Just like its says, looking to maximize accuracy

NJ hi power

I have a rear lug M1A SM, a double Lug SM and a loaded.  I can use pretty much any match bullet from 155-175 grain in a LC case with 41 grains of IMR4895 and it will shoot MOA in each rifle.  Don't spend much time on trying to find the "magic" load.  If it doesn't shoot good with 41-41.5 grains of IMR 4895 and a 168 grain bullet then there is probably something wrong.

Ditto regarding the load advice.  There are other powder bullet combinations that work well too, but one could wander off into unproductive territory when this load is bread & butter for this rifle.

ok, ill give it a try. Shot some MEN ammo through it at 500 yards and its pretty accurate, 5 out of 10 with irons. Its a National match federal ordnance, 1:10 barrel I believe

Go to the reloading section in the "Armory". There is lots of .308 Lake City load data posted up right now.

I use 1.0 full grain lower charges than those posted here already and they work great. IMR-4895, h4895 and IMR-4064 all have relatively wide accuracy windows in .308. I consider 40.5 grains of IMR-4895 or 41.5 grains of IMR-4064 as maximum powder charges when using Lake City or IMI brass in a M1-A. For years NRA competitors standard load was 1.5 grains of IMR-4895 using these components, even though it is slightly over pressure.

Military match ammo routinely tests at 55,000 c.u.p. (copper units of pressure) even though M80 ball ammo is supposed to be kept under 52,000 c.u.p. Because it's intended for long range use and extreme accuracy they load it as hot as they think is prudent. To match their velocities you will have to use 41.5 grains of IMR-4895. The ammo shoots very well when loaded slower and you need to test some loads in your rifle to find out what shoots best in it.

Good luck.

BTW - I use 41.0 grains of IMR-4064 or 40.0 grains of IMR-4895 in Lake City brass as a general purpose accuracy load. It has been 100% reliable, always accurate enough and is shootable through a variety of platforms (bolt actions, AR10's, M1-A's and .308 Garands). IT's generic load that works for me that doesn't push the envelope.

No doubt, but New School Match-grade handloaders use Varget. It's not temperature sensitive and meters better than the IMR-4895, which is the Old-School standard. Hornady's service rifle load book promotes Varget and the IMR-4064. In terms of specific loads, the Varget charge weight runs very close to 4064 when using the same bullet-weights.

I also use Varget for M1A target loads, and IMR 4895, in a variety of bullet combinations, in a very hot climate.  So I'm new school and old school, so to speak, but there are even some newer school powders if you want to play around.

4895 works best for me, and I'm not that old, YMMV

I use Glenn Zediker's load info, great results for me, although I switched to the Hornady 168 Match because it's cheaper.....

Great Article, well worth the read.


ETA: Zedikers "Done & Done " Load is 41.5 of H 4895 under a 168 grain Sierra Match,as previous posters have advised.

Good point, stocked up on a bunch of Hornady 168s before the frenzy years, they were cheaper than Sierra and shoot very well

I read this yesterday.  

As far as the "old school" loads I agree completely.  41 gr of 4895 and
168 works.   If it doesn't look at the rifle.  Also IMR  4064 is probably even better if you can deal with how it measures.  I use 4064 and am slowly standardizing on the H4895.  Both work well in my bolt gun nicely too along with rl15.  

I would like to try the new short 4064 with the new number. 4166?  I am sitting on a good powder stock now though.