[vtducrider]

Up till now, I have only been reloading pistol cartridges on my Dillon 550RL. And I have been contemplating lately to venture into rifle cartridges. I would like to start with 308, primarily shooting in my Scar 17.

I need to buy a set of dies, conversion kit, and probably a quick change from Dillon, and components for 308. I have read some information about doing this, but I am a little apprehensive nonetheless. Any practical tips/advise will be greatly appreciated.

One thing I am not sure how to do is trimming the case neck, which I have not done in the past. I am going with 150gr FMJ since it shoots well in my Scar barrel. What kind of powder is good for mid-upper range loads?

[fredj338]

I setup my 550 for 223 & 308. I use the RCBS X small base dies. The idea is you trim once, set the die & never trim again. That works for me, I hate trimming cases. You can add a powder COP die form Hornady in stn #3 & seat &/or crimp in #4. So far, the X-die seems to work as advertized. I am losing 223 cases to shoulder splits around 5-6 reloads. Not unexpected considering the FL sizing & milspec brass. I also use Hornady OneShot case lube so I don't have to remove case lube after loading. Just make sure to follow directions exaclty w/ the case lube or you'll stick a case.

[Boxerglocker]

I've been seriously contemplating moving to getting another press on my bench, a 550B in .45 ACP for the SA RO that I ordered for a club group buy and prepping to do .308 for a AR.
Op keep in mind that if you already have a .45 ACP conversion all you need for .308 is a "B" powder funnel and dies.... nice huh?

For a trimmer, I'm seriously looking at one of these...

http://youtu.be/UWyWz-tzJ10

http://www.littlecrowgunworks.com/wft.html

I would decap and size on my single stage, trim then load on the 550B.

[agent clark]

Search the long-range forums, my pal shoots .308 in a Rem 700 and loads for it. He learned a ton online, then did his own R&D. He trims when necessary, but is loading carefully, one at a time for the bolt-action. An AR should be more forgiving, just depends how far you want to push accuracy and consistancy.

[Matthew Courtney]

I have found semi auto .308 rifles to be more finicky than bolt actions, mainly due to the need to find a load that has a pressure curve suited for 2 LR 308s and an M1A. I would start with a midrange load and if in functions reliably, fine tune for accuracy. 46 gr of win 748 or bcl(2), or 44 gr of varget work well for me.

[Hoser]

If you are going to use a Dillon measure to throw powder, use a small grained powder or a ball powder.

Other than that little tidbit, the 308 is a pretty easy caliber to load for.

I get the best accuracy with Varget powder and Federal primers.

[DoctaGlockta]

I load 308 for my G3 clone single stage with TAC and berdan primers for now until I get sick of that brass. My Lnl Ap could not handle resizing the beat all to hell brass out of that rifle.