I’ve never reloaded for accuracy before. In general, my reasons for reloading are to save money, to make ammo which isn’t available (11.3 Beaumont) or to load noncorrosive ammo for military surplus rifles.

Now I want to get into long range precision shooting. For now my chosen calibers for this task are 308 and 6.5 Grendel. Both using AR pattern rifles. When funds allow, I will add a bolt action 6.5 Creedmoor, such as a Ruger or Remington.

So this weekend I assembled the necessary materials. 200 pieces of virgin Winchester 308 brass, and 100 each of SMK 168 and Nosler 165. Tonight I loaded my first 50 SMK in a ladder test, using IMR 4064. 5 each 40 : 0.4 : 43.6 grains.

I shall test them at 100 yards tomorrow, and then load more of the best grouping powder charge. Then the fun begins: stretching her legs. The rifle is a Rock River Arms LAR 8 with 1:10 20 inch barrel.

Wish me luck.

If that is your thing, its addictive. Its not for everyone, have fun and sweat the details. Spent the evening setting up my presses on a new bench with my son, he is finally taking an interest and i am looking forward to doing some projects with him.

Ah, going down that precision road...you are in for long nights at the loading bench OP...just go ahead and order every tool/gadget made to do with reloading..you will anyway someday and it will be cheaper now anyway and you won't have to postpone any development work waiting on the stuff to come...I suggest getting on a first name basis with brownells and midway...there are others as well, but they are even more expensive....

Post up your ladder results when your done. Determining the nodes can be like reading tea leaves.

Did you uniform your flash holes?

Longer ranges work better, if your guns not super accurate.

I did not.

You might want to check out the ARFcom > Precision RIfle > Reloading subforum (LINK).

Also, research OCW (optimal charge weight) load development.  It's more efficient and (arguably) produces better results than your current method.  As an example - I am developing a 308 180 bullet load...  my first ladder at a target was 14 rounds.  1 round at each charge weight - 42 : 0.3 : 45.9 (to use your notation).  I also shot the same ladder over a chronograph for educational purposes although that was not necessary for load development, I just wanted to know speeds.  The first ladder showed that my final load will be in the 44 +/- 0.5 grains.  My next ladder will be 25 rounds - 5 round per each of 5 different charge weights to narrow down to my final result.  If everything goes according to plan, my load development will be done in 39 rounds!  Throw in another 11 rounds for final load chrono data and zeroing and I am done developing in 50 rounds.

Also, for 308, you might consider Varget as your propellant.  It is less temperature sensitive.

Last recommendation - Precision load development has everything to do with consistency.  Do everything (within reason) you can to eliminate round to round variation.  My loading is pretty consistent although I do not weigh individual cases or bullets.

Oh I fully expect to be pouring out a lot of money on precision reloading equipment.

OPTIMUM CHARGE WEIGHT METHOD

I use this method for load development. It's worth the read. Also check out tiborasaurusrex on youtube.

We have a lot of great members and contributions in the precision rifle, reloading, and PR reloading sub forums. Read read read

Also invest upfront in micrometer seating dies. You will want them. Actually with the various bullets and COAL you'll likely play with they are almost a necessity.  Forster Ultra micrometer is a good value piece. Redding is nice too but $$.

Oh no. Did you at least turn the necks, weigh each case and check case volume?

Drop and give me 50!

And when you're done, go order an OAL gage and a concentricity tool.

Charge weight is only the beginning of the madness.

muwahahahahah

Fantastic!  LOL!!!

I didn’t do that either!

Over the weekend I also ordered a 20 in h Odin Works 6.5 Grendel barrel from PSA. It came with a BCG, adjustable gas block, and gas tube for 440 bucks. I know it’s not a Lilja ot Criterion, but it should be able to shoot really well. My old Grendel barrel is garbage. I bought it used, and was only able to shoot 5 or 6 MOA with Wolf, Prvi, and handloads alike. And I’m able to shoot between 1.25 and 1.5 with relatively careless handloads on other guns.

I’ll keep that barrel around, just to get rid of the rest of my wolf ammo. I’ll throw a cheap scope on it and use it as a beater gun. My new Odin works will never see steel cased ammunition.

Wait till you learn about neck concentricity.
Off center bullets rarely hit in the same place from shot to shot.

Go easy on him, I think he is just loading for the semi automatics right now. Now bolt actions, thata another story...

I can take the constructive criticism. I’m here to learn.

I don’t even own a bolt action that’s not a military surplus.

Neck tension, and annealing case necks is something many accuracy loaders find very important.  W748 was my "go to" powder for the Grendel along with CCI 450 primers.  Lapua primer flash holes for the Grendel tend to be a little inconsistent, but that is easily fixed with a small drill bit.  Use the largest bit you can fit into the flash hole, and you will notice that the same drill bit won't pass through 10-20% of the Lapua Grendel brass...the drill bit fixes that in a heartbeat.

