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Posted: 5/4/2012 6:52:21 PM EDT
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I've been reloading for .223 for the last 4 years having had a lot of help from this forum in getting started. You guys rock! So far I've been loading for both volume and accuracy using once fired R-P brass on a Dillon XL650, trimming with a Giraud trimmer etc. Not a single malfunction in thousands of rounds, and great accuracy for a fraction of the cost of factory ammo.
Now I want to load .308 to be fired through a Tikka T3 Tactical, and I want to get really serious about accuracy. With that in mind, I have 4,000 168gr Sierra Match Kings ready to be loaded but I'm a little hesitant about which way to go with brass. So I'd appreciate any input on the questions that are running through my head please! 1) I have 1,000 or so Prvi .308 casings that have been fired through my AR10s. First firing, I stocked up on their M80 clone when it was cheap(er), and I have another 1,000 rounds left so potentially 2,000 once fired casings. I've read mixed things about the Prvi brass and I'm not sure it's the right way to go if I'm looking for absolute precision through a bolt gun? If it's not the way to go then I have plenty of 150gr FMJBTs that I can load into it for AR10 range fodder, so it won't be wasted. 2) Lake City brass seems to have a solid reputation, and I can buy once fired for $190/1,000. I have the Dillon Super Swage and the .308 head for the Giraud trimmer, so case prep isn't that bad. Alternatively I can buy brand new Winchester brass for $360/1,000 from Midway. If I'm looking for absolute accuracy, is new brass the way to go? Economically the edge goes to the Lake City by a distance, but of course the concern is that you never know if it's been fired through an MG with a sloppy chamber. Whichever option I go with will be FL sized and run through the Giraud, so buying new only saves me from swaging the primer pocket. I'm really torn here between saving money (LC) and having brass of absolute known provenance (WCC). Thoughts please? 3) Am I just overthinking all of this? Does the brass itself really make that much difference? Thanks in advance for any input 
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Quoted:
If all out accuracy is your goal get some Lapau cases and some real match bullets. FMJ's are not match bullets. Load them in your Privi cases. My bad, I mentioned two types of bullets in my post. For the Tikka I'll be loading up 168gr Sierra Match Kings of which I have 4,000. Then I also have 4,000 150gr Hornady FMJBTs that are destined for the AR10s. It's more a question of is the Prvi brass inconsistent enough that I should just save it for the AR10 fodder? Or would it also be acceptable for the precision rounds? Lapua is, I'm sure, the very best but it comes at a heck of a cost! Looks to be 2-3x the $$$ of new WCC brass. I'm only competing against myself so I can't really justify it 
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| Honestly, the better quality brass will give you a few more loadings but its not mandatory for excellent accuracy. For top preformance the cases should be formed to the chamber, fire the rounds out of that rifle and only use that brass in that particular rifle. When reloading them you set the case length and neck size only. |
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Quoted:
Honestly, the better quality brass will give you a few more loadings but its not mandatory for excellent accuracy. For top performance the cases should be formed to the chamber, fire the rounds out of that rifle and only use that brass in that particular rifle. When reloading them you set the case length and neck size only. I'll go along with that to a point. Excellent accuracy from cartrage comes from consistency. Better quality brass gives this new from the box without the prep work that must be put into lower quality brass. Your dime, your time. Invest wisely. 
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Quoted: Quoted: If all out accuracy is your goal get some Lapau cases and some real match bullets. FMJ's are not match bullets. Load them in your Privi cases. My bad, I mentioned two types of bullets in my post. For the Tikka I'll be loading up 168gr Sierra Match Kings of which I have 4,000. Then I also have 4,000 150gr Hornady FMJBTs that are destined for the AR10s. It's more a question of is the Prvi brass inconsistent enough that I should just save it for the AR10 fodder? Or would it also be acceptable for the precision rounds? Lapua is, I'm sure, the very best but it comes at a heck of a cost! Looks to be 2-3x the $$$ of new WCC brass. I'm only competing against myself so I can't really justify it Ok, then you are like me, you want precession on a budget. Get some Winchester, uniform the primer pockets and the flashole. If you want more, sort cases by weight after prep.
