167gr Lap Scenar in 308. are they a problem at 600yds ?

[telshe49]

Could someone help me with a problem l had today at Century on the 600yd range. To begin with this morning l fired 10rds of 167 Lap/scenar at a 300yd target and scored a 49/8. lm using a AI/AE/Mk 111. With a S&B Scope [PM11-2]. They are handloaded by me, over the Chrony they averaged 2,531fps. l used 44grs of N550 with CCI BR primers in Lapua cases. The ES was 40 and the AD was 14. At 600 yds they went everyware. 1st shot went at 10 o/clock in the maggie l drop elevation down 1 minute 1.5 across it ended up 2 minutes above shot 1. The rest were just as erratic, some missing all together. l finally gave up thinking there was a problem possibly with [dread the thought] the scope l stopped. A friend shooting with me let me try 10 rounds of 155gr RWS. With these l managed a 50.8 . With great relief to me. On the way home l remembered last year this happening with the same load same rifle but a vastley cheaper scope which l relegated to a .22. Which l thought was the problem, it seems l was wrong. Any thoughts would be greatly received.

Regards Telshe49.

[Ovenpaa]

I have run 167's on and off through my Mk1 AE ever since I first go it (PMII 4-16) it makes for a stunningly good 600 yard bullet and was my preferred choice at one time for McQueen at 600m These days I much prefer 155 home moly Scenars.

I would say 550 was a tad slow, I had best results with 46.5 to 48.0 grains of N540 built to 2.840" I found a very good sweet spot within these 1.5 grains. Using CCI LR. I do use CCI BR however I see very little advantage in them other than they appear harder than the standard CCI LR. Fed 210M seems to give slightly better results.

*The* Long distance round for the AI for me was the 170 Lockbase, Meaty of this forum has a thread going on them right now. For everything else I use 155 Scenar's moly coated with N540 behind them. I would not move to N550 for anything under 175 grains and it comes into it's own with the 190 SMK's however that is a personal view.

[dodgyrog]

As Dave said they are too slow. They are probably transonic at 600 yds and consequently give you a very poor result.

[CormieAckImp]

Same as the other guys are saying. We have a guy at our club who gets stunning groups with 168s over a mild load of 140 at short range so thinks he has a perfect load. He then can't understand why he gets ruined at 600, especially when there's a decent breeze getting up. In my experience 167/8s sit in a no mans land of performance in the .308". It's difficult to get them going fast enough to see an advantage. Going to 175/180 the weight sort of makes up for the lack of velocity but in a 26/28" Barrel I think you'd still struggle. A case full of N140 and a 155 is the key as far as I'm concerned.

[Ovenpaa]

I agree, fill the case with N140/540 and stick a 155 up front. At 2500ish the 167 should be OK for 600 but you really have to hit them hard to get results and I never saw much out of them above 600.

[telshe49]

Many thanks for all your replys, I was very worried when they were flying every where this saturday at Century. l remembered later on this week shooting the same distances in the spring and blamed it on a the cheap scope l was using prior to buying the S&B. l have about 120 bullets left so l will try and see if l can replicate Ovenpaa`s loads.

Cheers Telshe49

[Ovenpaa]

Shout if you need any further details and do start off a bit lower than the loads that worked for me please.