.308, 2000MR, and 175/178/185 Nodes and Loads!

[StrayDog]

Ok .308 folks, I am ready to dive back into reloading after a decade of factory ammo (FGMM/PRIME), in anticipation of our local match season about to start.

One problem: I am very short on time and won't be able to OCW.
So I plan to load @x120 of one specific load and shoot x20 for chrono+zero, and use the rest for a match. That's all the time I have.

So, my Question: Are there any favored or predictable nodes and loads for 175smk and 185 jugs with 2000MR I should start with?
I'm feeling safe about starting with:

46.0 gr 2000MR with 185 jugs at 2.83", and 47.0 2000MR for the 175smk at 2.83", since Alliant publishes 47.7 for 175smk at 2.8".

I have a 24" M40 Bartlein 1-10 twist 5R on an Impact barreled action from Altus, and it shot PRIME 175 and FGMM 175/185s well last season. I have not yet measured the shoulder length, but I'm using AICS and MDT mags with plates in them, so 2.83" should be my max OAL. Most of my brass made it home and is clean and ready to size, and I have 8lbs of 2000MR and will be using CCI200 primers in the FGMM and PRIME x1 shot brass and some new Lapua.

It sucks to have so little time for reloading, but kids, work, life, etc.--I'm lucky to shoot at all these days. I'm hoping you folks using similar 2000MR 175/178/185 loads will post up some numbers or cautionary tales. My endgame here by batch reloading without OCW instead of buying more factory ammo is to gain the extra fps that 2000MR gives over Varget and factory boxes.

TIA HIDE!

 

[DirtDart]

Out of a rem 700 5r with 3800 rounds. Work up to these as they over book max

47.7 2000mr in win brass with cci primers at 2.1110 base to ogive.
47.5 2000mr in Lapua brass 6.7 es at 2789 fps.

 

[texastonk]

I just worked up a load with the 175 TMK using 46.5gr of 2000MR. Win brass and F210M primers. Shot a jagged hole 5 shot group. Plan to chrono this weekend. Haven’t tried any of the 185 Berger’s in my 308 yet

 

[Bantam1]

I am running 47.7 in my GAP 308 with a 22" Bartlein (1:11.25). It shoots sub half MOA usually with velocity around 2730 and single digit SD. Lapua brass with CCI BR-2 primers. I get much more speed and less pressure than I did with my Varget loads.

I don't have the data in front of me right now. The chamber is pretty short in this GAP so the OAL is less than 2.800. I want to say it was around 2.780 or somewhere close to that. This was with Sierra 175's. The Hornady 178 HPBT I can load a little longer, but I don't remember the data right now. I get the same velocity with both loads using the same charge weight.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

To replicate 308FGMM 168, I use IMI brass, 168SMK, Large Match Primer, and 43.5gr of IMR-4064.

To replicate 308FGMM2 175, I substitute 175SMK, and 42.2gr of IMR-4064. I documented this load in the latter 1990s in Precision Shooting.

I get the IMI brass from either IMI 147gr 7.62x52 NATO standard ball ammo, IMI 7.62x51 NATO 168gr Semi-Auto Match, or IMI 7.62x51 NATO 175gr Match; and either of the last two is good enough in its own right to use straight o/o the box.

Or...

For out to 6-800yd, and for above 4-5000ft ASL, I use the 168; and for further, the 175.

Greg

 

[308pirate]

To replicate 308FGMM 168, I use IMI brass, 168SMK, Large Match Primer, and 43.5gr of IMR-4064.

To replicate 308FGMM2 175, I substitute 175SMK, and 42.2gr of IMR-4064. I documented this load in the latter 1990s in Precision Shooting.

I get the IMI brass from either IMI 147gr 7.62x52 NATO standard ball ammo, IMI 7.62x51 NATO 168gr Semi-Auto Match, or IMI 7.62x51 NATO 175gr Match; and either of the last two is good enough in its own right to use straight o/o the box.

Or...

For out to 6-800yd, and for above 4-5000ft ASL, I use the 168; and for further, the 175.

Greg

What does any of this have to do with the question, which is loads using Alliant 2000-MR?

To all those who posted relevant answers, thank you. Came here searching for that very same thing.

 

[mgrs]

It's been a while since I played with 2000mr. It's a great powder for scraping the last bit of speed out of a .308, and will also do the same with 5.56 but won't quite touch TAC for maxing a 5.56 before you run out of case.

I got some exceptional speeds and very low SDs at times out of it, with no case prep aside from tumbling, FL sizing, trimming, and chamfering.

Notables (all loads shot in a 24" FN SPR at 60-80F, mostly FC brass):

46.8-47.0gr w/ Sierra 175gr TMK @2.88 OAL, WLR primers
2690-2715 AV at the muzzle, 4.0-4.5 SD

47.0-47.2 w/ Sierra 175gr SMK @2.8 OAL, WLR primers
2710-2730 at the muzzle, 4.5-5.7 SD

47.4 w/ Nosler 175 RDF @2.805, WLR pimers
2820 at the muzzle, 11 SD

The Sierra loads above are listed because they shot well, the Nosler load is there because that is a lot of performance in a .308 but it seemed to shoot well one day and terrible the next. Never put enough work into it to see what was going on. But, if you run the numbers on it, that should be a great load that closes in on the 6.5 class of cartridges.

I would not buy RDFs again as I have never been able to predict how they will act. They might stack in one load/one barrel, and go whatever they want on the next one. They're kind of like playing roulette.

