What are your favorite .308 Win reload components?

Lapua brass, WLR, Varget or 4064 and 175 SMK.

Favorite hunting load which is what I do for the 308. Lapua brass, 165gr accubond, Varget powder

Range pickup brass

Bulk blem bullets

Free hazmat shipping

Lapua Brass
WLR Primers (or CCI, either one will do after some tweaking)
165 or 150 gr cnc bullet
Varget or IMR4064

If no Lapua brass, I've had good luck with Hornady Match brass.

165 Sierra Gameking
H4895
Winchester Brass
CCI BR-2 or Fed 210M

Please follow all safe reloading practices.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Varget and 178s from Hornady.

Any commercial brass
CCI 200, Fed-210
H-Varget 44.4 gr
178 gr A-Max (would substitute for the ELD-M today)

Starling Brass
Ramshot Tac
CCI BR2
150gr SST

Lapua Brass
Fed 210M
Varget
165g Swift Sciroccos

Nails

Disclaimer: still very new to reloading

I just started with new Lapua brass, 178eldm, cci200 and varget in a 26" barrel. Got me at least one 5-shot group right under 2" at 300yards.
Did once shoot a small amount of once fired Federal GM brass, cci brass, hornady 168 bthp and varget. The best one of that bunch was a little under 2.5" at 300.

I would totally like to find a recipe that is based around some bullet (within 168-180gr), varget and cci 220 that shoots sub-moa (an honest one), consistently with a source of once-fired military/commercial brass. For lack of a better term, I want to create a recipe similar in concept to Chad's bulk 308. Great idear...noticeably cheaper components with theoretically only a small difference in overall consistency.

H-Varget

44.4 gr under a 178 gr
200 .5 Mil
300 1.2 Mil
400 2.0 Mil
500 3.0 Mil
All weather

46.0 gr under a 165 or 168 gr

More like 1" at 300. (That is not a slam on your 2" at 300, at all, that's good shooting)

Where do I start? If it's a good powder, I use it. If the bullet works and shoots good, I use it. Fed 210 or 210M primers I like. Brass can be Nosler (currently), Winchester, Lapua, or my plain old WCC once fired stuff. The powder I use is based on which bullet I'm shooting. I ALWAYS cater the powder and burn rate to the bullet weight and barrel length I'm shooting. Longer barrel = slower burning powder. Shorter barrel = faster burning powder. Same with bullet weight. I think there are staple powders for the 308, but depending on your bullet weight and barrel length, those components can change greatly. If it's an AR 10, this changes things up even more.

I left that out on purpose. Don't need a run on our AR-10 powder

Not taken that way at all. It's more like, "I'm still a novice to both precision rifle shooting skills and reloading. Yet see what I can even get out it."
Nothing fancy like "I need 6.5prc on a $3k rifle." Simple 308 with good parts, time at the bench and a decent Savage. I do see more holes in my reloading game that I think i can squeeze even more accuracy out of this exact setup.

Some fine details, that I believe make a difference, in order of steps.

Debur the flash holes
Make the shoulders .001" to .002" shorter than fired length
Trim them all the same
Quality primers, standard large rifle, CCI-200, Fed-210, CCI-BR2
KNOW where your bullet is sitting in relation to the lands. And I'm usually .005" or less, away from lands, on every rifle.
Proper powder for bullet weight, and barrel length, as Chad mentioned
Temperature stable powders
"The right" powder charge working WITH barrel harmonics, not against
***Very consistent powder charge case to case***

That last one, is the most important for consistency. That is the factor that can eliminate vertical dispersion. That is what makes the 100 yard zero, and the D.O.P.E. stay the same. Meaning, no surprises. And very consistent powder charges can be had for not a lot of money. Go from the Chargemaster to a beam scale, and trickle up by hand. That less expensive option got me an ES of 10 with a straight 7mm-08, 162 A-Max, and H-Varget.

175 Sierra Match King
Black Hills brass
43.5 Varget (or 43.2 for Lapua Brass)
Fed 210
0.010" off the lands or 2.800" COAL for unknown rifles.
Works well in the six or more 308's including a semi I've tried it out to 1,000 yards.

If I could have only one rifle and one load, this might be the one.

p.s. brass prep is 90% of the work time wise in reloading. Take time to produce good brass and set the dies up with low to no runout and good results will follow, but that is a discussion unto itself.

For a "hunting" bullet load, a 150 Barnes TTSX 0.010" off the lands and Varget around 45.0 +/- (tailor to the rifle) will kill most anything that can be hunted in Texas.

4064 and 165 SGK. Or 150 SGK.

Sorry, I should have mentioned this is for a bolt gun.

Years ago I ran the 168 smk’s and they shot great. Berger’s shoot better.
168g Berger VLD
Federal or Winchester brass
Fed 210m primers
Varget

Thanks for the suggestions. I purchased the dies and components to reload Varget powder behind 175 SMK's.

Ladder test.




I also picked up two boxes of Federal Premium .308 Sierra Matchking with the same projectile as my reloads.

If they shoot like this why reload?




I was very surprised. This rifle only has a cheep 3x9-50 Redfield scope.

Varget, Lapua brass, Fed210M, 168 Ballistic Tips and 178 ELDX for hunting loads
Varget, Lapua brass, Fed210M, 168 / 175 SMK and 178 ELD-M for target

Because as you change lot numbers, the velocities will change.

168 grain ELD match, Varget, Winchester brass and CCI BR primers.

Easy answer! More speed, more consistency, temp stability, and a tuned load to your rifle. Reloads can out shoot any factory ammo, especially when you add some distance to the shots. Yes, FGMM may shoot good at 100, but it's slow, high extreme spread, uses a ball powder, (or large commercial grade temp sensitive powder) and it's not near as consistent as you could load your own.