Well I recently traded into a DTA SRS .308 with a 22" factory Krieger barrel. I've put some factory ammo through it just to check function and all is good. Now it's time to start working up a load. One question I have is concerning the OAL for the cartridge. I can set the OAL to 2.900" with the 178gr Amax bullets I'm using and it still feed reliable out of the magazine. Would this be a good starting point or should I just set the OAL to what the manual states and find my powder charge first? I'm going to be concentrating mainly on Varget powder and Amax bullets because that's what I have on hand. Also I noticed that DTA claims a .5 MOA accuracy guarantee with their ammo. They use a 175gr BTHP at 2700fps in this ammo. None of my load books have data that high so I hope is likes lower velocities as well. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.
- Thread starter jdboy
- Start date
Lets take a step back first. Since reliable feeding from a magazine is important oal may seem important. But what we really want to know is how far off the the ogive of the bullet is from the lands. And seat consistently while still fitting in the mag. Measuring by oal will result in different case base to ogive(CBTO) measurement. Instead you want your ammo to have a consistent CBTO and still fit the magazine (oal may vary but that's due to tips not being uniform.)
Now you say dta claims .5 moa with their ammo which consist of 175 bthp @2700fps. Speed is a great thing, but may not be accurate. By handloading we are trying to find the rifles harmonics and pick a balance between best accuracy and speed we can find. Please read the stickies in the reloading forum as their is a wealth of information for you.
Now you say dta claims .5 moa with their ammo which consist of 175 bthp @2700fps. Speed is a great thing, but may not be accurate. By handloading we are trying to find the rifles harmonics and pick a balance between best accuracy and speed we can find. Please read the stickies in the reloading forum as their is a wealth of information for you.
This a crude but I've used this method for many years. I used a neck sizing die to get a light tension on the neck. I then seated the bullet ever so slightly in the neck of the case. I then inserted the case into the chamber and closed the bolt. This set the bullet back into the case as far as it would go while touching the rifling. The measurement was 2.920" OAL. The max OAL of 2.900" will fill the magazines internal dimensions. I have never owned a ogive measuring tool but I know it would have it's benefits. The tools I have on hand have served me well since the mid 90's.
The ammo specs were taken from the DTA website and is what they give their .5 MOA guarantee by. I know we load for barrel dynamics but was looking for a few folks with DTA experience to see what they have found when loading for their rifles.
DTA gen 1 .308
Norma brass neck sized
cci-br2 primers
45.4 gns AR2208 (varget)
168 Amax
2.196" to ogive which is a .009" 'jump'
Dont have a chrony so no stats there, but theyre doing 2.2" at 500 meters with a bipod.
I have a 22" DTA barrel so YMMV.
Norma brass neck sized
cci-br2 primers
45.4 gns AR2208 (varget)
168 Amax
2.196" to ogive which is a .009" 'jump'
Dont have a chrony so no stats there, but theyre doing 2.2" at 500 meters with a bipod.
I have a 22" DTA barrel so YMMV.
Last edited:
I've found the DTA .308 barrels very forgiving for the most part. The only potential issue is shooting lighter bullets in the shorter 16" barrel with it's faster twist. With a 22" barrel you can pretty much shoot anything and the way the magazines are designed you can seat them fairly long without running into feeding issues. I've gotten 1/2MOA out of a number of loads with both barrels, so don't feel locked into their particular specs.
The magazine was one of the reasons I posted this thread. I've never been able to load to this OAL and still be able to use the magazine in other rifles. And that is an important part of this project, magazine must be 100% reliable for feeding. So far I've found that 44gr of Varget at 2.900" OAL with 178gr Amax's produce .5" (center to center) 3 shot groups with regularity. I may try the 168gr Amax's as well but wanted to load what I had on hand first. My Tikka preferred 155gr Amax loaded with Varget and produced bug holes with boring regularity. The DTA will get there but it'll take me a little time to get comfortable with the system.
Last edited:
