Starting .25-06 reloading. Have questions.

[Eb1]

Noted.

It is a max loading, but listed as most accurate in my Nosler manual for IMR 4350. Will take the Chrony also to the range. This is also why I did 10 of each. So that I would have enough data from the Chrony to verify jumps or dips in velocity.

 

[kingmt]

Sounds safe but I would have started lower myself. I normally get my best groups towards the starting load of data.

 

[Eb1]

I have had some good at max, and some good at start, and some good in the middle. I have also had good over max.

I was going off of the Nosler recommended load for their latest book. Yeah. I know it was in their test gun, but what is it going to hurt to try? If you try a listed load be it at the bottom or the top at least you know which way your going to go if the load is crap. True?

 

[kingmt]

I would try at the top. I had one load that I fallowed the data & .2gr over the starting load it popped the primers another .2gr & it split the necks with hard bolt left in my gun.

 

[Eb1]

Cartridge: 25-06 Remington
Load Type: Rifle
Starting Loads
Maximum Loads

Bullet Weight (Gr.) Manufacturer Powder Bullet Diam. C.O.L. Grs. Vel. (ft/s) Pressure Grs. Vel. (ft/s) Pressure
117 GR. HDY SPBT IMR IMR 4350 .257" 3.165" 47.0 2851 42,700 CUP 52.0 3106 51,300 CUP

data from http://data.hodgdon.com

Listing 52.0 grains Max for a 117 grain bullet. I am loading a 115 grain with Lubalox coating as a friction modifier. Forty-nine grains is listing max in the bullet manufacturer. I tend to go with bullet manufacturer data over powder manufacturer if the bullet company has loading data available.
I have changed two components of the load. The case and the primer. I will watch very closely for the signs of high pressure, and will not go forth if sings are present. I will be watching for jumps in velocity on the Chronograph, or velocity values that are not near published velocities as high pressure signs as well.

I am a safe hand loader. I do tend to work up data that is not published at times. I have load data that is not published for VV N120 with the 30-30 that was worked up via a Chrony and watching for high pressure signs. I also have data with VV N120 for other rifles that is not listed. I will not disclose this information, but I know that it works for me in my guns.

I am really excited to try the .25-06 loads. I just hope that the Federal Match primers are not the most accurate as they are hard to find around here, but I would be happy to find an accurate load. I am impatiently waiting for a chance to go to the range. This week should be a good one because the temps are going to be down in the lower 80's.

If the velocity is 2900 to 3050 I will be happy also because using the Ballistic Tip and at the distance I would be hunting at this year. The slightly lower velocities would keep the bullet from reacting to quickly. Although I have never had a problem with the 115 grain CT BT before, but those kill were at over 200 yards.

If I cannot find a load before deer season. I will be trying the 100 grain Remington Core-Lokt in .25-06. I also have 40 rounds of factory Winchester Supreme in 115 grain CT BT to use also. I am not doing without.

 

[Zeke/PA]

My current .25-'06 is a tempermental Ruger#1 Varminter.
I have fiddle-fooled around to come up with this:
51 Grains of 4831 behind a 117 Sierra GameKing.
Sub MIA groups at 100 yds. AND I'm able to dispense a Maryland,long range beanfielfd buck with ease

 

[OKIE2]

25-06

Nosler's new number 6 load book says that reloader 19 is the best powder for 100 grain bullet
52 grains for 3254 fps
4895 is not on their list

 

[Eb1]

I am not using 4895 nor am I using a 100 grain bullet.


I am using a 115 grain bullet with IMR 4350. Which is listed in the book.

 

[Sidewinder72]

Eb1 , I am loading .020 of lands and very near max loads with 110 accubonds and 4831sc. Very accurate and the deer hate them.

 

[Eb1]

The 110 Accu-Bonds will be my next choice if the 115 grain CT BT fails me. I don't think they will. I have shot great groups with factory ammo loaded with it, and I like the performance of the BT on deer.

H4831SC is easily found in my location locally. Like I mentioned before. I had a heck of a time finding a load for my .44 Magnum using 2400. Come to find out it was the cowboy grip that was hurting accuracy more than the load, but it was mentioned to me to go with a tried and true original for the .44 Magnum. The powder was IMR 4227. Well. That powder brought back the excitment because 22.0 grains of IMR 4227 with a LSWC is a very medium recoiling, but very accurate for me with iron sights out of my SBH.

