.308 round suggestions for M1A?

[Ozman]

Just did a deal for an M1A Super Match with a Hart stainless steel barrel (1/10 twist).
I have never owned a rifle like this and am going to shoot it next weekend in a couple HP matches but have NO idea what to feed it.
As always, your input is appreciated.
Steve

 

[PatMcD]

Federal Gold Match or Black Hills 168's if you go with factory ammo. Standard handload is a Sierra 2200 over 41.5 grains of 4895.

 

[Adam_MA]

+1 for the Federal. They are super accurate. If you are looking for specific hand load data, post a question in the reloading forum, I'm sure you will get some answers there.


Adam

 

[M1911]

Agreed on the Federal Gold Match. If you get big into high power, you'll probably want to handload (if only to save money). But Federal Gold Match is pretty good stuff.

 

[KMaurer]

Ditto on the Federal Gold Match. My M1A National Match loves it when it can't get custom loaded stuff, which is most of the time these days. (Of course it's about 25 years old, now, so a new one might feel differently.)

Ken

 

[Ozman]

Guys, thanks for the help. Nice to see a unanimous choice too. Federal it is. Will be paying Four Seasons a visit this week to stock up and hopefully pick up a few extra mags too.

I'll almost definately try out handloading in the future, but not right now. Mailmanx has very kindly offered to give me some hands on lessons (apart from having already showed me some key stuff during my first two matches).

Thanks again.

Steve

 

[Ozman]

One more question.

Roughly, what's the Federal Gold Match run price-wise for a box of 20? Not cheap I'm sure, which is fine since it's for a match and not practice. Just curious.

Thanks

Steve

 

[Adam_MA]

As a matter of fact.... I happen to have a couple of boxes right here...


Federal Gold Medal Match
308WIN
168 Grain Sierra Matchking BTHP
$17.99 /box of 20

Four Seasons.


Also, while there, you may want to pick up one of the "Battle Pack" surplus ammo. I think it's only like $35 or so for 140 rounds. The stuff is pretty clean, and fairly accurate. I wouldn't use it to sight in your rifle, but it's pretty good for practice ammo.

Adam

 

[Cledus J. Crabb]

Did you trade in your mouse gun to get that M1A?
...........Or did you suddenly get bonked on the head by a large sum of money falling from Heaven?
Too bad you didn't make the Pung-kin match, Steve..........you'd a had a good time.

 

[Ozman]

Did you trade in your mouse gun to get that M1A?
...........Or did you suddenly get bonked on the head by a large sum of money falling from Heaven?
Too bad you didn't make the Pung-kin match, Steve..........you'd a had a good time.

Nope, still have the AR. heck, I just got it! The M1A was the proverbial offer I couldn't refuse. There was barter involved, let's just say that. Couldn't justify a gun of this value otherwise.

Thanks for the tip on the "battle pack" Adam. I'll definately be picking some up on that suggestion.

Steve

 

[M1911]

It's typically around $1 per round. Ouch.

Like I said, if you get into High Power, you'll want to start reloading. $70 of ammo per match and it's almost as bad as golf (well, club dues are thankfully a couple orders of magnitude less than golf...).

 

[Ozman]

It's typically around $1 per round. Ouch.

Like I said, if you get into High Power, you'll want to start reloading. $70 of ammo per match and it's almost as bad as golf (well, club dues are thankfully a couple orders of magnitude less than golf...).

So, I guess that leads me to the next question: How much (roughly) do you figure a match grade .308 round costs you to handload? (Putting aside initial equipment investment). I suppose I'd be curious about .223 also. The answer may speed my move towards taking the plunge!

I have a few other competition qustions regarding this rifle, but I will start a new thread for those later. This ammo stuff is very helpful guys!

Steve

 

[USMA-82]

I was in the same boat when I bought my Supermatch this past spring. The ammo cost was killing me!

So I took the plunge and bought the RCBS Rockchucker kit, got a few lessons from a club member, and went into the handloading business!

My costs have worked out like this:

Sierra 168 gr HPBT Match Bullets: $87/500 = $0.174 each round

IMR 4895 powder: $17/150 rounds per pound = $0.113 each round

CCI #34 primers: $21/1000 = $0.021 each round

Now, technically you should add the cost of the brass, but if you have a bunch of it waiting to be reloaded, it's a sunk cost. Also, many times you can scrounge up good match ammo brass at the range if you check out who does and who doesn't reload.

Bottom line: about 31 cents a round, and the accuracy is equal to or better than the commercial match ammo.

Be aware that these are MY costs - I got some special deals. For example, one of the guys from my highpower league did a group buy and got a great price on the Sierra bullets. Any place else, and you're talking $99 plus tax.

The other thing not included in the equation here is the cost of your time. I've only been reloading for about 5 months, and I'm still not as speedy as I'd like to be. I figure on about 5 hours of my time to knock out the 13 or 14 steps necessary to create a match-worth of ammo (about 70 rounds - 56 plus a backup). But for a third of the cost of commercially-produced ammo, I'll spend the time.

Let me know if you need any more hints from a reloading newbie!

KK

 

[Nickle]

Having some Surplus ammo is a good idea. Stay away from Indian ammo, though.

For suggestions as to ammo visit http://www.falfiles.com and gp to the forums and check out ammo recommendations.

 

[MSS]

Fed GM is the best IMO if you don't handload

I've also had decent luck with 173 gr surplus match for practice if you can find it cheap. I t was Frankford Arsenal if I remember correctly.