I have a Savage Striker chambered in 308. I want to reload for hunting deer. I want to use 165 gr. SST, but I am unsure on what the best powder is to use in this round. Being that the gun only has a 12 or 14 inch barrel is that going to effect anything. Some friend of mine told me to use either IMR4064 or IMR4895. just wondering what you guys think. Thank.

4064 or Varget is great. I have been interested in BL-C. Now your asking a good quesiton that I don't have the answer for. That is with the barrel length what would be best. I would pick the faster of the three powders. Maybe Benchmark. Faster powder would have less barrel whip.

I just measured the barrel. Its 10 inches long from the receiver to the begining of the brake. It's 12.5 inches to the end of the brake. I thought it was 12 to 14 inch. Bigcountry thanks for replying so fast. Some forum you have to wait all day to get an answer from someone.

I tell ya a place that will jump on a question like this. Go to www.accuratereloading.com and go to the reloading section. Ask the best powder for a 10" barrel. I bet ya, you will get a bunch of replys pretty quick.

4895 is a perienniel favorite for .308 rifles and is on the faster end on the powder range spectrum for 308.

I have to agree with bigcountry on the fact that the faster powders ought to give you better results as this has typically been true when I loaded rounds for snub-nosed pistols. 4895 is a good place to start and I might also suggest Benchmark or IMR3031. BL-C(2) or Win 748 are ball powders and are on the slow end of the spectrum for .308 - they work great with 150gr FMJs in my M1A, but I'm questionable if they'll respond well in a 10" barrel.

according to some load data I have in the 2004 hodgdon annual reloding manual H414, BL-C(2), and varget produce the best velocity in shorter barrels the test barrel listed is a 15 inch barrel but I would imagine those 3 powders would still have the higher velocities even in a 10 inch barrel. You may look at Alliant powders like Reloader 7 and reloader 12. good luck

I am shooting an 18inch barrell in the .308 and my rifle is eating up the IMR 4064. I tried blc-2, H4350, RL-15, W-760, and RL-19. The 4064 is shooting great in it as compared to the other powders that I have tried. Good luck.