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When Mik took my Rifle to be re barrelled he asked which heads I would be using. I said 175 SMK's as they have been easy to come by and had been doing me OK up to this point.

Now that he has finished all the tooling the rifle is just waiting to be collected and I can start my next stage of F Class shooting.

Over the last few weeks the topics discussed on the Forum have certainly widened my understanding of the sport and I am now wishing to try other weights from SMK and possibly other makes.

Am I going to be restricted in what I can experiment with, IE only heads shorter / lighter than 175's or is it exactly the same as before, do what you want just start low and work your way up?

DM

It depends on your twist rate...what is it?



Rob

Assuming twist is OK you need to see what your COAL is with a SMK's and others and from there you can work out what/how much powder to use. N550 Seems to work well with heavier bullets

You know I never did ask the twist rate - just jumped at the deal that was being offered during the Europeans. I am sure that I read that this 5R Barrel is done in a 1 in 11 twist.
Guess that is another job for when I get my hands on it.

And you have just reminded me that I am going to have to get a longer cleaning rod - DOH!

DM

DM,

Don't get too hung up on what you can and cannot shoot, the over-riding factor is your twist rate. If you have a 1 - 11 then the mid weights will be best but the low weights will also work. I would recommend reading Laurie's articles on 308 bullet choice for long range use. It is a lot of reading and covers three or four issues of Target Shooter Magazine but as you can access all the back issues it is no problem. It is an invaluable read as Laurie has done all the research etc and it will save you a lot of time and possibly heartache. Just choose a bullet and seat it as long as you can as see if it works. If you find a bullet that really works for you and you would prefer it seated longer then Mik with take some of the throat out for you, it is easy. David is right N550 is a great choice for the mid to heavy weight 308 bullets.

Stuart

I have some N550 left from my disastrous attempt at using 190 SMK's at 1000 yards through the old 26" barrel.
Funnily enough I was ready to give it a way as everyone I told I was using it, sucked their teeth, and said that those double based powders are terrible on barrel life.

I will try to read the Target Shooter articles, just need to find the app so I can read them on my I Touch.

DM

Ask all those who suck through their teeth how many 308 barrels they have actually shot out themselves, barrels do wear out its a fact of life but in a 308 you get a lot of shooting and if you want to compete you have to be competitive. You will save yourself a lot of angst in the long run, you have already taken the major step to get the right setup in terms of barrel etc so go for it. We have been running double base powders for three years now and the first rifles are just starting to come to the end of their useful life at around 3000 rounds.

I read TS on my iPad via iBooks App by downloading it as a pdf and then you can read it that way - far better.