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As already posted, start with new brass and use it only in your Tikka. Personally I would go with the Lapua brass, the Win brass I have gotten lately has been a real disappointment, believe it or not I now like Rem better than Win brass.
If you plan on giving neck sizing a shot, you may want to purchase a Lee Collet die. It works great and produces very concentric brass. Couple it with the Redding body die to bump the shoulder and you have a winning combination for precision accuracy. A good bench rest seating die wouldn't hurt either, I like the Forster BR Seating dies. |
| Personally, I would try the 168s with the brass I had in hand before buying any more brass. I would also try several different bullets to see what your Tikka shoots well. I have an accurized 308 with a custom barrel that shoots the 168 Sierra's so-so. Accuracy with the 180-gr Sierra MK is outstanding. What is your intended range? |
| Im an old school reloader, back in the late 70's when I started there was'nt many choices on brass. High quality brass has it's advantages if your shooting in competition and your trying to squeeze out every milimeter of accuracy you possible can. Little things in brass, like the primer pocket being perfectly centered and every flash hole being centered and exactly the same size can effect the ignition which can have slight effects on velocity which can effect accuracy from round to round. Little things in your rifle like the firingpin strike being off center can also effect ignition from round to round. True handloading for percision shooting can be a very time comsuming and expensive undertaking. But in this case where your not shooting competition, your just trying to load for decent accuracy out of your rifle, the good quality brass will save you some time and give you some added life to your brass. But if you have that much brass built up you can fire form it to that rifle and just neck size when loading and you can get the most out of what you have with out the added expense of new brass. |
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Quoted:
Personally, I would try the 168s with the brass I had in hand before buying any more brass. I would also try several different bullets to see what your Tikka shoots well. I have an accurized 308 with a custom barrel that shoots the 168 Sierra's so-so. Accuracy with the 180-gr Sierra MK is outstanding. What is your intended range? Longest range at my club is 200 yards, and that's where I spend most of my time practicing. There are ranges within driving distance that go up to 400 yards though, so I'd like to give that a try at some point. Based on the input so far I'm leaning towards saving the Prvi brass for the S/A rifles it's already been fired through, and starting off with new WCC brass for the Tikka. Seems this would be the best compromise between cost and likelihood of producing good ammo. It would also leave sufficient funds free to have a separate toolhead setup for each type of ammo which would be a timesaver (e.g. powder charge will be different for the AR10/150gr ammo vs the Tikka/168gr ammo, AR10 ammo will be crimped, Tikka ammo will not etc). |
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Why don't you try loading some up and see? Like stated above your rifle might do fine and it might not, it could like the brass and hate the bullet. Way to much emphasis is but on brass, for most of use we can not shoot well enough to tell the difference in brass make or weight and at 200 to 400 yards its not going to make that much difference. Long range bench rest shooter and the all mighty sniper just don't pick up a rifle and shoot groups out at 1000 yards. It takes a lot of practice and a couple shot out barrels to be good. Long range shooters just don't purchase 1000 pieces of brass and bullets throw some powder in them and shoot away, they try this and that bullet, brass, primer, powder and charge weight before they settle on any one load but first you got to be able to shoot the rifle well enough to give the loads a fair shot.
If I wanted to get serious about long range shooting and I had 4000 bullets and 2000 pieces of brass just waiting to load I would definitely work up a load with them and proceed to work on my shooting skills, once I shot the barrel out of the rifle and then some it might be time to work up a better load but then again with a new barrel its time anyway. |
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Eye-opening article, thank-you! I'm aiming for sub-MOA which shouldn't be a terribly lofty goal for the Tikka if I do my part. The AR10s will hold 2 MOA using the Prvi M80 which I think is respectable from SA rifles and very much non-match ammo. A couple of unexpected expenses this week have made new brass a non-starter for a couple of months, so I'm going to go ahead and work up some test loads with the Prvi brass and 168gr Sierra Match Kings. Hopefully I'll get chance to load them up before the weekend as I have a range trip planned. Been a while since I developed a load from scratch so I'm looking forward to it. |
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