Help for a Rookie

[Megapeibol]

Hi, my name is Roy, I'm from Spain. I've recently started in the shooting world (here in Spain is quite difficult to get access to anything, info or materials, and guns are strictly regulated) I started with a handgun, for IPSC, but now I'm trying PRS. I've bought a Thompson performance center LRR in .308 and the groups I get with commercial ammo are quite bad (1,2" at 100m, or 110 yards). I've used 150, 168, and 180gr bullets, from hornady and privi, and thats the best I could get. Now the next option is reloading. I have the press, the dies, and I know I have to search the best combination for my rifle, but everything is quite expensive here (about 90$ for 100 bullets, and then the brass, gunpowder, etc) and I would appreciate some help. The barrell is 20" length with 1:12 twist and muzzle brake, and the idea at the moment is shooting at 220 yards until I improve my technique. I've made a little research and some people say 168 is the best, in some other places I've read that for short barrels, 200gr subsonic are quite good too... What bullet weight should I try first? Any recommendations? Thank you so much

 

[Im2bent]

With 1:12 twist the 180 maybe marginal as far as stability. What brand/type bullets do you have access too? The 168 a good weight for 308 but there is no telling what your rifle will like. What powders can you get? Have you looked at the reloading forum?

 

[Megapeibol]

With 1:12 twist the 180 maybe marginal as far as stability. What brand/type bullets do you have access too? The 168 a good weight for 308 but there is no telling what your rifle will like. What powders can you get? Have you looked at the reloading forum?

Maxam, vitavouri, reload swiss, and vectan. A friend of mine gave me 1pound of maxam GDB111 and I guess I'll start from there.
Bullets are not a problem. Sierra, hornady, barnes, lapua, nosler, privi, etc...
I'm digging a bit more into de forum to see what can I found.
I guess I was expecting someone with the same toy than mine who wanted to share a bit of experience with me and give me the Easter Egg xD
Thank you!!!

 

[Im2bent]

Thompson Center LRR - .308... 1/2 MOA

Got this gun from Thompson Center to play around with. Got to say, fairly nice gun. Was able to squeeze out under 1/2 MOA with Hornady 168grain HPBT and IMR 8208.

www.snipershide.com

According to this guy his had loose action screws. He also did some load development.

 

[straightshooter1]

Hi, my name is Roy, I'm from Spain. I've recently started in the shooting world (here in Spain is quite difficult to get access to anything, info or materials, and guns are strictly regulated) I started with a handgun, for IPSC, but now I'm trying PRS. I've bought a Thompson performance center LRR in .308 and the groups I get with commercial ammo are quite bad (1,2" at 100m, or 110 yards). I've used 150, 168, and 180gr bullets, from hornady and privi, and thats the best I could get. Now the next option is reloading. I have the press, the dies, and I know I have to search the best combination for my rifle, but everything is quite expensive here (about 90$ for 100 bullets, and then the brass, gunpowder, etc) and I would appreciate some help. The barrell is 20" length with 1:12 twist and muzzle brake, and the idea at the moment is shooting at 220 yards until I improve my technique. I've made a little research and some people say 168 is the best, in some other places I've read that for short barrels, 200gr subsonic are quite good too... What bullet weight should I try first? Any recommendations? Thank you so much

I'd recommend going with 168 SMK's since you say you can get Sierra bullets. Better yet, if you can find the 169 SMK's, they'd be a much better choice. 150's or 168's in other brands are ok, and you should be able to load them to where you can get under 1 MOA at 100-200 meters. If you can't get hold of quality brass like Lapua, lesser quality brass can work, but you'd have to put some work into their preparation to get them to perform consistently. If you precision prep your brass and get a good powder (like VV N135) for the 168's, you should be able to get well under that 1 MOA without any problem . . . unless you're barrel is simply poorly done.

 

[Jgault]

I’ve found 165 is my sweet spot for both accuracy while still being a great hunting round. If your new to shooting your groups aren’t bad, pretty good for a start really. I think you will find that improving your basic skills at least initially will tighten your groups more than fine tuning ammo. This isn’t a insult by any means, but for accuracy it’s more often the Indian and not the bow, there’s a reason even professional trigger pullers have shooting coaches. I primarily use 165grain game kings, it’s a hunting round so it gives a little up for accuracy, for accuracy The Sierra 168 matchking is very good.

