I reinstalled Frank into my carbon/graphite/kevlar stock, nicknamed "The Rash," and tried a fineer tuned load test with 168's and 4064. It looks like the 41.4 to 41.6 grain window is right in line with the previous test I did with 41.5 grains. I like the fact that the patterns are rounder with little horizontal dispersion. I can attribute the vertical dispersion to draw pressure.

I'll eventually bed the action into the stock properly and give it some serious draw pressure.

It was interesting to note that in both cases, the 41.0 grain load had a large horizontal displacement.

I might also have to revise the 40.5 through 40.8 grain window as those seemed to be nicer groups as well.



If I can keep loads in the 2" range at 100 yards, I guess I should be happy. I'll eventually tune the gas plug and maybe try a different muzzle device to see if it's opening up the groups as well, or just try it without any muzzle device at all.

Tony.

surprised you used 3031 powder,

have you tried Varget, RE15 or 4895?

I used 3031 for the short barrel with lighter bullets. I've never loaded for short barreled 308's. I figured I'd need a fast burning powder for a 16" tube.

I'm open to suggestions.

Tony.

My buddy and I found H4895, I4064 and RL15 to be good ones for his Socom. We settled on 168's for both his M1A's. 155 gr match bullets were showing real potential when pushed close to max. In the end though, 2 MOA or less only happened with match prepped loads and good technique.