7.62X51 M1A long range loads

[Road_Clam]

I shoot my SA M1A Loaded at 600 yds . My go to midrange load is the 168 Nosler CC and about 42.1 gr of Varget. Im at about 1.44 MOA at 100 yds with an optic and shooting off a rock solid rest and rear bag. My eyes are insufficient for shooting irons beyond 200 yds, so for 600 yds i fit my M1A with a Basset optic mount and a vintage Redfield 3-9x and a unique gas tube mounted GG&G steel bipod. Sort of a fun M21 clone. I have a lot of fun shooting the M1A out to 600 yds. Not the best precision, but always putting hits "in the black" on a standard MR target.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Not to shake the apple cart, but...........

I might add, that I do well with the 100 and 200 yard targets with a.....
standard flat base pointed bullet, that cost a LOT less than the fancy boat tails.

Boat tails start to help out at the 300 yard range and farther, in my rifles.

If your rifle will shoot a 150/148 gr bullet, is will save you some coins.
With the longer 168 gr bullet, the 308 case is starting to loose its powder volume but
is still in the ball park for lots of loads.

However FPS is not always a good thing in this rifle for accuracy.
A good bullet/barrel twist match along with a good OAL with the bullet to lands can over come
high speed loads, in the long run, with top accuracy and be easier on you and the rifle.
Start low and work your way up to a medium load and see what works out.
Good luck.

 

[fredj338]

If it shoots ball ammo into 2", I would expect match ammo to half that.
I like to shoot Fed 168gr GMM as a benchmark. The 168gr Sierra MK over 4895 has been a proven load in the M1/M1A. Data for the M1A is in the Hornady manual. You do not want to run top end loads in the M1/M1A.

 

[fredj338]

IMO you won't have a problem with most .308 ammo out to 600 yards.

I would suggest a quality match bullet like a 155gr Palma Match bullet or a 168gr match bullet if your rifle shoots them better. Use a good primer to help prevent flyers, maybe a Federal Premium Gold Mstal or CCI Benchrest Primer. I like Varget, IMR4064 and 4895 in the .308 with Varget taking the edge.

You really don't need to make many changes for 600 yards, 1,000 yards would be a different matter.

Good luck getting certified...

When working up a precision load I will start with a bench rest primer. After I get the load dialed in, I will switch brands of primers & even try std over BR. Some of my rifles prefer std primers over BR type, or one brand over another.

 

[Enigma]

A lot of competitive shooters (those still using the M1A) are using 125-135 grain bullets at 200-300 yards. Their accuracy is equal to or better than 168s or 175s, and recoil is less noticeable. It does make a difference over the complete course of fire.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Not to shake the apple cart, but...........

I might add, that I do well with the 100 and 200 yard targets with a.....
standard flat base pointed bullet, that cost a LOT less than the fancy boat tails.

Boat tails start to help out at the 300 yard range and farther, in my rifles.

If your rifle will shoot a 150/148 gr bullet, is will save you some coins.
With the longer 168 gr bullet, the 308 case is starting to loose its powder volume but
is still in the ball park for lots of loads.

However FPS is not always a good thing in this rifle for accuracy.
A good bullet/barrel twist match along with a good OAL with the bullet to lands can over come
high speed loads, in the long run, with top accuracy and be easier on you and the rifle.
Start low and work your way up to a medium load and see what works out.
Good luck.

This is why I suggested a 155gr Palma match bullets above. They were specifically designed to do 1000 yards in a .308 Win cartridge.

Sierra's Palma bullet is excellent at what it is designed to do.I

.30 CALIBER/7.62MM 155 GR. HPBT PALMA(R) MATCHKING – Sierra Bullets

 

[chief on one]

Shooting position is my choice. I'll most likely shoot off the bench.
Wind can vary a lot here. But is usually pretty light passing left to right.
Nope, the rifle is not bedded. Its just a standard model M1A. Nothing special about it at all.
Gun shows the next two weekends. I'll see about picking up some match ammo to try.

I went to a gun this weekend;; found one open box of match ammo of 3 rounds. I would not wait for a gun show.

 

[chief on one]

for the 200 yards; I would go with 150 to 155 grin bullets. 300 use the 168 grain;; and the 175 for the 600 yards.

 

[Homie]

Hope you're making progress on the ammo situation, but I'm curious as to what the qualification requirement actually is (score or group), and if you fail the first time what happens next?
Please keep us posted on your results.

 

[pantannojack]

Accurizing helps

My civilian Springfield M1a out of a pawn shop was good for only about 4 moa using standard sights and Sierra 168's over IMR 4895. A standard wt GI Match bbl and simple glass bedding job helped a great deal, but only to 300 yds. The second 3/4 taco accy job was a medium wt 4 groove Douglass bbl, a Macmillian stock, a welded rear lug to the receiver, a 1/2 min ball click modification to the rear aperture sight with NM hood, and .2 diopter lens, and internal welded gas system unification, modified Flash suppressor, match op rod guide. That being done, I, rather we, wiped out the competition at Ben Avery 2002 leg match and finally gained my needed distinguish points ( ten at that match )and the gold. We beat all the AR 15 types and The Camp Pendleton team M1a's that day. Been in the strong box a long time but I believe this rifle will hold X ring 5" to 600 yds and beyond some way.