So when it came to picking a powder for the .25-06 I choose to go with the original powder for the cartridge. Which from what I read, and have been told by old timers is IMR 4350. I am figuring on the same events happening that did with my .44 Magnum. Original powder should give me a good starting point. Just so happens that the Nosler manual has a most accurate load of 49.0 grains of 4350 @ 3030 fps which is about what I get from the Winchester Supreme Silver Tips.

Plans changed, and I will be able to shoot this Saturday morning. YES! So I am going to shoot 2 five shot groups of each load that I have loaded, and I mentioned them in an above post. The only difference is the primer. All have Winchester nickle brass that is once fired in my rifle, and is neck sized. I loaded about .002 from the lands as far as I can tell. The OAL is 3.260.
I have 10 of each loaded. 10 with WLR, 10 with Federal Match LR, and 10 with CCI 200 primers.
I will watch for pressure signs, and watch the Chrony for velocities that are near published values. Any that are way lower or higher will be put aside, and not shot again. I will bring them home, and pull the bullet to save the powder. Resize the brass, and load with lower powder charges.

Does that meet every ones criteria of safety? <-- not being a jerk.

 

[Eb1]

Tomorrow is the day! Suppose to have 5 mph winds, and be around 80*F.

 

[Eb1]

RESULTS OF 1st Firing

Okay. Here are the groups I shot this morning. The temp was 75*F, 5 mph wind left to right. All shot were at 100 yards off sand bags, and all where shot over the Chrony.
I would like to say to anyone who is reloading, or is new to reloading. Look at these groups. The loads were the exact same except for the primers. They were loaded at the same sitting. The only thing different eccept for the CCI 250 loading were the primers used.
I have loaded a lot, but never took the time to actually test how the primer actually can affect accuracy, and these pictures show that they make one heck of a difference. As you will see.

I let the barrel cool all the way down between shots. Took me a good 5 hours to shoot these groups. Whew.
I shot another 5 shot string of the WIN LR Primer loadings, and the velocities were consistent. The group opened up some, but I shot the string with only letting the barrel cool for 30 seconds or so. The wife called, and said, "HELP ME! The kids are driving me up the wall. I can't get my work done." So naturally I was frazzled, and trying to get home.

I think the Winchester primers with 49.0 grains loaded to 3.260 (still fit in my magazine) would make a good hunting load.
Velocities which will be in the below post are consistent with the book. I am shooting from a 22" barrel vs. the books 24". Load velocity from the book is listed @ 3030 fps with a 24" barrel. So if you take about 70 fps/inch you get the velocities I show from my Chrony.

The CCI 250 load was lowered to 48.0 grains instead of 49.0 grains for safety reasons, but the velocity from the 48.0 grains of IMR 4350 were 100 fps lower.

None of the loads were hard to extract. Primers after firing look excellent. I actually feel I could bump up a grain, and not have issues, but if I get MOA out of my light weight, pencil barrel at an average of 2850 fps using a 115 grain CT BT from the 22" barrel. I would be tickled pink. I have already seen what the factory load with this bullet can do to a deer @ 300 yards. I have some of the factory Win Supreme left. I think I will Chrony those next trip to the range. I know that the .25-06 should be getting 3000 fps easy, but again I am shooting a 22" barrel. Which brings up the question from another thread. Velocity or accuracy for hunting loads. Well. I repeat what I said on that thread. I think you have to find a happy medium. Reliability along with accuracy with a velocity that will allow your projectile to function properly. It could play to my advantage using a BT with a slightly slower velocity for those up close shots. Only time will tell.
I don't think I will try a different powder until I am out of IMR 4350. The recoil was nothing. You could shoot this load all day long. Not that the .25-06 is a heavy recoiling rifle, but it was less than my 30-30 with 170 grain bullets, but the report of the .25-06 is something of an experience that is for sure. The people next to me swore I was shooting a 300 Win Mag.

