new to reloading the 30-06 any good recipies

[tangohammerli]

I am new to the rifle reloading and was looking for a starter load for the 30-06. I have the head, 165BTHP and was looking for a powder charg recommendation. I will shooting from a pre war M70 with stock barrel. Its in great shape and dont need any max loads..
thanks

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Welcome to the forum....

I have been reloading the 30-06 for a while now and I've found out there is no magic recipes. Every barrel is different so their harmonics are different. You will have to pick a powder and start from the Min charge and work your way up to the Max charge .2gr at a time. When your round velocity leaving the barrel matches the harmonics of your barrel you will have found your load. (which will show itself in a very tight group) A Chrono would be very helpful in this too.

I have been loading a 168gr Sierra BTHP Match bullet over 47.8 gr IMR4895 with good results in my 1917 Eddystone. I have been working on loads using H4895, IMR4350 and H4350 too see if I get better results but my rifle seems to like IMR4895 the best.

Good luck finding the right combination for your rifle. It may take some time but you will find it....

 

[kir_kenix]

ArchAngelCD gave some very good suggestions. im a big fan of vargent myself in my hunting loads. h4350 is another great powder that i use often.

i think think AACD is correct when he says there is no magic recipie as well. ur going to have to choose a powder (or powders) and work ur way up gradually to see what YOUR rifle likes. with 3 or 4 batches of loads progressing by .1 or .2, its pretty easy to find a sweet spot that ur 06 will like. that will give u a good starting point, and u can work from there.

good luck

 

[sublimaze41]

I was on a trip to Africa for a PG hunt. I wanted to shoot Barnes 168 TSX pills. Numerous people told me to start with H4350. I thought I could "buck" conventional wisdom given to me in my neck of the woods. Long story short....5 powder combinations later I came back to H4350 as my hunt load.
Man those Barnes bullets are expensive to use when working up a load:banghead:

My 2 favorites for .30-06 are Varget and yes, H4350.

 

[BsChoy]

Archangel I was slightly confused about you post. Where you advising a ladder test (loading one of each charge to max and shooting them all at the same point of aim to find which group best, the middle round of the tightest group being the optimum) with such small incremental changes or loading 3-5 rounds of each powder charge and going from there?

 

[Galil5.56]

A nice easy going load I have used for a long time is 49.5 grains IMR 4064, and a Hornady 165 SPBT out of a 22" Rem 700. Plenty accurate for me, and about 3 grains under IMR book max. Never have chrongrahped this particular load, but 2700-ish would be about what I would expect.

In my experience the 06 is very forgiving, and it's harder finding a medium to medium slow propellant that won't work well in the 06, than will.

Good luck,

 

[dakotasin]

http://www.baitshopboyz.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4300&PN=1

there's a discussion on ladder method complete w/ a pic or two.

in short, each case is charged w/ approximately a 1% charge difference (in 30-06 i use .5 grain increments). shoot your target making no adjustments to poa noting where each bullet landed. when you're all done, you will notice a trend w/ what your rifle likes, and you will have several bullets that are very close to each other - this is your load (split the difference). you can be done w/ load development in 1 or 2 range sessions, firing only 10 shots. you can also test several powders at the same time (each target gets its own powder) and have a very graphic display of a given powder's accuracy potential.

 

[dogrunner]

I use Sierra's #2140 HPBT Gamekings in my 1947 M/70 and it'l average dime sized groups at 100. 57.5, IMR 4350....seat just shy of the lands. Standard Winchester LR primers.

I'd add that I have yet to touch a deer or hog with that bullet that was not dead before he hit the ground where he stood!

Meant to add that the load chronos 2850 from that 24" bbl.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Archangel I was slightly confused about you post. Where you advising a ladder test (loading one of each charge to max and shooting them all at the same point of aim to find which group best, the middle round of the tightest group being the optimum) with such small incremental changes or loading 3-5 rounds of each powder charge and going from there?

BsChoy,
Sorry my post was a little confusing.

What I meant was, start with the Min recommended charge. Load 3 or 5 rounds with that charge. Fire those 3 or 5 rounds and measure the group size of those rounds and if you have a Chrono also record the SD of the 3 or 5 rounds. Then load the next set of rounds with whatever incremental increase you think is best. You can use .5gr if you like so if you started with 48.0gr the next set of rounds would have a charge of 48.5gr. Then fire those 3 to 5 rounds at a fresh target, measure the spread and record the SD of velocity and the increase in velocity. Repeat the procedure until you reach the Max recommended charge unless you hit a load that gives you a 5 round ragged hole somewhere before you hit the Max recommended charge. (we could only wish, right?? LOL)

You will find the smallest group will also have the lowest SD and then you are close to finding the load that matches your barrel. Since you are changing the charge by .5gr you might want to add and remove .2gr and see if the size of the group shrinks even more. In the end you will have the magic recipe for YOUR rifle and your rifle alone.

It sounds like more work than it really is and if you're like me, you won't consider it work at all.

 

[Slamfire]

While these loads are with match bullets, basically these were staple loads on the Match firing line when the 30-06 was a commonly used match rifle.

I found AA2495 gave me the same velocities with same charge weight as IMR 4895. The staple load was 47.0 grains IMR 4895 with a 168.

I don’t have data with 168’s and 4350. I have data with a 175 Sierra HPBT. But with a 168 Match it was very common to find someone loading 55.0 grains IMR 4350. In my testing my lot of AA4350 is so close to IMR that I can’t tell the difference over the screens.

None of these loads is sensitive to primer or case.

The 4895 and 4064 loads are just excellent in 30-06 Garands. The 4350 loads are not appropriate for that rifle.

26" 1:10 Wilson Match Barrel

168 gr Sierra Match 47.0 AA2495 wtd R-P cases CCI 34 OAL 3.30"
5 May 00 T=82°F

Ave Vel = 2720
Std Dev = 4
ES = 12
Low = 2713
High = 2725
N = 10


168 gr Sierra Match 48.0 IMR 4064 wtd LC66NM WLR OAL 3.30"
5 May 00 T=82°F

Ave Vel = 2653
Std Dev = 9
ES = 27
Low = 2645
High = 2672
N = 9



175 gr Sierra 55.0grs AA4350 wtd. FED 210M W/W cases OAL 3.30"
5 Oct 2000 T=70°F

Ave Vel = 2710
Std Dev = 16
ES = 43
Low = 2679
High = 2722
N = 5


175gr Sierra 56.0 grs H4350 wtd. WLR Commerical cases OAL 3.290"
5 Oct 2000 T=70°F

Ave Vel = 2733
Std Dev = 22
ES = 80
Low = 2686
High = 2766
N = 14

 

[USSR]

You will find the smallest group will also have the lowest SD and then you are close to finding the load that matches your barrel.

Ahh, sorry, ArchAngelCD, but that ain't always the case. If you've ever done alot of load development, you would find many instances where the low ES/SD numbers and small groups are mutually exclusive.

Don

 

[dcon]

My rifle likes 180gr Nos. Partitions with 60gr of Reloader 22, but as many have mentioned every rifle is different.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Ahh, sorry, ArchAngelCD, but that ain't always the case. If you've ever done alot of load development, you would find many instances where the low ES/SD numbers and small groups are mutually exclusive.

Don

Don,
I don't disagree with what you said but with 4895 in the 30-06 it seems to be true that a set of 5 accurate rounds seem to have a low SD, especially when you weigh the Brass and bullets and only use those of the same weight for a series of rounds.