The Gun Counter

Well, the rifle is coming. I'm researching glass. Now, it's time for the ammo recommendations.

Also, I don't know much about bullet weights. Looks like you can get it in the 145-180 grain range. What's up with that?

Fire away!

Federal Gold Medal Match, 168 grain is the gold-standard of factory ammo. It's used by lots of shooters as a known standard for judging the accuracy of a rifle.

With my handload ammo, I try to match the ballistics of GMM with every load, whether target or hunting. My handloads mimic Federal's GMM.

For hunting loads, lots of guys swear by Federal Fusion ammo.

PawPaw wrote:Federal Gold Medal Match, 168 grain is the gold-standard of factory ammo.

Yep. I don't reload and the Gold Medal Match 168 is about all I shoot. I picked up a bunch of this: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/ ... ?a=1584479 when it was on sale for a little over $.50 cents a round. I haven't had the opportunity to shoot it yet. It seems to have a pretty good reputation.

Another for GMM, although Lapua makes some damn fine stuff too,though it is three times the cost of the Federal.

Weet, see this post:

viewtopic.php?f=40&t=7547

Look at the comparison target photo.

and this one:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=16674

Personally, I would go to the gunshop, and buy one box of each kind of .308 that they have. In fact, go to all your local gunshops, and do that. Then take your rifle shooting. Try ten rounds from each box off a rest.* That will break-in your barrel and trigger, settle your scope in the mounts, and give you a decent chance to get used to the rifle. Take your time, and allow the barrel to cool periodically (for hunting, the first shot from a cold barrel really, really matters), and allow yourself to enjoy the experience.

Doing that will more than likely throw up one, or maybe two brands or loadings that work well and group nicely in your rifle, with you shooting it. Now, run, don't walk, back to wherever you bought that box, and buy all of the same lot that they have, or that you can afford, if they have plenty. You now own have a quasi-lifetime supply of ammunition that will suit your rifle. (I am about half-way though the stash that I bought after that post in 2008, but I do a lot of game shooting.) After a year or two of regular use, you'll notice some minor degradation in the accuracy of your results on paper targets - then it's time to clean the barrel!

Easy!

* The other half of the "testing" ammunition stash is not wasted - you're bound to get another rifle that'll need testing, or you'll know someone else who does... Savvy air-rifle shops sell "sampler" packs of pellets, but I've not heard of anyone doing it for centrefire ammunition.

My local Walmart had that ZQI 7.62x51 ammo for sale, $9 something per 20 rd box, so I picked up a hundred rounds. I don't expect match accuracy from it, but it's nonmagnetic, so I can try it at the range. Who knows, maybe it'll be decent. Blasting ammo if nothing else.

Have no clue about commercial ammo, but reloading for a couple of different .308 rifles seems to indicate a minor, but noticeable, preference for bullets in the 165-180 gr. range.

It has been 5 or 6 years since I've run any comercial 308 ammo, so I can't give much help there on specifics. In general my Savage is not great but not too picky either. The G3 does not like heavy loads.

Denis wrote:Weet, see this post:

viewtopic.php?f=40&t=7547

Look at the comparison target photo.

and this one:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=16674

Personally, I would go to the gunshop, and buy one box of each kind of .308 that they have. In fact, go to all your local gunshops, and do that. Then take your rifle shooting. Try ten rounds from each box off a rest.* That will break-in your barrel and trigger, settle your scope in the mounts, and give you a decent chance to get used to the rifle. Take your time, and allow the barrel to cool periodically (for hunting, the first shot from a cold barrel really, really matters), and allow yourself to enjoy the experience.

Doing that will more than likely throw up one, or maybe two brands or loadings that work well and group nicely in your rifle, with you shooting it. Now, run, don't walk, back to wherever you bought that box, and buy all of the same lot that they have, or that you can afford, if they have plenty. You now own have a quasi-lifetime supply of ammunition that will suit your rifle. (I am about half-way though the stash that I bought after that post in 2008, but I do a lot of game shooting.) After a year or two of regular use, you'll notice some minor degradation in the accuracy of your results on paper targets - then it's time to clean the barrel!

Easy!

* The other half of the "testing" ammunition stash is not wasted - you're bound to get another rifle that'll need testing, or you'll know someone else who does... Savvy air-rifle shops sell "sampler" packs of pellets, but I've not heard of anyone doing it for centrefire ammunition.

+1

It's pointless to get recommendations from friends, because every rifle is different. A brand and load that shoots well in one rifle may give a shotgun pattern with another. I've seen it.

To truly optimize, take the brand and load that worked best after running Dennis's procedure, take apart the remaining rounds in the box and measure the components - bullet weight, case capacity, powder weight. Now you have a starting recipe for working up your own load.

D5CAV wrote:To truly optimize, take the brand and load that worked best after running Denis' procedure, take apart the remaining rounds in the box and measure the components - bullet weight, case capacity, powder weight. Now you have a starting recipe for working up your own load.

Welcome to the deep, dark heart of the gun nut forest!