Well now to the end. What do you all think? I called the low right on the Win LR group. Held my breath to long, and jerked the trigger. It was also the first in the group.
In order:
CCI200, WIN LR, CCI250(48 grains), FED Match LR

 

[Eb1]

Velocities

Here are the velocities. Sorry for the pink ink. LOL. It was the only pen in my wife's vehicle. It is my daughters favorite pen to use for puzzles when on trips.

Also if anyone would like to see the fired primers. I can post pictures of those also. With the consistency of velocity, and my own visual inspection along with the easy of extraction. I do not think I was anywhere near flirting with near max pressure with this load. Opinions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[41 Mag]

EB,

In some 15 years of playing around with my 25, I found that the Win WLR primers were the most consistent with it as well. It looks like a good load to me.

I had mine seated just a tad deeper than yours, but my seating technique is a bit squirrelly, but it's what the rifle likes. I have a standard of sorts which is simply a Winchester dummy case with a 100gr Nosler Ballistic Tip seated to 3.250" base to tip. This is what I use as a standard to set my seating die with. After that anything from 100grs to 120grs I simply seat to that setting and all is very well with the rifle. I have used several powders for different bullets but settled on RL-22 for anything 110grs and up. I used IMR-4350 for 100gr Sierra's after contacting them and getting a load from their tech. Used IMR-4831 for every other 100gr bullet.

This is the last two shots for group fired from the rifle at 250yds with the 110gr Accubond at 3150fps,


The lowest hole is a fouling round, first out of a freshly cleaned barrel. After cleaning it I rifle at least two rounds through this one, simply to verify the scope and put a bit of carbon in the tube. It was blowing 15-20 that afternoon almost directly across range, so I didn't mess with a thing. I have no doubts that it will do it's job out to this range very efficiently.

 

[OKIE2]

Hunting with 25-06

You all like the heavy bullets for some reason but I use the 85 gr nosler Btip
for deer hunting as you can see it is pretty accurate in my rifle at 3790 fps
with 2711 ft/lbs at muzzel.
the 85 grain is all I need out past 300 yards
it still has at 300 yards 2847 fps and 1,530 ft/lbs of energy to kill a 250 pound animal. every one I have shot dropped in its tracts right there.

check this out for loads
http://ammoguide.com/cgi-bin/aiviewload.cgi?sn=LrVFlRmfbB&catid=120&lid=1285728750

 

[Eb1]

What twist is your barrel, Okie?

 

[41 Mag]

You all like the heavy bullets for some reason but I use the 85 gr nosler Btip
for deer hunting as you can see it is pretty accurate in my rifle at 3790 fps
with 2711 ft/lbs at muzzel.
the 85 grain is all I need out past 300 yards
it still has at 300 yards 2847 fps and 1,530 ft/lbs of energy to kill a 250 pound animal. every one I have shot dropped in its tracts right there.

OKIE2,

My reasoning behind upping the bullet weight was because I had lighter bullets hit solid bone and blow up. While it DID kill the deer, it surely messed up a LOT of good meat in the process. When I switched to the 115gr Partition, it didn't matter if I shot them at 10yds or 400, I got the same results dead deer and not a lot of wasted meat. Besides it is actually about as accurate as your 85's are, but at 200yds or more. I switched over to the 110gr when I passed that rifle over to my daughter. I just happened to pick up a box when they arrived at my local store, and figured since I was loading rounds for it anyway I might as well see how they compared. With nothing changed except the bullets, the above two shot group at 250yds is how they do. The initial 5 shots I loaded with them, we had to ride out to the target to see them clustered like yours.

Hard to argue with that type of performance. I did give the 85's a try once upon a time, and they also shot very well, but like I said once I blew up a couple of shoulders, and ruined a bunch of meat I went heavier.

On our property she hunt out by an old fence row. No blinds, or braces simply walks out and sits down. She has shot her last 4 deer between 200 and 275yds. She knows the rifle and the load and does well with it. The grandson also used it last year to get his first buck at around 110yds resting on a Harris bi-pod. Then proceeded to tell him mom thanks for the new rifle. Feel free to check out the bottom link below, and you can see both their deer.

 

[Eb1]

I choose the 115 grain CT BT because I have had two experiences with this bullet in factory loads. Both were drop dead shots.

