101sniper,
Take some time and pick up a ciopy of Glen Zediker's book, Handloading for Competition. Good book anyway, but he's got a pretty good collection of stuff pertaining to the reloading of gas guns in particular, and has done a great deal of writing on the M14 family. Not just another handloading job here, reloading for gas guns is a specialized game. You need to watch your headspace religiously, and gage it for every firing. Resign yourself to tossing the brass after three firings in an M14, and use brass that's intended for use in autos. LC Match is high on that list, and I recommend it highly. No bullets over 175 grains, and stick with the medium burn rates. IMR 4895, WC-750 (very similar to WW748) and Reloder 15 have all been used as factory powsders that LC match ammo has been loaded with over the years, and Reloder 15 is the powder that's currently being used in the M118LR Match rounds. The recommendation for the M34 primer is a good one, but regardless of which oneyou use, pay attentionj to making suere the primer is fully seated, and a couple thou below the case head; slam fires will ruin your whole day, seriously. There's about a ton more stuff here, but they won't all fit into a single post. Just ask if you need anything, but make sure it's from someone whose had some experience with this particular type of reloading; it ain't a bolt gun, and you can't load the same for the two!
In the meantime, I was a sniper with the 1/506th, '77-'81. Who were/are you with?
