Sighting the .308

[OVERKILL]

So, as many of you probably recall, I received a Remington 700 5R Milspec from my wife a while back. I've had the gun out a grand total of twice. First was a trip to my buddy's range where I roughly sighted it on some Hornady steel match and then put a few rounds down range with it with reasonable accuracy. Spent the rest of the time nailing a 4x4" piece of steel at 300 yard with ridiculous ease with my .338LM.

Went out yesterday to shoot the .308 with my staple 150gr Federal Blue box and she was hitting hard to the left, so had to re-zero it. Rifle is topped with a Leupold VX3i LRP FFP scope. I had it in a sled for this exercise. There was some pretty good wind, probably 20Km/h that was gusting (hence the few fliers).

This is the same range I zeroed my previous .308, .223 and the .338LM at. It's 100 yards, in a field in the boons.

The groups are numbered. #1 is where it was shooting out of the bag. #2 is my first set of adjustments, #3 the next and #4 where it ended up. Reasonably happy with the results. It isn't quite the tack-driver my previous .308 was but it seems to be getting better as it breaks-in.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Group #4 will get the job done.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Group #4 will get the job done.

That's what I thought. This is my deer rifle. I fully expect it to improve even further as it gets more rounds through it. It's a very nice rifle, and a great carry, particularly for the cost. Seems to be able to drop a good group at this juncture with cheap box ammo, which is a trait I loved about my previous Savage FCP-K, which was insanely accurate for a production .308.

 

[demarpaint]

The twist of that barrel is better suited for a heavier bullet. I would try a 175 grain bullet and see what happens. If I were a gambling man I'd bet it groups tighter.

It will buck the wind better too.

If you hand load for it try a 175 SMK bullet.

They're good for hunting too according to a lot of friends of mine that hunt.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by demarpaint
The twist of that barrel is better suited for a heavier bullet. I would try a 175 grain bullet and see what happens. If I were a gambling man I'd bet it groups tighter.

It will buck the wind better too.

If you hand load for it try a SMK 175 grain bullet. They're good for hunting too according to a lot of friends of mine that hunt.


Perhaps if I run out of 150's I'll buy 180's, but I have hundreds of rounds of 150gr Federal Blue box because my Savage shot incredibly well with it and it was cheap. I hand load for the Lapua because it's a cost saver, but I haven't historically for the .308 as inexpensive commercial cartridges have yielded excellent performance.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by demarpaint
The twist of that barrel is better suited for a heavier bullet. I would try a 175 grain bullet and see what happens. If I were a gambling man I'd bet it groups tighter.

It will buck the wind better too.

If you hand load for it try a SMK 175 grain bullet. They're good for hunting too according to a lot of friends of mine that hunt.


Perhaps if I run out of 150's I'll buy 180's, but I have hundreds of rounds of 150gr Federal Blue box because my Savage shot incredibly well with it and it was cheap. I hand load for the Lapua because it's a cost saver, but I haven't historically for the .308 as inexpensive commercial cartridges have yielded excellent performance.


You might as well shoot what you have. The 180's will probably group better, based and the twist of the barrel. I have the same rifle and found the 175 SMK to be the best, so I thought I'd pass that info along to you. When I shot 1000 yd F-Class I started to hand load for everything, and the Match King bullets were my favorite.

 

[OVERKILL]

Yeah, the Savage was 1:10 IIRC, whilst this rifle is 1:11.25.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Yeah, the Savage was 1:10 IIRC, whilst this rifle is 1:11.25.


The heavier bullets will work well in the Savage too.

 

[MolaKule]

My F&N .308 performs better with the 168 to 175 grain bullets.

The only time I use 147 to 150 grain bullets is when I am letting someone else like my grandsons get accustomed to it.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Iron sights or a what power scope?

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by demarpaint
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Yeah, the Savage was 1:10 IIRC, whilst this rifle is 1:11.25.


The heavier bullets will work well in the Savage too.


That wasn't my experience (and I no longer have that rifle). I found the best ones were the 155gr steel match, which were matched surprisingly close by the 150gr Federal Blue Box. 180's (also Federal Blue Box) opened up from the 150's for whatever reason, which is why I have so many of the 150's.

Now, they may in fact work better in this rifle, but the Savage appeared to like the 150's

 

[ammolab]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Yeah, the Savage was 1:10 IIRC, whilst this rifle is 1:11.25.


The heavier bullets will work well in the Savage too.


That wasn't my experience (and I no longer have that rifle). I found the best ones were the 155gr steel match, which were matched surprisingly close by the 150gr Federal Blue Box. 180's (also Federal Blue Box) opened up from the 150's for whatever reason, which is why I have so many of the 150's.

Now, they may in fact work better in this rifle, but the Savage appeared to like the 150's

Match bullets shoot better not because they are heavier...but because they are MATCH bullets (better quality mfg). Rifles are individuals, like people. No one can tell you what food your next girlfriend will prefer, and no one can tell you what bullet/load will shoot best in YOUR rifle.

Test weights and brands until you have a winner!

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by ammolab
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Yeah, the Savage was 1:10 IIRC, whilst this rifle is 1:11.25.


The heavier bullets will work well in the Savage too.


That wasn't my experience (and I no longer have that rifle). I found the best ones were the 155gr steel match, which were matched surprisingly close by the 150gr Federal Blue Box. 180's (also Federal Blue Box) opened up from the 150's for whatever reason, which is why I have so many of the 150's.

Now, they may in fact work better in this rifle, but the Savage appeared to like the 150's

Match bullets shoot better not because they are heavier...but because they are MATCH bullets (better quality mfg). Rifles are individuals, like people. No one can tell you what food your next girlfriend will prefer, and no one can tell you what bullet/load will shoot best in YOUR rifle.

Test weights and brands until you have a winner!


Yes match bullets are better, no two ways about it. I always paid attention to barrel twist too, it is an important factor most people overlook.

 

[Revving2Redline]

Did you bore snake after every round for first five shots?I do that and then after every 5 shots. Nice groups. How was wind?

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by Marco620
Did you bore snake after every round for first five shots?I do that and then after every 5 shots. Nice groups. How was wind?


As per the OP, wind was gusty and around 20Km/h.

No, the gun hasn't been cleaned at all at this point. I'll probably clean it now, since it's had around 100 through it. I generally keep them a bit dirty after they've been zeroed, as I have found it makes them more consistent. First shot or two after a cleaning is always out of whack with where it was shooting prior. Avoiding cleaning until I know I'm going to be shooting quite a bit means I know where it will shoot the next time out, or at least that's the logic

 

[Cujet]

Prob worth trying some FGMM 168 in that thing. For some reason, I thought the Rem 700 was designed for that particular round, and that the Rem 700 in mil use was always with the mil version of 168 match ammo. But my info could be wrong, incorrect or out of date.

Even so, that's great performance from 150's on a windy day.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Originally Posted by Marco620
Did you bore snake after every round for first five shots?I do that and then after every 5 shots. Nice groups. How was wind?


Most professionals claim that normal folks clean the bore excessively, sometimes to the point of damaging the rifling. I know this is not a .22, but some of the best .22 shooters go around 5 THOUSAND rounds between cleaning. As Overkill stated, cleaning the bore can result in some significant shift for the first couple rounds after, so it is not a smart thing to clean your rifle and then immediately go on the hunt.

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted by SubieRubyRoo
Originally Posted by Marco620
Did you bore snake after every round for first five shots?I do that and then after every 5 shots. Nice groups. How was wind?


Most professionals claim that normal folks clean the bore excessively, sometimes to the point of damaging the rifling. I know this is not a .22, but some of the best .22 shooters go around 5 THOUSAND rounds between cleaning. As Overkill stated, cleaning the bore can result in some significant shift for the first couple rounds after, so it is not a smart thing to clean your rifle and then immediately go on the hunt.


That's my method

but I'm simply lazy.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by Cujet
Prob worth trying some FGMM 168 in that thing. For some reason, I thought the Rem 700 was designed for that particular round, and that the Rem 700 in mil use was always with the mil version of 168 match ammo. But my info could be wrong, incorrect or out of date.

Even so, that's great performance from 150's on a windy day.


This rifle was basically supposed to be a consumer M24. The barrels are (or were) apparently rejects from the M24 line, which is why they are limited production and only done in periodic batches when they have enough barrels to make a run, or at least that's how the story/mythology goes

They share the 5R rifling and unique twist rate of the M24, so the other possibility at this point is that they are done on the M24 tooling on purpose when time allows.

So, if we take the mythos at face value, or even not, given that it shares a barrel with the M24, then it "should" be happiest on 173 special ball, but testing reports I've read don't find that to be the case really. It's generally pretty happy being fed anything.

I'm honestly not going to worry too much about ammo selection for this rifle given its purpose, which is deer and varmint. It shoots quite well as noted using these inexpensive 150's. I'm quite pleased with it at this juncture, and also with the scope, whose low light performance surprised me.

I may pick up some other ammo to trial in it, like the 180's I mentioned earlier, but it's certainly not going to be a priority.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by SubieRubyRoo
Originally Posted by Marco620
Did you bore snake after every round for first five shots?I do that and then after every 5 shots. Nice groups. How was wind?


Most professionals claim that normal folks clean the bore excessively, sometimes to the point of damaging the rifling. I know this is not a .22, but some of the best .22 shooters go around 5 THOUSAND rounds between cleaning. As Overkill stated, cleaning the bore can result in some significant shift for the first couple rounds after, so it is not a smart thing to clean your rifle and then immediately go on the hunt.


Yes, apparently (and this is conjecture) most snipers don't regularly clean their rifles for this reason. They are kept dirty while in service for risk of impacting POI by cleaning.