Newbie Question

[NTP19]

Hi all,

New to reloading and actually new to shooting as well. Finally got to a "settled" place in my life and always wanted to get into some hunting/shooting, so in Dec, I went out and bought my first rifle, a Remington 700 BDL in 30-06. Love the rifle and have had it to the range a few times.

I've been lucky enough to know an older gentleman, a friend of my grandmothers who is a WWII vet and has given me some solid advice and highly reccommended reloading if I plan to do any significant amounts of shooting. He has taken me under his wing a bit and shown me the ropes. I'm sure he's forgotten more than Ill ever know.

I got myself set up with what I feel is a decent reloading setup for a good deal on craigslist. $150 got me a Redding "O" frame single stage press, Hornady ultimate powder measure and beam scale, Lyman case trimmer, RCBS deburr tool and lube pad with lube and a primer tray. Also i have bought and read both the ABC's of reloading and the newest Hornady reloading manual.

After all that, here's my question. When you are working up loads to see what your gun shoots the best, how many rounds will you make up at each grain weight? Do you shoot an entire range session at one weight and next time adjust the load? or Do you load, say 20 rounds at each weight so you can test 2 or 3 loads per range session?

I've been lurking a few reloading forums the past couple of weeks and this seems to be quite active so that why I chose this one. Thanks

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

for rifle, i separate the charge range from starting load to max into 5 even steps and load 5 rounds at each level. if i'm not limited by magazine length, then i'll seat bullets about 0.005" to 0.010" off the lands. that gives me 25 rounds. each group of 5 goes into a ziploc with the charge weight written on it. i go out with a fouled barrel and shoot five 5-shot groups, letting the barrel cool between shots and watching for pressure signs as i move up in charge weight. if i think i've achieved practical accuracy with one of those loads, then i'll load up a batch at that weight and see if that group was just a fluke or if it's consistent. if i'm not satisfied with the group size, but the powder/bullet combo does show promise, i'll try smaller charge weight intervals around where i saw the best group(s). if i still feel like tweaking, i'll play with bullet seating depth, moving it right up to kissing the lands or backing it off the lands as some loads like a substantial jump. this method has worked well for me for developing hunting loads.

 

[rg1]

My experience is that no matter what you try it's going to require several trips to the range. First you need to decide what bullet and weight you want to shoot and the best and most recommended couple of powders for your bullet weight and caliber. I tend to load only a couple of rounds at "starting charges" just to be safe. Then when getting to mid-range and higher loads with that powder I load 3-5 rounds from mid-range up. I always find I wish I had more of a particular powder charge to test BUT you don't want to have a 100 or so of test rounds you have to take home and pull the bullets. Best to take other guns to the range with you such as .22's or pistols to play with while your barrel cools and to make a fun day at the range. Once you find a promising bullet-powder-charge weight then you can experiment further with smaller charge weight increments, seating depths, etc. but again you're probably looking at a few trips to the range to find your pet load.

 

[LiveLife]

Welcome to THR and the wonderful world of reloading hobby that will easily become a passion!

When I started to reload for my .308 rifle, I first determined the barrel twist rate (1 in 12 inches - I believe your barrel twist rate is 1 in 10), then I test fired some factory ammunition in various bullet weights (145/150/168/175 grains) to see which bullet weight the 16" barrel/twist rate preferred. 145/150/168 bullets shot accurate but 168 grain bullet shot the most accurate.

I then ordered some Hornady 168 gr BTHP Match bullets along with Hodgdon 4895/IMR 4895/Hodgdon Varget/Alliant Reloader 15 (based on various forum recommendations as best suited powders for .308) and CCI BR2/Winchester/Tula/Wolf LR primers from Powder Valley. I also ordered some more different weight bullets from RMR, Wideners and Berry's.

I ordered some once-fired brass (if LC headstamp cases still have primer pocket military crimp, you KNOW they are once-fired. ) and sorted by case weight. I then conducted powder workup with 168 gr bullet using CCI BR2 primer and same weight once-fired cases (I loaded 10 rounds of each 1 gr powder increments).

You can use .308 bullets for .30-06 but probably may need to use different/slower powders. Do a forum search and you should find some suggestions.



Here are some .30-06 related articles from The Rifleman's Journal (dedicated website for precision long-range shooting):

.30-06 cartridge history - http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2010/12/cartridges-short-history-of-30-06.html

.30-06 articles - http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2010/06/30-06-day.html

Mid-to-long range (600-1000 yards) .30-06 loads - http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2011/02/cartridges-30-06-update.html

Large rifle primer comparison - http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2009/06/primers-large-rifle-primer-study.html

Index of all articles - http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/p/articles-index.html

 

[NTP19]

Thanks for the info guys. Thats exactly what I was looking for. I had loaded up a bunch at the same weight my friend and I started at, just so i had something to shoot with the other day. I picked up a box of 100 150 grain Hornady FMJ/BT from the LGS just to get started. From alot of the reading i've been doing in the forums it sounds like most people have the most luck with a little heavier bullet i.e. 165-168gn in the 30-06. I'll try some of those when these run out. Is 165-168 gn bullets a little heavy for whitetail? Also another local guy suggested H 414 for powder, I currently have a pound of IMR4350 and he sighted that the ball powder will flow through the powder measure much smoother as I have noticed the IMR4350 to hand up on the long grains.

Many trips to the range are not a problem for me, as I feel that the more trigger time I get the better before I actually take a shot at live game.

 

[LiveLife]

For hunting specific bullet questions, you'll probably get more practical replies from the Rifle Country/Hunting categories of THR forum as bullet type/construction may have greater influence in the terminal effects on the target game than just bullet weight.

Try a search or post a new thread in Rifle Country or Hunting.

Happy hunting!

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

a 165 or 168 gr bullet is fine for deer if that's what your rifle likes.

 

[Mike 27]

I work 5-10 rounds per and try to run them all in one trip for rifle. It has worked well. My rem 700 likes Horn Match 168gr BTHP's over IMR 4064. I get less than 1" groups at 100 yards with it.

 

[kingmt]

Bullet depends on the twist & speed it is pushed. You will have to work thoses 2 things together with bullet construction to get the result needed.

 

[Blue68f100]

I check the load books to see which powder will give me the highest velocity with the lowest pressure. Some load books suggest a most accurate load. That has no impact on what your gun likes. All are a little different..

When I'm working up a rifle load, I start at the min and step up in 1.0-2.0 gr increments, 5 rounds each. Then I will pick the best ones and start playing with the OAL to find out which ones work best without touching the lands. I then pick the best ones and load up some more and test again. It's best if you can shoot with your ammo and gun cold like you may be hunting in. This is to find out if the powder is temp sensitive.

 

[NTP19]

Thanks everyone, great suggestions. I plan to use some of those ideas, i.e. breaking up min to max into equal increments and firing 5 round groups and working from there. I'm guessing you do your initial load work up shooting from the bench? The way I see it is, if I cant shoot a certian sized group such as 1 MOA from the bench, I probably wont do that off the bench. So i'd plan to shoot from the bench find the best load for my rifle then practice with that load without the bench so that I know it isnt the load that is inaccurate, it's me