1st Group of the Day....................

[djpaintles]

RL-15 is an extruded powder like Varget is. Varget is a GREAT 308 powder also, I use it in the lighter weight bullets. For your 168's try 45-46grs of Varget. Both RL-15 and Varget are temperature insensitive powder and RL-15 has a fouling reducer in it. Both are superb 308 powders but just about any intermediate burning powder will work well in 308.......................dj

[Hocktl]

Seems the Dillon users like RL-15 over varget for metering as it is a shorter stick and throws better. I know I get up to a .04 delta from my 550B with Varget and will be trying some RL-15 in the future. Not sure I'm gonna get into polishing though. Did my share of bright work in the navy. Best / Worst Powder Metering in Dillon Powder Measure - Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo! - Page 3

[djpaintles]

Back in my HP Silhouette days I shot through several kegs of WW-748 and thousands of Sierra 168gr Matchkings. 748 pours like water through measures. It might be an excellent choice if you are wanting to load your 308 through a progressive. H335 might be another good one to try....................dj

[inego montoya]

You can get a good reloading setup started for $300-$400, So you can see if you are saving 50+ cents a round it doesn't take long for you to recoup your investment in equipment.

As far as brass for 308 goes there are several good brands but Lapua is the best. Lapua brass is more consistant, more precise and you have to cull less. It also can last longer so even though it's more expensive at the start if evens out a bit if you get more reloads out of each case. If you want to load 308 I suggest you just buy a couple hundred rounds of Virgin Lapua brass and start from there...................dj

Okay, that's what I am going to do!

I'm afraid I put the cart before the SCAR17-horse and bought a (now discontinued) Rock Chucker Supreme Master Kit, some 308 X-dies and shell holder, and a case trimmer so I hope I did okay because it's been sitting in a box since way before my last deployment. I'm gonna try this reloading out. Cabela's has Lapua 308 brass for $70/100 and they're local. Is that a decent price? They probably have some good bullets, primers, and powder there too. Can you suggest a good component mix for a first timer. Am I missing anything? I don't suppose I need a tumbler yet and I hope the balance scale will be okay for starters.

EDIT: I think I figured out the code.

I think I need this:
Hornady 178 BTHP Match
Alliant Reloader 15 powder
Lapua 308 Win brass
Federal 210M primer

[djpaintles]

Your Rockchucker Supreme Kit is an Excellent choice of starting reloading equipment. It is a Solid value and the way I got started reloading I don't want to say how many years ago.

X-Dies can be a bit twitchy to setup, you need to be sure you start with brass the same length which if you use Lapua brass it will be. I've had excellent luck in two different scars with either 175-178gr bullets either Sierra or Hornaday and 42.5grs of RL-15. My favorite Large Rifle primers are Federal GM210M but Winchesters or CCI's will also work well. My Black Scar 17 seems to like the 178gr A-Max better and the FDE SCAR 17 seems to really like the 178gr HPBTM with the AMP jacket. In your particular SCAR 17 you might shoot a ladder from 41 to 42 grs with any of the 175-178gr bullets to find it's sweet spot..............................dj

[padkeemow]

Very nice shot group! I'm impressed and glad I own one of these fine American made battle rifles.

The civilian versions are manufactured in Belgium, aren't they? I thought only the .mil versions were made here.

[SgtStrykerUSMC43]

The civilian versions are manufactured in Belgium, aren't they? I thought only the .mil versions were made here.

The .mil weapons as well as the civilian variants are multinational.

[inego montoya]

Your Rockchucker Supreme Kit is an Excellent choice of starting reloading equipment. It is a Solid value and the way I got started reloading I don't want to say how many years ago.

X-Dies can be a bit twitchy to setup, you need to be sure you start with brass the same length which if you use Lapua brass it will be. I've had excellent luck in two different scars with either 175-178gr bullets either Sierra or Hornaday and 42.5grs of RL-15. My favorite Large Rifle primers are Federal GM210M but Winchesters or CCI's will also work well. My Black Scar 17 seems to like the 178gr A-Max better and the FDE SCAR 17 seems to really like the 178gr HPBTM with the AMP jacket. In your particular SCAR 17 you might shoot a ladder from 41 to 42 grs with any of the 175-178gr bullets to find it's sweet spot..............................dj

Cabelas was out of stock on some of that stuff. Here is what I ended up buying:

RL-15 powder
CCI-200 primers
Hornady 168 BTHP bullets
Winchester 308 new brass

Any recommendations on using that combination to produce a serviceable round with my reloading setup? If not, I can go back and buy some different power and save the RL-15 for later. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[djpaintles]

Cabelas was out of stock on some of that stuff. Here is what I ended up buying:

RL-15 powder
CCI-200 primers
Hornady 168 BTHP bullets
Winchester 308 new brass

Any recommendations on using that combination to produce a serviceable round with my reloading setup? If not, I can go back and buy some different power and save the RL-15 for later. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Alliant lists up to 45.0grs of RL-15 with 168gr match bullets. There's a couple ways to work up a load, either using an Audette ladder or loading up groups of say 43.0grs, 43.5, 44.0. 44.5 and 45.0grs and see which shoots best.

Alliant Powder - Reloader's Guide

An Audette ladder is where you load up gradually increasing powder charges and shoot 1 bullet at a time, as the powder charges increase you will see them start to cluster, the cluster should represent your barrels harmonic and a load in the middle of the cluster's powder charge will usually give the best accuracy.

The other thing that helps a lot in accurate ammo is to make sure that it's concentric. That can be a long discussion but the easiest thing to watch for is the decapper/expander rod, it's usually the culprit in non-concentric brass.

Anyway I think if you seat those 168gr Hornady's straight behind anywhere from 43-45grs of RL-15 they probably are going to shoot pretty good. Good Luck, let me know if I can be of any other help.............dj

[fmsniper]

nice group,,,,I will be interested to see how mine does now with the Timney trigger in it