USSR
Member
Around about the millenium, I became interested in taking a cartridge that was nearly 100 years old, and using newly developed powders and the best match bullets available, seeing just what the cartridge was capable of. I had Jack Krieger build the rifle to my specs, which are listed below:
Winchester M70 Pushfeed Action
Fluted 26" Krieger MTU Contour Barrel
McMillan A2 Stock, Pillar Bedded
Williams One-Piece Steel Bottom Metal
Jewell Trigger
Speed Lock Firing Pin and Spring
Badger 20MOA Base and Rings
Leupold 6.5-20x50LR M1 Mildot Scope
Unbeknown to me, another shooter (Shane) had the very same idea, and was experimenting with heavy bullet loads at the same time. The 190 grain Sierra MatchKing was the bullet that started both our load development efforts, as I recall. I also recall alot of disbelief from alot of guys on the website we frequented (SnipersHide.com), but after several other guys started duplicating our loads and got the same results, it became simply common knowledge among the posters on that site. I have pretty much remained with the 190SMK, along with some work with Hornady's excellent 178gr Amax bullet, while Shane has done ALOT of load development with bullets even heavier than 190 grains. As for my load development, I started with 2 slow burning powders: H4831 and RL22. It quickly became obvious that H4831 was not going to give me the velocity I had hoped for. Reloader 22, on the other hand, gave spectacular performance. Below are the loads that I use. Of course, anyone trying to duplicate this performance should start with lower charge weights and work up to it as I did. Although, Alliant lists a 60gr load for the 190SMK bullet, so it is not necessary to go too low.
190SMK
Lapua or LC Match brass
Fed 210M primer
60.7gr RL22
3.315" COAL
2900fps
178gr Amax
Lapua or LC Match brass
Fed 210M primer
60.0gr N160
3.480" COAL
2950fps
I am sure there are others out there that have done load development with heavy bullets in the .30-06, so feel free to post your results.
Don
Winchester M70 Pushfeed Action
Fluted 26" Krieger MTU Contour Barrel
McMillan A2 Stock, Pillar Bedded
Williams One-Piece Steel Bottom Metal
Jewell Trigger
Speed Lock Firing Pin and Spring
Badger 20MOA Base and Rings
Leupold 6.5-20x50LR M1 Mildot Scope
Unbeknown to me, another shooter (Shane) had the very same idea, and was experimenting with heavy bullet loads at the same time. The 190 grain Sierra MatchKing was the bullet that started both our load development efforts, as I recall. I also recall alot of disbelief from alot of guys on the website we frequented (SnipersHide.com), but after several other guys started duplicating our loads and got the same results, it became simply common knowledge among the posters on that site. I have pretty much remained with the 190SMK, along with some work with Hornady's excellent 178gr Amax bullet, while Shane has done ALOT of load development with bullets even heavier than 190 grains. As for my load development, I started with 2 slow burning powders: H4831 and RL22. It quickly became obvious that H4831 was not going to give me the velocity I had hoped for. Reloader 22, on the other hand, gave spectacular performance. Below are the loads that I use. Of course, anyone trying to duplicate this performance should start with lower charge weights and work up to it as I did. Although, Alliant lists a 60gr load for the 190SMK bullet, so it is not necessary to go too low.
190SMK
Lapua or LC Match brass
Fed 210M primer
60.7gr RL22
3.315" COAL
2900fps
178gr Amax
Lapua or LC Match brass
Fed 210M primer
60.0gr N160
3.480" COAL
2950fps
I am sure there are others out there that have done load development with heavy bullets in the .30-06, so feel free to post your results.
Don