amount of force, and good lube (I used Imperial sizing wax, but YMMV)

Some of the primer pockets really needed some serious attention etc, and a very few had deformed case heads (which I found hard to understand) - so in all, of about 750 case bought, I ended up discarding maybe a dozen. Of the 750, there were maybe 30 pieces of Norma brass and about 50 of Lapua - I inspected those carefully and put them aside for weighing and use for high-quality rounds.

I also had a defective die from RCBS, which they resolved promptly and efficiently. And I broke a press (another story) - which is why OP getting a Rebel IIRC, is a pro move.

I don't know how committed to reloading you're gonna get, but if you're going to end up pulling a lot of bullets, the Hornady in-press bullet puller will save you time and frustration over getting one of those plastic bullet pulling hammers.

 

[Kawasaki]

I use a Hornady seating die on my 6.8 and .223. It imparts a tapered roll crimp. It's not as pronounced as the LEE crimp die. It somewhat easier to knock the projectile out if you have to for some reason but it's not like butter. You have to bang the dickens out of the bullet puller to get them out. Mine has a micrometer to make fine adj. on the fly and I love it. It's good enough to squeeze out .50 MOA in my 6.8spcll. I am still trying to work out a decent combo for .223. I managed to get one ragged hole at 50 yards with 25.3gr. of Varget seated at 2.250. That's by far the best load I have worked up so far with my ballistic Advantage Hanson profile barrel.

I also ran into some shelf ammo for my BA Hanson 308 barrel and it prints between .660 and .700 with Federal white box 149gr. FMJ. It's great range ammo and about 40-43 bucks a box and you will have excellent brass to load. I will post a pic so you know what to look for. I think you can find it by looking up Federal M80C. The Walmart up here has it all the time and I buy a couple boxes every trip. Good Stuff!

Thanks, man. I'll definitely look into it.

 

[greg vess]

Thanks, man. I'll definitely look into it.

Thank was 4 bucks for 40 rounds just in case you missed in the pics. Just a hair over 1 buck a round. Sorry to cut in again I just wanted to clarify. 40 bucks for 20 rounds isn't that great of a price for range ammo.

 

[Kawasaki]

Thank was 4 bucks for 40 rounds just in case you missed in the pics. Just a hair over 1 buck a round. Sorry to cut in again I just wanted to clarify. 40 bucks for 20 rounds isn't that great of a price for range ammo.

I'd a picked up on that eventually. That's getting up there towards Nosler and Barnes price points.

 

[greg vess]

Sorry bout that. Yeah that would have been a tad high.

 

[gyppo]

1 lb @ $59.99 plus hazmat tax and shipping

Ouch

42 cents a round for the powder in 308 Thats going to be close to a dollar per round for plinking ammo with used brass.

 

[Jackie Graham]

At $40 per pound, powder will run around $0.30 per round. Powder is going up and getting harder to find. Definitely going to run up the cost of reloading.

 

[Red Rex]

At $40 per pound, powder will run around $0.30 per round. Powder is going up and getting harder to find. Definitely going to run up the cost of reloading.

And there is the fact that there is only 1 container of 1 lb available.

100 or so rounds of 308? I agree it is the best powder for that round for projectiles 165 gr barbet is close and while scarce still is still available