Range Report Effect of Suppressors?

[Pete E]

I've been working up some loads with my 22" barreled .308win using a Wildcat moderator. At the moment the sweet spot as far as accuracy goes is 155grn Lapua /45grn Varget giving me 2660fps, which is obviously on the slow side.

If increase my loads to 47grain plus, my groups open to 1" and I get sticky bolt lift.

My question is about removing the moderator...I realise the POI will change, but what about accuracy? With the barrel harmonics changed, I assume the sweet spot load could change?

What about using a different Moderator? I have a smaller Jet-Z I could try, but I assume that again, I will need to re work my loads to find the new sweet spot?

I'm trying to find a new sweet spot at around 46grn or 46.5grn which should give me more velocity...

Or am I better just changing to a different powder and if so what? Is RL-15 likely to give more velocity, or is it a crap shoot?

Thanks in advance,

Peter

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

Try a different powder, you can give RL-15 a shot but I've heard Benchmark has yielded really good results with the 155's.

 

[Jedi]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

4895 imr or H
for standard OAL will yield best fps
45.6 should make ya smile

 

[BOLTRIPPER]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

the suppressor got nothing to do with the velocity...in fact you should even get a small amount of boost w/suppressor on....

 

[rc2125]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

R15 w/47.5gr was around 2800 for a 20" 308 I had awhile back, 155 scenars. Ran 48gr @ 2875fps, but had some pressure signs when it got warm out, with excessive barrel jump too. 47gr was where it shot best.....can't recall the fps with 47gr though. Seen quite a bit of vertical shift with temp changes with it.

 

[Pete E]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BOLTRIPPER</div><div class="ubbcode-body">the suppressor got nothing to do with the velocity...in fact you should even get a small amount of boost w/suppressor on.... </div></div>

I appreciate that; I am more interested in how they affect accuracy of a given load...I've discounted loads that give me the fps I want because they are not accurate enough...If I remove or swap the moderator, I'm wondering if its worth revisiting these discounted loads, as my barrel harmonics will now be different...

Regards,

Peter

 

[Pete E]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

Karl and RC2125,

I'll try the RL-15 next simply as i have some on hand, and if that doesn't work, I'll give the H4895 a try..

I really want to get to an average of 2900 with good accuracy but I don't think is unreasonable with a 22" barrel..

Thanks again,

Peter

 

[hexades1]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

If you want accuracy AND speed for Lapua 155 Scenar in .308 Win then my recommendation is to cheat.

The Cheat for 308 Win: Load the round as long as your rifle just can feed it, use a quality big rifle primer (no magnum primer) and 47,0 grain of Vihtavuori N150. Use Lapua brass. Use 155 Scenar non-moly. This is all you need.

This load is probably the most widely used LR load in 308Win in Finland. Easy 1000m load. The 47,0 grains is somewhat strange as several people trying to find a good load for their rifles have ended up with the same load without any consultation with other people. Happened to me also. Rifles tend to be different but this load just rocks. My rifle could use even 48,5 grains of VV 150 but the reloading process became too time consuming as the powder needed to be trickled to the case to fit. 47,0 grains with my 24" barrel gives me pretty constant 3000 fps/900m/s at +5C on sea level.

Your barrell is a little short but you should be able to get to 1000m because people shooting 20" AR-10s have been able to do it with this load. Beeware this load might be a little strong for automatics and it IS above catalog maximums.

AU Jet-Z suppressor will tolerate this load easy.

 

[Pete E]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

TA,

Thanks for that. N140, N150, (or their counterparts N540 and N550)were on my list of potential powders...

The problem I am having is getting the combination of accuracy at a decent velocity...At the minute Varget and Reloader 15 both give good accuracy for loads that give me 2650fps to 2700fps, but when I increase the loads, the accuracy falls off.

I have a test batch load with TAC and I will see how I get on with that, but if doesn't give the results I want, I will try VV N150 next,

Regards,

Peter

 

[Guest]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Pete E</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If increase my loads to 47grain plus, my groups open to 1" and I get sticky bolt lift.</div></div>

If your on the edge of pressure w/o the can, adding one will put you over the top.

 

[Jedi]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

Going with TA thought
myself anfd others here shoot 47.8vargay
2.90 OAL

 

[308sako]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

Deleted in protest!

 

[EddieP]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

I'm struggling to get a load to shoot well with a 20" 308 and pred 8 moderator, I'm thinking of getting a jet-z compact too. Got through 100 rounds and still not happy.

 

[Goin'Hot]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

Different can but, I just load .4 gr less 4895 to get the same accuracy out of mine with the can on.

 

[308sako]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

Deleted in protest!.

 

[hexades1]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

VV N140 might be a little better for shorter barrels. My N150 load is used in a 24" barrel and most of my friends use similar or longer barrels. Beware of pressure though. N150 is actually hard to overload with 155 Scenar.

N550 does not work well for 155 Scenar. The bullet is probably a little light and the powder does not iginite uniformly. I have never tried N540. Typically the N5XX series is not at it´s best in short barrels.

Anyway I chose N150 for 155 Scenar because it gave me speed AND accuracy. N150 shot beter than N550 with 155 Scenars. 155 Scenar gave me beter groups with either powder than 170 LockBase.

I used to shoot 170 LocBases with N550 which works ok but groups clearly less accurately than my 155 Scenar load.

 

[427Cobra]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

I use 45.9 of RL15 or 46.2 of 4895 with HBN 155 Scenars, either one thumps them at 3k, and when supressed I gain 20-25 fps

 

[Gordon Nettleton]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

Wil on here uses 155 scenars and Lapua brass and I know his are smokin fast, over 3k I think, but ask him I could be wrong

 

[Wil]

Re: Effect of Suppressors?

I load 47.5gr Varget at 2.86 (2.4 from ogive). I'm getting 2900fps with zero pressure issues. My barrel is a Rock 1:11.25 twist at 24" long.