Good Middle of the road 308/AR10 load with 2000MR?

[Fatelvis]

I've got an 8lb. jug of 2000MR and need to load up 500 rounds of 308/168SMK loads for my Nephew's AR10. Has anybody used this in their AR10? If so, what weight charge and did it shoot well? I'm looking for a moderate/safe load that functions well and is fairly accurate. Thanks guys! -

 

[JGorski]

Just for comparison with my Rem 700s I've got a partial box of 48grs under 168AMAXs in Rem brass in the basement, if it were me Id try 46.5-47grs, that would/should work pretty well, FWIW, when I load for autos dropping the charge 1-1.5grs under max works very well. And 2000MR works best near max.

 

[Hk996]

I've loaded several in different charges... I would have to look it up, but basically, since this powder likes to be near max, you need to work them up and watch the brass. With 155's, they seemed to work better the higher I went. I tested up to 50.5gr, BUT you can definitely tell that this powder runs hot. When I finally chono'd some of them, they were up to 200fps faster than RL15 and Varget. For example, 175gr SMK with 43.5gr Varget was in the 2600fps range, 47.7gr of MR2000 was running at 2700fps. and that is from the website.

What I did notice is that I had a lot of blown primers and broke a couple extractors and even a extractor spring.

Hope that helps.

 

[lte82]

2000mr, in my experience, is most accurate in the 46.5-47.5gr range in my 26" bolt action with 168's and 175s. As state above, I'd start with 46.5-47.0 and go from there.

 

[Xcount]

I would not load all 500 at once before testing. Unless the rifle has an adjustable gas block you might be disappointed with the results on your brass. MR2000 is significantly slower burning than say IMR4895, which is one of the better powders for 308 in a semi auto, because it's slower the pressure in the barrel is significantly higher going back to the carrier. This higher pressure has a adverse effect on the brass in my testing with an AR15. I would echo others in around 47g should work but the port pressure will still be higher than a faster burning powder. If you don't keep brass then have at it. I went to faster powders because i can't have adjustable gas blocks on service rifle spec rifles.

 

[Fatelvis]

I would not load all 500 at once before testing. Unless the rifle has an adjustable gas block you might be disappointed with the results on your brass. MR2000 is significantly slower burning than say IMR4895, which is one of the better powders for 308 in a semi auto, because it's slower the pressure in the barrel is significantly higher going back to the carrier.

Good point. I think I'll load up about 10 rounds of each charge weight to make sure they function well, without beating the rifle or brass to death. Thanks for the input Guys!