This is why I am trying to find a good load for hunting with my .25-06. I know I am going to loose 140 fps on avg. with the shorter barrel. That doesn't bother me all that much. It still has more killing power than my 30-30 that I have used my entire life. I feel confident with the 115 grain CT BT bullet from my above experiences. I do have a box of Remington 100 grain soft points if it comes down to me not finding a consistent load for my rife using the 115 grain bullet. Being that my group was 5 shots with one shot called low right, and 3 in a real tight group and one about .25" off. I would say @ 100 yards my load was about as accurate as your 85 grain loading. I might try to go to 50 grains for a little more pop, and it could actually tighten up the group. Then again it might open up the group.

If I am left with MOA accuracy with 2870 average speed using the 115 grain CT BT. I don't believe I will be under gunned for whitetail deer out to 300 yards, and the places I will be hunting this year a 150 yard shot will be a long shot.

Sure. I would like the 3000 fps listed in the book, but I am limited because of my barrel length. I have to live with that. What I want is confidence in my rifle and load, and if I have that then I should have a successful hunt if I am blessed to see a deer.

I will shoot this load a few more times to make sure it is going to hold up in my rifle, and be consistent. I will also load a few in .2 increments to see if it tightens up any. That is all I can so. I am sticking with the 115 grain load because I have seen the penetration along with the explosiveness and killing power from this bullet.

You have a great load there. No ifs about it. I would be overjoyed with that group, and if you have confidence with that load for deer then that is awesome.
I hope to get that same confidence with my load as well.

 

[OKIE2]

it is 1/10
Ruger 77 mkll varmit/target rifle

 

[Eb1]

I have a 1:10 twist also. It is a Marlin XL7. Nothing near a target barrel. Just a run of the mill pencil barrel for killing deer I would guess. Light weight, and doesn't have a lot of rigidity to it.

Let's see if this load holds together, and if a couple tenths up the ladder makes them come together. I figure though that the width of the group was more of my shooting than the load itself.
I haven't been a range junkie like I use to be for the last year. New son in the family. Daughter getting old enough to have after school activities, and on the weekend. Takes the practice right out of me. This being my 3rd trip to the range with a long gun in several months, and it is taking me some time to get my breathing and hold down again.

I bet my rifle would like the 85 grain BT also. Max load on the Nosler sight would put them right at 3000 fps with my 22" barrel, but like I was saying. If 2870 is what I get, and it shoots consistent MOA. I will be happy with that hunting load.

 

[OKIE2]

marlin xl7 270

I have 2 of them one is still 270 win but the other one I have a 25-06, 308 & a 30-06 22" barrel along with a 243, 22-250, 220, 6.5x55 all 26" I switch barrels on. Sure is a lot cheaper than buying 8 different rifles.
some of the barrels were new $50.00 take offs.

 

[langenc]

So do I drop $40 for some Nosler factory ammo in 100 grain loaded with the Partition--from #8

Dont do that whatever-load your own!! You can load over 2 boxes for that money.

 

[sage5907]

The comments about the light bullet weight in a 25-06 are interesting. I have shot a lot of big deer with a 25-06 over the past 46 years and my experience is deep. A 25-06 with a quality 115, 117 or 120 grain bullets is a good deer cartridge. A 270 Winchester with a 130 grain bullet is a lot better, and even better than a 270 Winchester is a 30-06 with a 150 grain bullet. Several years ago a guy named John Wooters wrote a deer hunting book and at that time his comments about small caliber rifles with light fast bullets made me angry. 25 years later and a lot more experience I can say the ole John was right. BW

 

[Eb1]

I just found a smoking deal on 100 grain BT (Blue Tips) at a WalMart of all places. $12.00/50 was the cost. I bought the only two boxes they had.

They had RL-22, but I didn't have the money to drop on a new powder being that I had IMR-4350 already.
I am going to give the 100 grain BT (Blue Tip) a run in my rifle, and report back with the results.

So the loading continues.

 

[Huckelberry75]

Where in the heck are you that Walmart carries reloading supplies???? Here in Oklahoma, that is a friggin pipedream.
Btw, look around 51.0gns of 4350 with the 100gn pill. My stainless stalker loves them.