If not Sierra then what?

[BWYoda]

As a newbie reloader I've been steered towards the 175gr matchking for my .308, but given the current shortage, what would be the next best brand choice/grain? Any advice gratefully received guys. I should add these will be precision loads for a scalpel.

 

[desertrat1979]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

Try the Hornady 178 AMAX. It all depends on your rifle, twist, barrel length. There is no one round to dedicat to. Try what you can. Nosler, Hornady, Barnes(pricey), Lapua...ect. All are good. Try diffrent weights, seating depths. There are to many variables that you dont want to guess on this early in the game. If your rifle likes heavys go for it. It may like 155 scenars, or 208 AMAX. Wont know till you try.

 

[Queequeg]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

The 178 AMAX is better for me anyway, and significantly less money! I have been trying to make the Nosler 175s work for me too (also less money), but have not found the magic recipes yet.

To be fair, I was not using Varget or RL-15 to try them, as I wanted to preserve it, so I used IMR 4895 as I had a few pounds of it. I will try some Varget next.

It's too bad Hornady doesn't make a comparable 175 gr HPBT as their 168 is easily as good or better than the 168 AMK for me.

 

[PLeighton]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

Shortage?
What shortage?

If you can't find the 500 round packages, buy the 100 round ones.
When you buy 10 boxes from Natches it is only $2.82 price difference per 1K.
Natchez
10 Boxes of 175g SMK, 100rd count = $272.80
2 Boxes of 175g SMK, 500rd count = $269.98
(As an added bonus, I find that the 100 round boxes typically have cleaner looking meplats.)

 

[Rob01]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

Like mentioned the 178 AMAX is an excellent bullet. It's what i use in my .308. With the polmer tip it has less BC variences so with a good load it will give you less vertical dispersion at distance. Queequeg, there is no need for a HPBT as the polymer tip is plenty accurate. I wish they would load a 178 AMAX factory load though.

You can pretty much use any 175 load data with the 178. Always work up for safety though. I use Varget with my .308 and get great velocity and accuracy.

 

[Queequeg]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

Rob,

I refer only to the remarkable similarity in accuracy of Hornady's non-polymer tipped 168 gr HPBT to the SMK of the same weight. I love the fact that the Hornady (as well as the Nosler 168s) are much less expensive, hence my desire for a non-polymer tipped 175 gr Hornady equivalent to the 175 gr SMK: it would likely be less expensive and, hopefully, as accurate.

Then again, I believed in Santa for an inordinately long time too so take it with a grain o-salt!

I agree though that the 178 gr AMAX is so good, they likely see no need for a 175 hpbt.

 

[kombayotch]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

Launch a 190 SMK at 2575 fps with Varget and you will be happy.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

Unless you're shooting beyond 500yd, it makes little sense to be hitching your horse to the 175 anything.

At 100yd, it's probably hard to find bullet that won't handload and shoot well enough for practice, etc. Any of the major bullet makers 150/155/168 bullets or thereabouts will do fine, it's only when you add the challenges of extended distances and demanding precision accuracy that bullet choices become more critical.

As a beginning handloader, finding the ultimate load is not your challenge; it's getting your loads to be safe and consistent. Until that happens, the rest may be a lot harder to attain than you really need to be doing.

Crawl before you walk, walk before you run, run before you soar...

Greg

 

[EddieNFL]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

Switched to Nosler when Sierra's prices entered the designer bullet range. Same load, same POI, same results, less money.

 

[BWYoda]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

Looks like the AMAX is a strong contender then. Thanks for the info fellas.

 

[3rd eye blind]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

I went shooting with a friend a few weeks ago. He was using 155 Lapua Scenar and I was using 155 Nosler bthp. My load was not as hot as his, but I was able to use his dope and got on target at over 600 yards. I have not had a chance yet to put this load on paper for group at 100 yards, but since it hits at 600, I'm happy. The Lapua and Sierra bullets cost much more than the Noslers.

 

[03psd]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: EddieNFL</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Switched to Nosler when Sierra's prices entered the designer bullet range. Same load, same POI, same results, less money. </div></div>

This. I use both the 52gr HPBT (.224) and 168gr HPBT Custom Competition bullets from Nosler. Excellent products.

 

[USMCj]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

F!! the 175's! The 155 Scenars are where its at. There is nothing the 175 can do that the 155 cant. The same cant be said the other way around.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

These days I'm using the .223 chambering for FV200 matches twice each month. I varied the bullet between Nosler 55gr BT, Sierra 52SMK, and finally settled on Nosler 50gr BT. They are adequately available to count on as a standard bullet, and they work well.

Nosler Ballistic Tips have always worked for me and are the only bullet I would choose for a rifle load that could be equally likely to be employed for both match and hunting work. IMHO, one makes no sacrifices with either application in favor of the other.

Greg

 

[95LTZ]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

In my experience the farther you shoot the more BC matters. High BC bullets may let yo get away with a slight oops on a wind call. Having said that decades ago when shooting High Power the best bullet out to 300 yards was the lowly 130gr. Speer HP. The HP was huge but it outshot all comers. I remember being very disappointed when the cheap Speer's out shot in my rifle the high dollars Lapua's. They also worked very well as a Michigan whitetail load in a 300 WBY. The good thing about rifles is that none of them can read so they don't know if they are or are not supposed to be able to shoot a certain kind of bullet. As was said before I think the best advice is to strive for safe consistency. Once you get that nailed then start making changes in powder/primers & overall length.

 

[LoneWolfUSMC]

Re: If not Sierra then what?

Looking at picking up some of the Noslers myself. They are about half of what I pay for SMK's and are actually in stock most places. All the internet chatter I could find say they are almost identical to SMK.