 

[Megapeibol]

I'd recommend going with 168 SMK's since you say you can get Sierra bullets. Better yet, if you can find the 169 SMK's, they'd be a much better choice. 150's or 168's in other brands are ok, and you should be able to load them to where you can get under 1 MOA at 100-200 meters. If you can't get hold of quality brass like Lapua, lesser quality brass can work, but you'd have to put some work into their preparation to get them to perform consistently. If you precision prep your brass and get a good powder (like VV N135) for the 168's, you should be able to get well under that 1 MOA without any problem . . . unless you're barrel is simply poorly done.

I hope the barrell is ok . That rifle in Spain costs almost twice than in the US.
I have acces to that gunpowder, and to the SMK's too. Just need to ve lucky and find that specific weight in stock somewhere nearby.
Thank you!

 

[spife7980]

Sounds like the lrr is shooting like an lrr does. Though the fact that yours is even working seem to mean its better than its average.
Can you sell it and get a good rifle before you waste a lot of money on this one?

Thompson performance center LRR 6.5 creedmoor- trigger issue

Hey , I have a Thompson performance center LRR in 6.5 creedmoor with about 450 rounds though it. I am having some issues with my trigger. 85% of the time it fires just as it should, but the rest of the time its like the trigger safety is hanging up and causing the trigger to get stuck. I...

www.snipershide.com

 

[Megapeibol]

I’ve found 165 is my sweet spot for both accuracy while still being a great hunting round. If your new to shooting your groups aren’t bad, pretty good for a start really. I think you will find that improving your basic skills at least initially will tighten your groups more than fine tuning ammo. This isn’t a insult by any means, but for accuracy it’s more often the Indian and not the bow, there’s a reason even professional trigger pullers have shooting coaches. I primarily use 165grain game kings, it’s a hunting round so it gives a little up for accuracy, for accuracy The Sierra 168 matchking is very good.

No no no, I don't take it as an insult at all. You're completely right. I'm new in this world and I have a shit ton to learn.
168 seems to be the most popular opinion, and the gunpowder that some of of.ypu have recommended is easy to find too, so with these, I have some experience based advices to start with
Thank you for your time.

 

[Megapeibol]

Sounds like the lrr is shooting like an lrr does. Though the fact that yours is even working seem to mean its better than its average.
Can you sell it and get a good rifle before you waste a lot of money on this one?

Thompson performance center LRR 6.5 creedmoor- trigger issue

Hey , I have a Thompson performance center LRR in 6.5 creedmoor with about 450 rounds though it. I am having some issues with my trigger. 85% of the time it fires just as it should, but the rest of the time its like the trigger safety is hanging up and causing the trigger to get stuck. I...

www.snipershide.com

Wow, mine works perfectly in that aspect. I hope we only have to become better friends and know each other. My second option with my budget was a Bergara B14 BMP, but they gave me near 3 months to deliver, and this was at home 3 days later...
I will give this a try before giving up. Maybe (and probably) it's a shooter issue, not a rifle issue...

 

[M4orturnate]

That 1:12 is really going to limit you especially at distance. Id recommend trying the 155g sierra palmas(2156 i think) and try to get them over 2700 fps. Hornady also has a 155 eldm wich may be easier to get to shoot well.

 

[straightshooter1]

I’ve found 165 is my sweet spot for both accuracy while still being a great hunting round. If your new to shooting your groups aren’t bad, pretty good for a start really. I think you will find that improving your basic skills at least initially will tighten your groups more than fine tuning ammo. This isn’t a insult by any means, but for accuracy it’s more often the Indian and not the bow, there’s a reason even professional trigger pullers have shooting coaches. I primarily use 165grain game kings, it’s a hunting round so it gives a little up for accuracy, for accuracy The Sierra 168 matchking is very good.

While the shooter is a big part of getting good accuracy, as you've suggested, a quality barrel and quality cartridges goes a long way to get good results. A shooter has to be pretty bad not to get decent results with quality components. . . IMHO; of course such components aren't going to make one a "good shooter".