.308 Encore rifle barrel?

[exile]

I am thinking about purchasing a .308 barrel for my T/C Encore rifle. E. Arthur Brown has a custom barrel priced at $ 340.00. Their barrels come in a 1:8, 1:10, 1:12 twist rate and the length is 24 inches. From the reading I have done here, I would like to purchase the 1:12 twist rate. My hope is to shoot mostly cast boolits through it.

I have the Lee .312 160 grain mold and the Lee .309 230 grain mold. I hope to purchase the Lee .309 180 grain mold as well. I have never loaded a .308 but have some .243 brass on hand? Is there anything I need to know about loading .308 in .243 brass, or should I not be doing that at all?

Has anyone used an E. Arthur Brown custom barrel? Anything I need to know pro or con?

Will it be possible to shoot 7.62 x .51 surplus ammo through this barrel as well? Thanks.

exile

[nhrifle]

Having owned all those moulds except the 160 grain, I will tell you the .309-200 is more accurate in any rifle I put it in than the .309-180. .243 brass can be converted to .308, but I have noticed the necks tend to be a little shorter than desirable. I have shot lots of such converted cases and they worked fine for me. NATO surplus ammo will shoot fine in that barrel, but do be aware that there is quite a bit of foreign stuff that is corrosively primed and will require common sense cleaning procedures after firing. If the major diet of your gun will be cast loads, the 1 in 12" twist would probably suit best, but if you plan on shooting more than a few jacketed rounds through it, the 1 in 10" will likely make for a more versatile choice as standard velocity/pressure loads will stabilize better.

[exile]

Thanks for the input, maybe I will buy the 200 grain mold instead. The idea of 7.62 NATO is more of a once in awhile thing, but I will be careful of corrosive ammo. Thanks.

exile

[nhrifle]

Don't be afraid of corrosive ammo. Most of it shoots quite well. Just swab with a good neutralizer and follow with a liberal dose of oil.

[quilbilly]

Check in the Sierra reloading book to see what twist Remington 700 uses in the 308. Last week using that Lee 160 gr boolit my new Remington 770 just shot a 4-shot group with 3 of 4 touching and one half an inch away at 100 yards. The Encore should shoot just as well (I have one with a couple barrels). My 30/30 likes that 160 gr boolit as well. The load for the 308 was 21.5 gr of 4198. Brass is so hard to come by lately that I bought a batch of Federal military grade 7.62x51, just for the brass then pulled the FMJ's and reloaded with CB's plus 4198 which yielded that group. Since just brass alone costs about $30 for 50, buying those Federals at $15/20 wasn't a bad alternative.