Critique my first .30-06 reload...

[jim147]

I may have misread your last post. Are you just trying to come up with a load without learning how to reload?
I would reread this whole thread and reread the Lee book and think about getting another book.
Or you could email or call Hodgon.

jim

edit: Maybe your last post just needs a little clearing up about what you are doing.

 

[MacTech]

To clarify the last post, yes, I know how to reload, I've been succesfully loading .45 ACP for the last year or so, however, the .30-06 is the first rifle I've reloaded for, the only issue I'm having is determining the OAL for the cartridge, but I think I got it now

the OAL for the rifle's firing chamber is 3.222, allowing for a .020 setback, the cartridge should be sized to 3.202 or 3.200, that gives enough slack space for a safety margin

I've picked up some Reloder19 so I have a safe, published starting load to work from in my Lee manual

 

[TPD211]

I too bought a Lee Loader in 30-06 to start reloading again after a 30 year hiatus. For my OAL I used the method in the Lee Loader manual. I had some factory Winchester ammo. I seated it in the Lee Loader as per the instructions and set the bullet seater in the body. I turned the stop collar until it was barely touching the bullet seater. This set the depth for the bullet seater. I do not have calipers so I can not tell you the OAL.

I'm shooting Nosler 155 grain Competition with Varget powder, 46.5 gr. This is a very light load, around 2700 fps. I will work up from here.

I just read a great way to set the OAL for any rifle. Remove the bolt. With a bullet, push it till it touches the lands. You may have to lightly tap it to get it to stay. With a cleaning rod, insert it in the muzzle end and push it till it touches the top of the seated bullet, mark that spot on the rod at the muzzle end. Push the bullet out. Put the bolt back in and close it. Insert the cleaning rod again and push until it touches the bolt face, mark that spot on the cleaning rod.
The distance between the 2 marks minus a hair is the OAL for a cartridge to have the bullet just touching the lands.

You may try this method then measure with the calipers and see what you get. The OAL in the books is just a suggestion or starting point. The OAL for your rifle and cartridge/bullet combination will be unique for your firearm.

 

[MacTech]

Well, I just got back from the range after testing my first 5 .30-06 reloads....

They performed flawlessly I'm using 58.4 grains of Reloder19 under a Hornady 165Gr JSP, OAL set to 3.202

I'll definitely need to re-sight-in my scope, as it had been sighted in for Federal Fusion 170Gr commercial loads at 50 yards, the only open bench was the 100 yard bench, so I adjusted my POA, and pulled the trigger

every time the gun went *BANG*, the recoil had gotten softer, and had changed from an quick, sharp jab to the shoulder to a hard shove, it felt closer to the recoil impulse of my .45ACP pistol, a far more pleasant recoil

there were no signs of over or underpressure on the brass or fired primers, this seems to be a safe reload recipie, plus, the reloads shot absolutely clean, the barrel was nice and shiny, no unburned powder remnants, no copper fouling

the case length of a once-fired brass (not reloaded yet) measures 2.486, one of my fired reloads (a total of two firings on it) measures 2.488

These reloads definitely make shooting the '06 far more pleasant

I was talking with some of the guys at the range, there were at least two reloaders there, one who reloads for his .280 NEF single-shot (damn accurate gun, that), we got to talking about reloading and in particular, compressed charges, I remarked how I think compressed charges are dangerous (from the novice reloader view) but he remarked that they are actually a tad *safer*, mainly due to the lack of air space or room for powder to shift around, the example he used was going hunting, and you see a deer at the bottom of a hill, with a standard charge, when you tilt the gun down to sight in the deer, the powder has room to move towards the bullet, away from the primer, making ignition a tad more difficult, he also remarked how powder is supposed to burn from the primer forwards, like a "fuse", if you have air space in a rifle cartridge, the powder can theoretically burn from the top down, causing a "flashover" inside the cartridge

this seems to make sense, having as little air space in the cartridge as possible should insure a consistent, reliable burn

Time to load up some more rounds, take a trip back to the range tomorrow, and sight in the rifle with my handloads

Dear Og I love reloading!