EDIT: Greg's post above, while not so much related to the topic, is solid if you have those powders. IMI cases also last a very long time.

 

[308pirate]

@mgrs outstanding post.

I'm considering switching to 2000-MR when I run out of TAC for the very reason that I want max performance out of my 308 Win rather than switching to 6.5 something.

 

[mgrs]

It’s certainly good for that.

I’d have to go back and find numbers in notebooks as I lost the hard drive where I stored all of the data, but temperature stability was better than a lot of ball powders and some stick powders I have used, but well behind the better stick powders. The plus side is that it was very forgiving to load with no sudden pressure signs, is cheap, and measures easily.

I thought alliant’s load data was right on point and close to as high as I would want to go in .308, but was conservative in 5.56. I loaded it up to 26.2gr behind a 77gr SMK which was very close ballistically to what 24.3gr of TAC did behind the same bullet.

Maybe it is the burn rate or some other science, but it seems to be hard on gas rifles. It worked fine in rifle gas 5.56 guns, but the .308 LaRue I used it with felt like it was going to tear itself apart and malfunctioned often. Same rifle ran great with FGMM and similar stuff.

 

[memilanuk]

Maybe it is the burn rate or some other science, but it seems to be hard on gas rifles. It worked fine in rifle gas 5.56 guns, but the .308 LaRue I used it with felt like it was going to tear itself apart and malfunctioned often. Same rifle ran great with FGMM and similar stuff.

It's a bit slower than usual for most of those systems... I'm just guessing here, but I'd imagine the pressure peak is a bit later than what they were designed around. Might be trying to unlock while the pressure is still too high?

 

[StrayDog]

Glad this thread is getting some traction, I think 2000MR is going to work well.
I finally got out today to test 2 handloads at 100y.
One batch of 6 was with 46.8 grains of 2000MR and 178BTHPs in virgin Lapua with CCI BR2s. OAL @ 2.87", almost mag length in my MDT mags with plates in them.
Other batch of 6 was 44.1 grains of Varget and 168 TMKs at mag length of 2.88" in virgin Lapua with BR2s. Shot @1moa, meh.
This 178bthp/2000MR load shot well @ 2722 fps, SD @10, @ .5 moa, but I only brought 6, saving 99 for a match.
Happy with the results @.5moa for the 6.
My Prime175 is the go-to load, accurate but slow, you can see my 10-shot group top left to end the day, @.5 moa. 178/2000MR was close, and only minor vertical zero shift.
It was a good day, shot well, hadn't reloaded in over 10 years, and didn't blow up my rifle or lose my face!

 

[Xcount]

Straydog,
Curious if you measured the jump to the lands with your 178's? I see you mentioned "a couple hundredths off jam". I'm wondering if the 178BTHP is jump sensitive? I think I have to jump them more.

I used 47.5gr2000MR/178BTHP/LapuaPalma/Rem7.5 for a recent Palma course practice match in my Armalite AR10. 800 yards is usually a pretty easy yardline all things considered and I was kind of all over the 10 ring instead of solidly in the middle. 900 was about the same, not many X's but mostly loose 10's.

If you want a really nice setup try 49.5gr2000MR/168BergerHybrid/Palmabrass/REM7.5/2.94" in my chamber. Shot really well, much better than the 178's. right on call , better group at 1000 than 900.

 

[StrayDog]

I'll dig up the notes tonight and edit this post.
I ran the #s thru shooter, and I'm not really gaining anything much on wind, maybe .3 mils at 1k yards in 10mph with 178 bthp, 175 smks, 168 tmks, so I may just stick with the 175smk and shoot for 2750+ with 2000MR.
I think the 178 is a little jump sensitive, but not too much. Rob01 has some pet loads in old threads to search for. I just loaded long for mag length and got lucky on my 1st batch. I also only shot to 100 on that day!

Edit to add:
A light jam using the not-so-accurate Hornady case chamber finger banging tool gave me a 3.24" BTO and 2.89" OAL for the 178. My handload was 3.20" BTO and 2.865" OAL. I was aiming for magazine use. I find the 178 tips are pretty choppy, so there might be some real +/-" on OAL. I'm using CCI BR2 primers and this was virgin Lapua brass. I'm gonna load 47.1 for reloads. Added a pic of my 175 Prime, 178 BTHP, and 168 tmk loads for OAL reference.
Good luck!

 

[Dr. Strangelove_207]

Sorry to drag this into 2021 but do any of y’all have any updates on your use of 2000MR? I’m thinking it could be just the ticket with ~175gr bullets but unfortunately it’s not easily available in the UK! Thanks in advance.

 

[StrayDog]

following up: fianlly loaded some 46 grains of 2000mr in Prime .308 LRP x1 fired, full length resized, with 185 Jugs at 2.84" OAL, cci 200s.

Nice tight group of 5 at 100yds.

This was 185 FGMM, for reference, speeds were about the same 2600 out of 22" 1-10.

My 46.0 load was @ 2615 fps, SD was low teens. Rifle was zeroed weeks ago on new barrel with old 175 Prime factory.

This was 45.7 2000mr, wanted to test another lower load to start, didn't turn out well... and was @2580-ish.

edited to remove pics--not sure why they didn't survive

 

[memilanuk]

Did something happen to the pics in the last post? In Firefox all I'm seeing is random strings of gibberish, and placeholder icons in Chrome

 

[aviumvenator]

This load worked extremely well in a 20” 10PC.

46.5 2kmr
Wolf lrp
175 smk
2.80 oal
2640