I am currently using RL15, when Alliant had the government contract, that is what was going into the M118LR, it is my understanding. Similar to Varget.. I have 4064 in some of my 30-06, both 150gr and 165gr..The bad news is that the price of RL15 and every thing else has doubled since Sandy Hook. I paid $70 each for two 5 lb canisters back then before they ran out, when they gave a good bulk discount, now they are $145 each at the store 70 miles away I normally go to. When I run out, which will be a while, I will have to pay the piper. I just got a pound of Varget for $25
. A good part of those 100-150 rounds I shoot a month is any decent M80 I can find. Lately I found a bunch of ZQ-1 Turkish M80 at Wally World for $7.40/20 closeout price. Then I size them and ream out the primer crimp and use those as the basis for my hand loads. Interesting is that as long as it is NATO spec M80, I don't find much chronograph speeds difference between brass manufacturers. Enough maybe to bother a precision distance shooter, but not me. Within 300 yards they are pretty darn close in shot placement, all other things being equal. Now that I have enough brass inventory, I will be shooting less and less surplus stuff. I just ordered a carbide factory crimping die in 308 from Lee, and will be putting a light crimp on all my reloads to protect from bullet shifting in the magazine during shooting. A good $15 investment.
I found 40 Federal 308 brass at the range a couple of weeks ago, when I sized them, it took a lot more effort than a 7.62 for whatever reason. I think they might have originally been a hot load fired in a bolt gun, which caused more than normal brass expansion. I also had to take off more brass on the throat then normal when I trimmed them. They all looked in great shape however, no splits or flattened primers and looked to be only once fired.