Newby general advice

[stevelondon2017]

Hi all. I'm going to look at a 2016 Ruger Precision rifle chambered in .308 with the hope of buying it tomorrow. It will be my first full bore rifle however I have shot this calibre before, albeit not a lot.

Knowing how expensive these rounds can be I am looking at buying a cheap and cheerful reloading kit by LEE soon and my plan is to buy a few boxes of rounds to start with when I get the rifle, and then take up reloading from there.

The rifle is the 20" barrel however does have a wildcat moderator so extends it slightly.

Part 1.

What grain rounds would you recommend for this barrel length? I have been told a heavier bullet for shorter barrels.

 

Part 2.

What bullet heads are recommended for reloading (albeit on the cheap, I'm not going to be competition shooting but still want some degree of accuracy, albeit probably only out to 300-500 yards to start off with) and where on earth do I find out how much powder I need to put in for that particular head? Does it depend on the powder I buy? But then which powder do I buy? lol.

 

I look forward to any helping hands.

Steve.

 

EDIT...

I have just been doing some looking about on shops' websites. So I can buy a pack of a pack of 20 remington 150g rounds for £22.99. Looking up the reloading parts as follows...

Lapua casings 100pcs - £58.99

Lapua bullets 100pcs - £32.99

Primers 100pcs - £2.99

Vihtavuori powder - 1Kg £84.99 (apparently enough to make just under 100 accordingly to my calculator)

 

Totals £179.96... thats £36 per pack of 20!! Is that right? Am I doing the math right? Its more expensive than just buying new every time. Even if I work out using the brass 5 times it still works out more expensive.

Edited June 16, 2018 by stevelondon2017
Addition

[John_R]

No, your calculations are way off, especially in respect of the powder.

Edited June 16, 2018 by John_R

[steve_b_wales]

There's 7000 grains of powder per lb so 14875 (approx) in a kg. Divide that by the weight of the powder charge you intend throwing and this will give you the amount of rounds you can load, then divide that number into the cost of the powder, to work out the price per round.

You don't have to use Lapua cases, although these are the best, and, with care, can be reloaded many times. Also, bullets manufacturers like Hornady and Sierra make very good quality ones. Your first reloads will be the most expensive as you will be using new cases. You can remove that cost for further reloads.

Your first price per round will be £0.95 (approx) for case,primer & bullet, plus the cost of the powder. The subsequent rounds will be 59p cheaper (the cost of the case)

Example: . 42gr powder for 150gr bullet (taken from Hodgdon reloading data) would give you 354 (approx) rounds, which equates to 0.24p per round. This would equate at £1.19p per round.

[1066]

Is this .308 for casual target use or to be used in the field too? This may have implications on what bullet (not head) you use.

Powders are very different - Loading a case with 40 grains of Vihtavuori N140 = fine, loading a case with 40 grains of Bullseye = Hand grenade under you nose. Make sure you do your homework first. The first purchase should be a reloading manual.

If you are only planning on shooting a few rounds, buy your initial ammunition with reasonable Boxer primed cases, not cheap Military surplus rounds which would possibly be Berdan primed, and crimped primers even if Boxer primed.

If you have bought reasonable cases to start with you won't need to layout for 100 new cases.

If you want to just test the water and load a few rounds you could use a Lee Loader for £35 - they turn out good ammunition but slow.

 

 

[stevelondon2017]

8 hours ago, steve_b_wales said:

There's 7000 grains of powder per lb so 14875 (approx) in a kg. Divide that by the weight of the powder charge you intend throwing and this will give you the amount of rounds you can load, then divide that number into the cost of the powder, to work out the price per round.

You don't have to use Lapua cases, although these are the best, and, with care, can be reloaded many times. Also, bullets manufacturers like Hornady and Sierra make very good quality ones. Your first reloads will be the most expensive as you will be using new cases. You can remove that cost for further reloads.

Your first price per round will be £0.95 (approx) for case,primer & bullet, plus the cost of the powder. The subsequent rounds will be 59p cheaper (the cost of the case)

Example: . 42gr powder for 150gr bullet (taken from Hodgdon reloading data) would give you 354 (approx) rounds, which equates to 0.24p per round. This would equate at £1.19p per round.

Oh you know what I've done, Ive taken the weight of the head to be the powder that goes in. It was 3am to be fair to me. lol. thats for clearing that up.

Well now the guy I'm buying the gun from has a full setup which he will sell me for £200. Its a lyman kit and has everything including full dies, powder, Sierra heads, tumbler the lot. And reloading manuals. I'm tempted to go for that.

[steve_b_wales]

5 minutes ago, stevelondon2017 said:

Oh you know what I've done, Ive taken the weight of the head to be the powder that goes in. It was 3am to be fair to me. lol. thats for clearing that up.

Well now the guy I'm buying the gun from has a full setup which he will sell me for £200. Its a lyman kit and has everything including full dies, powder, Sierra heads, tumbler the lot. And reloading manuals. I'm tempted to go for that.

Yeah, that sounds good value for money. Ask him what powder/primer/bullets he used and what weight of powder he used. This should save you experimenting on creating a suitable load for the rifle.

Good luck. Reloading is enjoyable, just use caution and common sense.