DPMS G2 Reload help/advice

[DrLaser546]

Hi guys sorry to do this as a first post but i am in dire need of reloading advice for my dpms g2. First off a brief history I have been reloading for a little over 2 years now, mostly for my .257 roberts and a little load development in .223/5.56, That being said this is my first foray into reloading for .308 and the differences in case volumes has me stumped/concerned. I have approximately 300 pieces of PPU brass as I have so much of it I decided to use this brass as my cartridge test bed, The brass has been processed with a rcbs small base die, and trimmed to 2.010 inches, chamfered, deburred, etc. I filled 5 cases that were fired in my rifle with water and recorded the volume in grains, the average of the 5 came out to 55.76 grs with the high being 56.5 and the low being 55.3 grains.

Here are my issues / questions. The load data that I am using is coming from my Lyman reloading manual which lists a starting load of 42.0 grs IMR 4064 and a max load of 46.0 grs with a hornady 168gr amax, the case used for their test was a Winchester case. Do I need to modify the powder charges? I can't seem to locate a current case volume for current production Winchester .308.

My next question, when I looked at a hornady load book for recomendations, they broke it up into the service rifle section and a none service rifle section, where under the service rifle section the maximum recommended load was 42.0 grs of IMR 4064. So in summery what category do the dpms lr 308 and g2 family of rifles fall into, the service rifle, or non service rifle?

My components are as follows:
PPU brass
CCI 200 large rifle primers
IMR 4064 powder
Hornady 168 gr AMAX bullets seated to a COAL of 2.800
Rifle: DPMS G2 16 inch barrel, 1:10 twist, AP4

If you have made it through this novel of a first post, thank you for your time and thank you for any help that you can provide!.

[Gaffshot]

PPU is military spec brass. It will give higher pressures than commercial brass. Like Lakecity. Start low. I recall Hornady reloading manual uses Hornady brass?? In my experience top load with the PPU brass will be significantly lower than the published top load. Be careful. With 168s I had to stop about 40 usung H4895 when books went up to 45 maybe. (From memory here). Point is start low work up and don't expect to get to top published loads.

[Panfisher]

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/

The Hogdon site shows 41.5 to 45.9 with IMR 4064. Start with the staring load and work up.

[DrLaser546]

I have 3 reloading manuals and they all suggest roughly the same charge range, Right now the largest charge that I have loaded is 43.5 grains, and even with being that far below max charge, with the 168 gr a max I think it is a compressed charge.

[trapper9260]

My next question, when I looked at a hornady load book for recomendations, they broke it up into the service rifle section and a none service rifle section, where under the service rifle section the maximum recommended load was 42.0 grs of IMR 4064. So in summery what category do the dpms lr 308 and g2 family of rifles fall into, the service rifle, or non service rifle?

As for this you wrote go with the none service rifle section.I have a DPMS 308LR and I use IMR4064 powder and it is the same twist as your.Go with the starting load and work your up.See what your gun like the best and go from there.As for brass I would not worry about it.I use LC because it was the easyer fro me to get.But as for primers use what you got and make your data with that and when you change your primers.Test your data with the different primers and see if anything have change and if so adjust to what your gun tells you.Other wise the Data in the manual is a guide to go by, the rest is up to the user.I also use cast in my rifle and use the same powder and use the datafor jacket in cast to get the rifle to cycle.Because the data that Lyman give for cast the rifle will not cycle.

[Gaffshot]

Use the section with most similar barell as yours. Length and twist.