In my last post, I walked through the process of using the Redding Case Neck Gage to sort our 7.62×51 (Military 308 Winchester) brass into buckets based on both thickness and uniformity. Below is a picture showing the distribution. The numbers I’m using here (0.016″ +/- .0005″ for example) reference the total variation in thickness, so this is really +/- .00025″ if you want to get literal. Pretty decent! I’ll use the brass with more case neck thickness variation for progressive loading, or possibly even to turn the case necks in the future. For now, we have some great batches of brass to work with.
Now it’s time to prime the cases on the Redding Big Boss II, and then to charge the cases. For these loads, we’ll use a new powder called IMR XBR 8208. I’m excited to see how this powder performs with the LR-308B!
And here’s the video showing the process of priming the cases on the Redding Big Boss II, and charging the cases with the Hornady Auto Charge.
Next, its on to seating bullets and checking/correcting concentricity.
-Gavin
Gavin, the 40.0 gr XBR , 168 gr. SMK combo is an outstanding load in my DPMS LR-308. It has yielded several one hole groups for me. One of the guys at DPMS suggested I try some 175 gr. SMKs. So far, 41.5 gr of XBR with the 175 gr. SMK looks like it has some potential.
I’m glad to hear that, thanks for sharing! One of my shooting buddies had the same guidance – 175 grain bullets shoot really well in his LR-308. I’ll have to try that combo!