Just picked up a .308 from a member and need a starting place to begin loading.
My bullet of choice is a 168 Sierra Match King.
Gun will be used for long range shooting. First mods to gun will be trigger tech trigger and bedding.

Thanks,

.005" bullet jump if you can

H-Varget

Start at 43.0 gr and work up.

There is no sweet spot, Buzz. You've got to do a load development for every rifle.

Varget. My .308 always preferred a lot of it.

Gun is a Remington 700 varmint with 26" barrel with 1:12 twist.

Buzz and I are not related.

That long of a barrel, the sweet spot for powder charge might be fairly narrow.

Bad
Better
Better
Very good
Not as good
Worser

^^Could go like that.

Jason...you forgot "bestest" and "worstest."

LOL.

You DO realize a fellow by the name of Ken Waters wrote Pet Loads in two different volumes, and sold a lot of copies because he knew what he was doing...right?

There's never a guarantee that one of these "pet loads" will perform in any given rifle and you might have to tweak it a bit to get the best out of it (I am thinking seating depth, mainly)...and probably there will be those that "just-don't-like-no-damned-pet-loads-at-all-so-screw-you," but they're often a very good place to head toward in load development. They tend to work pretty well.

I will say there are some "usuals", but not hard rules.

I've seen a terrific load in a few rifles be absolute no's in other rifles.

I treat all of them as brand new projects. I've got things I "expect" to happen, but sometimes they don't.

I know you know all that.

There are some contrary ol' SOBs out there...I think there's one living in my own gunsafe.

If it says Christensen on it, it's probably going to cause me extra work.

I don't got one o' those. And that ain't the other half.

Have a CZ 550 Tacticool with "26 barrel and shoots factory 168s Hornady and Sierra 168s lights out! Loaded some to the same factory specs with 4064 and shoots just as good. Hates anything 150gr.

44.3 grains Varget bullet with a light kiss to the riflings, match primer neck turned .002” neck tension has always worked well in every single 308 I have ever hard

Once you get that bedding and trigger done I'd try either Hornady Black 168 Amax or Stand 1 Armory 168 Amax--- had excellent results with both in several bolt guns and two different AR10s, one of which was a PSA ($800) and a Primary Arms scope ($400) that would run 1 moa to 800 all day-- kinda hard to beat that return on investment.

If you are really looking to dial in handloads I would still swear by that bullet or the ELDM--- for plinking purposes or whacking critters.

H4831

Brass completely full, and not making any bullet velocity.

I just wanted to chime to say my first real venture into reloading was 308 with hornady 168 bthp (because they were cheaper than the SMKs), Federal once fired brass, cci 200 and Varget. 44.0 was where i ended up. It was the load that blew my mind for how accurate a rifle can be jusy by relaoding for it.

308 + 168gr is a classic combo.

I generally use Varget and TAC in 308. TAC is good with lighter bullets.

OP said for long range so just be aware the Sierra 168’s are really good out to 6/700 yds but get squirrelly past that. I would agree inside 600 the 168’s are hard to beat.
Lots of good choices on powder. Varget/ XBR8208/IMR4064/ H4895 are top choices for me.

Yup.

I've spotted them to 800 yards many times. That is about their limit. The BC won't let them get past that with consistency.

Maybe OP should look at 155 TMKs. I think the BC is better and they can be pushed faster.

I’ve been using Reloder 15 under the 168 AMAX in Lapua brass for a lot of years with more than a few Remington 308 rifles. Currently have an LTR that bugholes with my load.
Load to mag length on a factory M700 chamber and work from there.
You’ll not be able to kiss lands and use it as a repeater in factory configuration.

One of my best loads were a 155 vlds but I ended up cracking case necks. Hahaha, that was a lessoned learned. The accuracy was cool. IF I were to select another weight class, then I'd prefer going to the 175-180gr bullets. I dorked out to all the ballastics tables and info i could read. This weight class bullet, 178 eldm for me, had the best compromise of bc gain vs velocity past the 500+ yard ranges. Especially if the powder is varget. Ran like a freaking champ.

Yes.

Sierra publishes a G-1 at .518

And I've proven it to be true to 1000 yards, at least.

I'd tell the O.P. the best answer for .308 Win, long range in a 26" barrel is a 178 gr ELD-M or a +175 gr Berger. Much better B.C. than the 168, and more bullet weight carrying more inertia beyond the half mile mark.

But! His 1:12 twist.

Lilja chart says the 1:12 would run a 180 gr.
Shilen chart says the 1:12 needs to stop at max of 168 gr.

The Berger ballistics calculator is worth plugging into, to get a third opinion.

Case necks cracked because of the bullet??

I was thinking not, but I was going to let it ride.

Please elaborate KR