Reloading 30-06

[frt96]

Yesterday I went to the range to try out my 30-06 loads.
I shot them along with factory ammo.
Gun- Winchester model 70 26" barrel

Ammo- Remington coreloct 150 grain best 5 shot group 4"@100yds
Ammo- Remington coreloct 165 grain best 5 shot group 1.5"@ 100yds
Ammo- hand load hornady interlock 150 grain h4895 50grains powder.
1.5" groups.
I know this is plenty good for hunting and way better than the 150 grain factory ammo I have tried. I have also tried 180 grain commercial loads and they seem to be about the same accuracy.

I know that I can shoot better than 1" with my other bolts and Ar's off sand bags @100 yds, But I am stumped. Should I stick with 150 grain bullets and try different powders or try heavier bullets and go from there.

I am pretty new to reloading rifle cartridges, and I must be lucky because I just picked some load data out of my books for the 6.5X55 and .223 and they both shoot very well.

I know load development can be time consuming. I just thought with all the experts out here in reloading land I could get a gentle push in the right direction.
Thanks

[NotEnufGarage]

For 100 yds, I'd think a 150 grain bullet would be fine. For longer distance you might want something heavier.

Play with powder loads, varying them by as little as .1 grain to identify what your barrel likes and eliminate harmonic influence associated with a particular charge.

Are you using flat base or boat tail bullets? I recall reading somewhere that boat tails can be finicky if your barrel crown isn't perfect.

[stevec223]

bullets

my 30-06s (rem 700-sako 61) both like 165 gr. bullets much better than 150s....lead or copper...150s fast and 180s slower just seem to destroy more deer meat in my experiance...try a core-lokt or nosler flat base 165gr. pill and see if your gun likes either.....cheers...

[Pete1979]

re

Its hard to get a 150gr bullet close to the lands and the short bearing surface makes it more difficult to stabilize.

[Fjold]

The Hornady 4th edition says that the maximum load of H4895 with their 150 grain bullets is 48.7 grains.

You are playing with fire!


I've found one Nosler bullet, 150 grain load using 51 grains of H4895 but nothing using any other bullet.

Where did you get the data for this load?

[Pete1979]

+1, while it probably isn't going to blow up in a factory chamber H4895 is probably not the greatest powder for a 30-06 bolt gun. While ideal for an M1 Garand, it is too fast to get the most out of a 30-06 with a long barrel. One of the 4350s would be a better and safer place to start. You could play with seating depth if you are going for smaller groups and skip the crimp.


I have used 4064 which works in all my bolt and gas guns but I'm both cheap and lazy and have 1 load that gives acceptable results in everything.

[Pete1979]

Just a thought, check the action screws. You also may want to remove the stock and look at the contact points under the action. Make sure the barrel is totally free and the action is tight, you may want to shim it a bit.

[Trash]

With a Browning A-bolt I've had the best luck with Win760 and H4895. The best group ever with this rifle was 168 gr. SMK pushed by 43.0 gr. of H4895. I believe it has a 1:12 twist barrel. I also had surprisingly good shots with 110 gr Sierra HP with Win 760. Kind of fun shooting a light bullet for a change.

[frt96]

Both my lee manual and the hodgdon powder data list 51 grains of H4895 as max.
I started at 48 grains and worked up to 50.... I still did not see any pressure signs at fifty and had no improvment in grouping so I stopped there.
I think I will try working up a load with heavier bullets using AA2700 orH4350. I have 8 pounds of each I use the 4350 for my 6.5X55 also.

I will check my action screws and stock.
Thanks for the info.

[Divernhunter]

I have had excellent results with 150gr Nosler PAR/Hornady Interbond or SST and good old Rem Corelocks using Win760 with a mag primer or IMR4064 with a reg or mag primer in many rifles. I use mag primers for my hunting loads as I do not know what weather conditions will be like.

[not-fishing]

Weigh your bullets and group them together in your reloads. I was surprised to find that even the expensive hunting bullets do vary by as much as +-2g in a box.

With my reloads I always started by testing for which powder charge produced the smallest group. It meant spending a fair amount of time at the range because I waited for the barrel to cool between shots. It also took a couple of trips to the range because the first set of reloads would be bigger powder variances, the second set would be fine tuning.