Load date for my limited supplies on hand? Update: Success !!!!

[Rate_of_Twist]

OK, I'm growing realty tired of not shooting! I also haven't loaded a single round from my press I'm months as I'm too low on small pistol primers to chance not being able to replace them.... I do on the other hand have a few thousand federal large rifle primers, 300 hornady 168 A Max molly coated 308 bullets and some reloader 15. My Remington 700 needs some ammo bad, could I work up a reasonable accurate load with what I have on hand?


Update: Reloaded 5 rounds a went and tried them out. 100 yards, prone with a bipod. No great shooting but I know fora fact shots 4 and 5 were my fault not the rifle or ammo

 

[EddieCoyle]

Yes.

 

[xtry51]

I'm using R15 for .308 right now.

180gr Barnes TTSX
Federal Primer
44.0gr R15.

Getting 2525fps avg from my Savage 10FP.

 

[Rate_of_Twist]

I'm using R15 for .308 right now.

180gr Barnes TTSX
Federal Primer
44.0gr R15.

Getting 2525fps avg from my Savage 10FP.

How about load testing without a chrono?

 

[xtry51]

How about load testing without a chrono?

My personal path, based on your limited amount, would be to start at 44gr and load 5 at half grain increments to about 47gr, shoot them and see what groups best in your gun.

If you're just going to plink at 200 yards or under, skip the ladder test and just load 42gr and call it a day.

ETA:

My 44gr load is well below pressure signs. I have no desire to eat up my brass supply.

 

[EddieCoyle]

My personal path, based on your limited amount, would be to start at 44gr and load 5 at half grain increments to about 47gr, shoot them and see what groups best in your gun.

You can end up chasing your tail if you do that.

Read up on OCW. Once you find the OCW, mess with the OAL in .005" increments to see what groups best.

 

[xtry51]

You can end up chasing your tail if you do that.

Read up on OCW. Once you find the OCW, mess with the OAL in .005" increments to see what groups best.

I was aiming more at his limited components on hand than getting an ideal load for his rifle. I don't think he has enough rounds to get into a full tilt load development. He's only got enough to shot 30 groups.

 

[EddieCoyle]

It usually only takes about 50-100 rounds

 

[xtry51]

So I picked up this site to read up more on the OCW method.

OCW Overview - Dan Newberry's OCW Load Development System

What he describes as a ladder test is not what I've been doing. I've been doing kind of a mix between the two and calling it a ladder, unbeknownst to me.

I'll have to try out that exact method using the one up/down deviations on my next trip out to see what I get.

 

[Rate_of_Twist]

Ok, I started with only 5 rounds.... Mainly due to the fact that I realized I hadn't cleaned my new hornady powder measure good enough and the powder was sticking to the inside.

So, 5 rounds of

Hornady 168gn Amax moly 308
Magtech brass
Federal primer
Re15

Brass trimmed to 2.0085
Charge weight 43gn
OAL 2.8

See any issues here?

Thanks for the link eddiecoyle, I've got a lead on some more powder/bullets so I'm going to try that method out as soon as I have the components and I'm comfortable with my equipment