 

[AManWearingAHat]

168 or 175 grn SMK's on top of Varget should get you there no problem.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I agree with Sierra and Berger as a top match bullet for the SERIOUS shooter.

These Palma and super bullets do how ever come with a nice price tag
but they do win matches !!

Always nice to be on a team that has money coming in to help
pay for the cost of these "Games".

I did not get to shoot much in the service, since I was usually FIXING the weapons, rather than putting rounds down range.

However, I did have a "Custom" target rifle that I put together from the 500 plus M14's that we were allotted to our Battalion
and I also added a Linseed rub to the stock that was an eye catcher at inspections.

No glass for 500 yards........
just stock iron sights, in those days.

Never got to shoot the newer 125-135 mini bullets.
They have to be a hoot.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

@Nevada Ed
"These Palma and super bullets do how ever come with a nice price tag
but they do win matches !!"

I'm not telling the OP to shoot the Palma bullets every day or by the 100s a week. He is trying to qualify for the long distance range, he should use the best bullets available to that end IMO.

 

[BigBill]

i reload for military rifles and use the recommended IMR 4895 powder for the semi auto actions. It’s the correct burn rate.

 

[Nevada Ed]

+1 with 4895 being a good powder for the 308 round.

It even works in my 1903 bolt action 30-06 from a 1.22" 147gr FMJBT
up to the 200gr SPBT by Sierra.

If cheap bullets work, it is a bonus.........
I shoot a LOT of Hornady bullets due to they are reasonable in price.
I even Use Hornady for my hunting bullets as well as Sierra..... but that a different story.

 

[rockquarry]

I'm not a long range shooter; 500 yards is extreme long range to me. However, I've seen very good .308 accuracy with the Sierra 168 and H4895 at 300 yards and 500 yards. Primers often make little or no difference, but I'd try the Fed. 210 regular or 210 Match as well as the CCI-200. CCI-200 has done better for me.

I've also used the 168 Hornady with success. I haven't used it as much as the Sierra and have not really done a comprehensive comparison.

 

[BigMoneyGrip]

Shooting position is my choice. I'll most likely shoot off the bench.
Wind can vary a lot here. But is usually pretty light passing left to right.
Nope, the rifle is not bedded. Its just a standard model M1A. Nothing special about it at all.
Gun shows the next two weekends. I'll see about picking up some match ammo to try.

Sportsmans Warehouse usually carry the Federal GMM ammo in a few different weights.

 

[Wise_A]

You can work up a load at 100 yds as long as your loads are MOA or Sub it's just essentially mathematics from there as long as you do your part.

Just a note--100y performance is no guarantee of equivalent groups at greater distances:

(1) You can have a load that groups fine at 100y, but if the extreme velocity spread is too great, it'll exhibit vertical stringing as distances increase.

(2) Depending on bullet/twist/velocty, you can have a load that's stable at 100y, but not at greater distances.

(3) You can encounter the opposite situation, where a load doesn't shoot so hot at 100y, but "settles down" further out. I have a particular .223 loading (that I like a lot) that regularly groups around an inch at 100y, but .6" at 200y. Doesn't matter how much I play with scope adjustments, or whether I single-feed or load from a magazine, that's just par for the course with that load.

These things may or may not apply to 100-600y .308 loads for an M1A (what I know about .308s and M1As could be scribbled on an ammo box), but as a general rifle-thing, they're not uncommon.

In this instance, I would suggest maybe borrowing a buddy with a chronograph, and discarding any ammo choices that has a noticeably larger ES, regardless of whether it groups okay. Lots of guys do load development solely based on chrono results, especially if they're interested in longer-range shooting.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Just one more little thing.........

You can have the best rifle and loads but it needs the help of a good...

shooting position
muscle/bone set up
Breathing
heart beat
trigger Squeeze
and .... "Dope"

to bring it all together.

Good shooting.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I thought I was shooting long range. Our standard course of fire was 234 yards to 1000 (and 995) yards, but an auxiliary course was out to 1085 yards. I thought that was long range.


Then one friend of mine started messing with groundhogs at 2000 meters (about 1.3 miles) with a 300 Hulk, and another is messing with 2600 meters, using a 375 Chytac. I tell people I just like to plink now!

Just a story: My oldest son is a Blackhawk mechanic. After he went contractor, he was working in a shop in Texas, and the guys wanted to go shooting for money. He reluctantly went to some ranch with a 700-800 yard range. He asks if there is a warm up period and gets out a No. 4* Enfield and is shooting about 6-8" at 100 yards using surplus and iron sights. The other guys are shooting scoped heavy barreled AR's! He tells everyone the have an unfair advantage at 100 yards and says let's shoot 500. They start crying, but finally agreed to 350 to 400. They were doing really fine until he pulled out his Ohio Highway Patrol "Rapid Response Team", Remington 700 PPS 308 with the 3.5-10 Leupold Sniper special on it. And a full ammo can of M118 "Special Ball" ammo. The game was least total misses on full pop cans for the day. "Entry Fee" was $10, winner take all! He said it was an easy $50, second place had double the misses! He also let them kill one gallon water jugs at 750 yards. (Young people sometimes forget that AR's aren't the only gun out there!)

Ivan