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As you all know by now, I'm picking up a new rifle on Wednesday :lol: :lol:

I reload for 357 and am about to start on 303 ammo which are both quite forgiving.

I can get milsurp 308 for just over £40 per 100 locally. At that price, reloading for accuracy with Lapua brass, Scenars/A-max etc is likely to cost the same if not more I guess. As I haven't shot anything other than my No5 since I was a young PT Gamekeeper, should I use the milsurp for now and concentrate on my technique, (breathing, hold, gouping etc) or jump straight in and try and master all variables at once?

I know I wont get the accuracy but is there logic in my thinking? I believe there is

At GBP40/100 I would say try a box and make sure it is easy enough to chamber and eject (Beware heavy bolt lift on some 7,62x51) If it is OK buy a few hundred and see how you get on with the rifle. Reasonable milsurp will get on the frame at 1000 yards and often do surprisingly well.

Once you have that mastered start your own reloading. You can actually reload milsurp brass once you have mastered removing Berdan primers and I seem to remember Dodgrog mentioning he had a few thousand Berdan primers.

You can also shoot Privi factory and S&B both of which will give you a supply of usable brass. No on second thoughts don’t do that, just remind me nearer the forum shoot and I can bring you up a couple of hundred Privi once shot that is all nice and clean and ready to prime whenever you get around to it

Yes Lapua is better however you are very welcome to it, which reminds me, I need to start another thread

A couple of thoughts,

It seems like ages since I last saw any .308 ammunition for £40 per hundred, but in reality it is probably only 3 years back, I wonder if those prices will ever return.

Personally I would not bother with re loading military 7.62 brass, sooner or later you will decide to use non military brass and you will have gained little, except a couple of additional tools, in the mean time.

It is not the steel case stuff is it? Steel does not expand very well, can lead to problems un loading and as a consequence really is no good for re loading.

If you are re loading for accuracy then I suspect that sooner or later you are going to be spending more than 50p a round and possibly 60p, depending on how long you can get the brass to last. I have long given up the notion that I am re loading to save money, it is all about getting the most accurate round now.

We men can sometimes do more than one thing at once, but for most of us, when shooting we do not re load at the same time, and when re loading we do not shoot at the same time (I know some bench rest shooters re load on site).
I state the obvious because they are, in my eyes, almost two separate hobbies and it is possible to concentrate on each in turn and give it your full attention while required. I would say start as soon as possible getting that ideal round for your rifle. You will always be chasing the dragon and you might as well start at the start.

Personally I would not e interested in doing any shooting where by all the components were not as good as I could get them.
Have you thought about using HPA Target master ammunition, or the Bisley target ammunition/RWS?
With both of those you will have good quality ammunition which you can pick up the brass and use again. That is what I did with the HPS rounds and when I was ready to start re loading I had 300+ cases ready to use. They will give you a good idea of what is possible from the same cases and give you something to aim for.
Good luck,

DM

Re loading quality ammo for .303 is easy peasy.
Buy a 100 rounds of good ammo shoot it keep the cases.
Get your self a tub of Vitavouri N140.
Buy some primers get some heads GET re loading.
Ask in the re loading section and we will tell you how to go on.
Forget about cheap ammo think quality hand loaded ammo.
Oh and re loading is fun a hobby in its self come and join in the fun my freind you know you want to. :lol: :lol:

The milsurp brass I'm not bothered about reloading. Don't know if it is Berdan primed but I ain't about to reload it as it will be pants.

The point I'm making is that until I comfortable shooting decent groups with milsurp, is there any point on buying, reloading and shooting Lapua components as until I have become comfortable with the rifle there doesn't seem any point.

Like passing your test and jumping ina Porsche and expecting to lap the Nurbergring in record time

Some milsurp brass is very high quality, as an example DAG is made by RUAG. Personally I would not reload milsurp but in some circles it is rated very highly in fact I shipped a good few kgs of DAG brass abroad end of last year. I picked up some South African milsurp end of last year in 140 round battle packs for around 17 quid a pack (from memory) at that price it has to be worth a go and it shoots very nicely in my AI. having said that it is no substitute for 155 Scenars in Lapua brass with some N540 behind it. The thing is reloading is still going to be expensive, certainly more than milsurp per shot but you *should* get a more consistent round.

The cost issue I don't mind, its wasting quality ammo when I'm still finding my feet.

I must admit that when I first started out with my target rifle I winced every time 30-odd penceworth of Scenar went flying up the range never to be seen again so I did exactly what you're suggesting - bought a couple of hundred rounds of milsurp and used that until I got used to wrestling with the sling/jacket/everything. After that I started reloading the Lapua brass/bullets again, don't know if it really helped much but certainly made me feel like I wasn't wasting quality components.

Mike357 wrote:The milsurp brass I'm not bothered about reloading. Don't know if it is Berdan primed but I ain't about to reload it as it will be pants.

The point I'm making is that until I comfortable shooting decent groups with milsurp, is there any point on buying, reloading and shooting Lapua components as until I have become comfortable with the rifle there doesn't seem any point.

Like passing your test and jumping ina Porsche and expecting to lap the Nurbergring in record time

Mike,
Just throw me all that 'rubbish' milsurp brass please and watch and learn!!! :mrgreen:

It sounds like you have all ready made your mind up to me m8 just go for it.
When and if you decide to re load I will be happy to help.