308 with 175 Bergers

[JustinP]

Gents

Will be setting up an 11" twist 308 barrel to shoot 175gr Berger match BT bullets (not the VLD). They'll be single loaded, not mag fed.

Anyone have any ideas on recommended freebore length and leade angle for these 175s? I don't want to choke them and will be happy to load them long to get the shank up out of the powder column. That said, I don't want to jam them, prefer a short jump.

Cheers, Justin

[Ned Kelly]

G'Day Justin,
I suggest you search the oz flcass site as the Match rifle guy's should have good info, but generally in order to maximise the case capacity, I'd have the boat tail as far into the neck as possible BUT, I'd like to have at least 0.150"-0.180" of the bullet parallel section in the neck to allow you to chase the lands as the throat wears and also to ensure loaded round concentricity.
So looking at a case, you will need to find a compromise, also try filling a case with the amount of powder for a typical 175gn loading may also give an indication of how far into the case the bullet can go, as a minimal air gap behind the bullet is generally considered to be a good thing.

I suggest you make up some dummy loaded (case & bullet only) for your gunsmith to use for the chambering dimensions.

See links below
http://ozfclass.com/phpBB2/index.php
http://www.6mmbr.com/308Win.html
http://www.usrifleteams.com/lrforum/

hope this helps
Cheerio Ned

[Brad Y]

Check out German Salazars blog and scroll through his articles for palma loads for 308, I think he uses a 175gr berger.

http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/

[22dasher]

will you be shooting the rifle as a F-Class rifle.
Or is it just a hunting rifle?
I shoot alot of target in various calibre's and only use berger projectiles all projectiles are just touching the lands.

[JustinP]

Thanks for the advice gents. More research needed.

German Salazar's blog is an interesting one.