Be careful and don't over anneal necks and get them too soft.  Tempi-lac is great for getting the temperature just right for case necks.

H4350 appears to be the most popular powder for 6.5 creedmoor and 260 Remington.  Go to a bench rest forum for all sorts of ammo tricks, but it can quickly become a rabbit hole of OCD perfection VS what level of consistency can you live with.

I had to finally go with a level of accuracy I could use.  On a good day, I can shoot groups between .25 and .5" at 100 yards...even if you gave me a rifle that is easily capable of shooting a one hole group.  So when my reloads get to that level, I don't look for more ways to add consistency.

the OCD part starts with:
weighing and separating cases by weight
weighing each bullet and separating them by weight.
heavy bullets go with light brass, and light bullets go with heavy brass...
anneal every firing
measure each bullet after weighing them, and separate them by length of their bearing surface, because more surface=more friction....
uniform all the me plats
uniform all primer pockets, flash holes
deburr all flash holes inside and out
trim and neck turn every case
mark each case so it is oriented with the same side up at every loading.  Often a little V shaped nick is filed into the extractor rim at 12:00..orient the case that way each time.
check each case for runout, then check each loaded round for runout..separate those with low runout from those with excessive runout (you pick how choosy you want to be)

and all that is just the start.....it is easy to see how you can spend more time loading ammo than shooting.  I prefer shooting to loading.

Of all the old school powders Ike 4064 isn’t affected much by temperature.   It is long sticker and a pain in the ass to throw but it simply shoots extremely well.  I would not hesitate to use one 4064 in a precision loading application.    It’s one powder I will keep around.    That and it works well in most any old milsurp.   That enduron 4166 might be the new shining path.   I have not purchased any as I have kegs of 4064 and the 4166 is priced noticeably higher.

When you go full precision sickness (short of national Benchrest level) buy good dies,  I use Redding competition s type does that use neck bushings tonset my neck diameter.   In hind sight a nice way to go would be a nice Forster bonanza die with the factory neck honing for your specified neck tension.

A Twelve Step Program for Precision Shooters -

1.  Set a goal*.  Write it down.

2.  Select ONE rifle.

3.  Get a known-good, high power telescopic sight with good glass and good internals (20-25X or more).

4.  Mount the scope in good rings and install the base properly and well.

5.  Start simple - everything conventional but with top quality items (Winchester brass, Sierra bullets,...)

6.  Use Sierra's reloading manual to establish a powder and primer combination and range of charge weight.

7.  Load them up using standard reloading methods.  Shoot some Federal GMM ammo and some of your existing handloads as benchmarks.**

8.  Go shooting and have fun.  Use 200 yards if it's available or go where it is available.

9.  Call your shots - every shot.  Make notes (in writing) about shots you called as pulled off target or other poor shooting.  Write down the wind conditions and temperature.

10.  Collect and keep your targets.

11.  Evaluate the targets (group sizes, point of impact,... what you evaluate depends upon your goal).

12.  Compare target results to goal.

Select the best load(s) from your target data.  Make only those changes necessary to improve where you fell short of your goal(s).

*  You want this to be both global but also specific.  What do you want to achieve and why?  An overly simplified example might be, "I want to compete in local tactical matches.  To have any hope of being competitive, I need to be able to shoot <1MOA at 200 yards, supported on a bench using thrown charges, off-the-shelf brass and conventional primers."  This is your "on ramp".

Leaving it at I want the best possible hand loads does not allow you to ever quit development (it's good enough) and also does not give you a quantitative criteria to establish what is "good" and what is "not good".  These are your "off ramps".

**  The GMM ammo will help you calibrate yourself as a shooter and also the quality of your handloads (both regular and match grade).  The result is often surprising.

Lots of good advise in here so far.

Get ready to spend lots of money on your reloading setup; the process of reloading hyper-consistent/accurate ammo gets costly very quickly. It almost becomes more about the process of manufacturing something with zero defect, more than it is about ammo; the shooting is just a bonus.

I'd probably invest in a concentricty gauge and a shoulder bump/cartridge gauge before you do anything; they'll tell you almost immediately if you've got a problem with your process/equipment.

If you can get a consistent shoulder bump, and a low run-out, it then primarily comes down to finding the right combination components.

After that you can start messing with varying neck tension and annealing.

two things drive us deep into the rabbit hole...

Increased precision

Increased production

Few things I learned

When developing a load, I use Lapua brass to eliminate a lot of variables, start off with Federal Gold Medal Match primers, Sierra Match King Bullets and use the highest power scope you own.
Dan Newberry will act as your consultant for a fee. http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/ocw-consulting/4568639027.
What ever you pay him, will be time and money saved in accomplishing your end goal.

