308 load question

[KY_coop]

My brother in law is starting to reload and I convinced him to make me up some 308 hunting rounds. Got a savage 110 tactical that I'd like to use for target shooting and hunting. My target load I use is a federal 168 GMM and that's what the rifle is sighted in with. I purchased some 168 grain ttsx that I'm having him load the hunting rounds with. The ttsx has a bc that is close to the SMK. My theory is if I can get them moving the same speed, same weight bullet, and similar bc then I could use one zero/ drop data for target shooting as well as hunting. He has varget powder to load with. The GMM has average velocity of 2563fps out of the 20" barrel. I was hoping someone could help point me to a specific powder charge to start out with to get me close on velocity. Since I only have 50 rounds I'd like to keep the trial and error of matching the velocities to a minimum. Any help or tips are appreciated.

 

[A382DWDZQ]

If you’re wanting similar velocity with Varget, I’d start with about 42.5gr. Barnes shows 40.1 at 2,501 with Varget in a 24” barrel, so figure you’re 80-100fps slower. So you need to be at 2,643-2,663 on a 24” barrel, so that would be about 42.9gr if we use linear gr/velocity on their book load. So 42.5 should be a bit under that. Work up from there and see how it looks.

 

[N2TRKYS]

That seems awfully slow. I would want to speed it up a couple hundred fps.

 

[A382DWDZQ]

That seems awfully slow. I would want to speed it up a couple hundred fps.

Well, if OP is trying to match his factory ammo, that’s the velocity. I would say it is fine for most hunters. That’s only about 50fps slower than factory VOR-TX, and the 168 expands down to 1,500fps, so it’s not going to be a 500+ yard long range load, but it should be fine out to 500yds.

 

[N2TRKYS]

Well, if OP is trying to match his factory ammo, that’s the velocity. I would say it is fine for most hunters. That’s only about 50fps slower than factory VOR-TX, and the 168 expands down to 1,500fps, so it’s not going to be a 500+ yard long range load, but it should be fine out to 500yds.

I guess