Invest in some very good bags or a bench rest to eliminate to the human factor. Fire one fouling shot and then let the barrel cool a good two minutes in between shots. Dry fire, dry fire and dry fire...

My goal is “To reliably hit a man sized target at 880 yards with the first shot, and most subsequent shots”

What would you recommend for a good scope? My most powerful scope currently is a 4-16 Nikon M308. Should I get a fixed power high magnified scope? What is a good scope mount for high precision?

First round hits at 880 yards with a .308 and a LR newbie behind the trigger won't be easy; it still won't be "easy" with a 6.5G.

I would gradually work towards your goal if I were you.

Arguably, you have 2 areas of focus. First is the actual shooting/gun (repeatable shooting position, being able to read the conditions, appropriately dialed in equipment, proper shooting form etc. Second, will be your reloading processes to generate both accurate and consistent ammo with very low SDs.

As for the shooting aspect, you should probably start by trying to make 1st round hits at closer ranges. Although this is arbitrary, start at say 400 yards; if you understand how to dial elevation, and know how fast your bullet is at the muzzle, you should be able to first round hit at ~400 with relative ease. Make sure you're recording the conditions when you're shooting, and your come-up values on the scope; these will change depending on the conditions. Once you've mastered 400, move it out to 500 and so on.

Your scope will technically work, but it's probably not going to have enough elevation adjustment for you to dial direct hold shots at ~880 yards with a .308. You're going to want ~75+ MOA of elevation adjustment at a minimum; this probably puts you into 30mm maintube territory. The amount of adjustment in the scope matters more than higher magnification, at least in terms of just making "hits". The 16 power scope will get it done, but I personally prefer something 24x+ at 880y.

As far as load development, I would typically advise doing this at 100 yards. Find a combo that'll shoot close to 1/2 MOA with the lowest vertical dispersion. Erik Cortina (Team Lapua shooter) has an OUTSTANDING thread about 100 yard load dev for long range shooting over on AccurateShooter/6mmBR; you should absolutely give that a review. Once you find something that shoots relatively accurate, and most importantly is repeatable, you should shift your focus primarily into working on the shooting fundamentals.

Wind is a real bitch; remember this.

That’s my end goal. I can’t shoot at half a mile yet. I’ve never even shot for groups at 300 yards. Of course I need to achieve intermediate goals.

Rgr! Just trying to help; good luck with your goals.

Welcome to the beginning of your trip down the rabbit hole.

Im not sure from the OP if you're looking for advice or just hoping for good luck.  Assuming the former, here's a few things to read:

There's a multi-post series called Handloading for Long Range over on snipers hide that is pretty good.  Some of the comments are so so, like here, but the original poster there and a few of the contributors are very good.  I think there's 5 or more posts in the series.

If you want a painful level of detail, for to the reloading sub forum at Accurateshooter.com.  Those guys go to an insane level of detail, and a lot of very, very good prs, fclass, and br guys hang out there.  Just don't ask a question about "shoulder bump" - Guffey will ruin your thread.

I love arfcom, but those two places offer a lot more to the reloader, IMO.

Loading for a semi-auto is a compromise, unfortunately.  You can't push it nearly as hard as with a good bolt action, and it'll ruin your brass pretty quickly.  For example, I use only Lapua brass for my fclass rifle, and have been using the same 400 or so pieces for the last 2-3 years, some up to 16+ reloads.   Your AR will destroy it a lot sooner than that, so I'd be reluctant to drop $0.80 a piece on it for an auto loader.  But it's really good stuff compared to LC, Winchester, etc.

Anyway, if you're not really looking for advice yet, then Good Luck!

I just want to reiterate - Start Simple: use Winchester (or existing) brass, Sierra MatchKing bullets, etc.

Add complexity only when your more simple approach has not yet worked.  Where to add complexity or cost depends upon the nature/type of the shortfall.  In other words, don't start with Lapua, Berger,...

OP, what press, sizing and seating dies do you have?
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Lee. I know, I know. When I first started reloading I never intended to load match grade ammo. Just wanted to shoot a little cheaper. I'm shopping for a proper set right now. Should I jump into the top end stuff right away? Does it offer a sufficient marginal benefit to be worth the cost?

My press is a Rock Chucker.

There's nothing inherently wrong with LEE dies.  Learn to use them to your best advantage.

The Rockchucker is also more than adequate.
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1 MOA at 880 yards (800 m) is 9.2", so that is "man-sized".  Like SuperDutyMikeMc said, the trick is reading and doping the wind at that range.

A lot of people have forged a path for you.

.308 velocity changes approximately 30 fps with each .5 grain change in powder charge.

42.0 to 42.5 grains of IMR-4064 is a known accuracy window when loading 168's in Winchester brass. Reduce 2.0 full grains when using Lake City military brass.

Don't worry about speed, small groups put smiles on anyone's face.