1st post, new to reloading.. sharing my results. 30-06 168gr AMAX

[dallenk]

Hey everyone, spent a ton of time reading here and gathering ideas for reloading, had the equipment sitting on a bench for almost 2 months before I ran anything through it. Needless to say I am pleased with the results and the amount of knowledge I've learned from reading.. I've read minor adjustments can have a huge effect on the grouping, but I didn't think it would be this much of a difference...

Target shown was one of 4 from my first batch of loads with this rifle. Varying mixes of seat depth and powder.

After a cold shot with a factory load (lasts one in the box) I ran through several targets.. some were not worthy of posting haha, but here is the one I think I'm going to work on tuning for longer ranges

Shot with Stock Savage 111 30-06 (1-10), Vortex Viper XLR FFP 4-16x50, bipod and a steady hand. Believe it or not, but the centre is actually 5 shots @ 100 yards.. need 1 click left

WINCHESTER BRASS	BULLET TYPE	POWDER+LOAD	OVL	FROM MAX OVL
A	168 HDY – AMAX	42.5 IMR4064	3.290	-0.005
B	168 HDY – AMAX	42.5 IMR4064	3.285	-0.010
C	168 HDY – AMAX	42.5 IMR4064	3.280	-0.015
D	168 HDY – AMAX	42.5 IMR4064	3.275	-0.020
E	168 HDY – AMAX	44.0 IMR4064	3.290	-0.005	BEST GROUP

 

[OldDude]

Usually guys will work up a load by varying the powder charge until the get a reasonable group. The definition of reasonable being entirely up for grabs, of course.

The next step would be to tweak seating depth to fine tune things. The optimum seating depth will vary over time as the rifle throat wears, and the effective start of the rifling moves downbore.

Are you measuring overall length, or are you using some sort of bullet comparator to measure cartridge base to ogive length?

Nice shooting , by the way....

 

[dallenk]

oh I worked up in varying charges in my first 50 rounds ha, that's the second box of 50 hand-loads I did.. my powder charges actually went up in .5gr increments, I didn't just jump from 42.5 to 44.
I measured by chambering an unseated round with a slightly widened throat to get my absolute max.. then backed up from there.. each round was measured as I made them.. A very time consuming process but I think it will pay off in the end.

Thanks

 

[litledab]

Good shooting
I would have worked up a load first before playing with the OAL also as stated above I don't know what your final objective is you mention LR what distance ?.I assuming this is a paper punching load and ur loading one round at a time so I would not crimp the load at all (no Need) On the 111 I found another node around 47 to 48 grains And remember that stock barrel will need time to cool between group

 

[OldDude]

oh I worked up in varying charges in my first 50 rounds ha, that's the second box of 50 hand-loads I did.. my powder charges actually went up in .5gr increments, I didn't just jump from 42.5 to 44.
I measured by chambering an unseated round with a slightly widened throat to get my absolute max.. then backed up from there.. each round was measured as I made them.. A very time consuming process but I think it will pay off in the end.

Thanks

What did you measure? The length to the bullet tip?
If so, measure the length of 10 or 20 new, out of the package, never been any where near a seating die bullets. The variation in the length of bullets, for a precision made component, will surprise you. Then measure a bunch of your loaded rounds for overall length. You will see a substantial variation there as well.
BTW I gather most bullet manufacturers don't consider the overall length of a bullet a critical dimension.

Do a google search for a Bryan Litz article on cartridge base to ogive length. I believe it is also included in one of the Berger reloading manuals.

The best use of overall length of a rifle cartridge is to ensure it will fit in the rifle's magazine, if used.

 

[dallenk]

Agree on the working up a load, I actually began with a starting load as per manufacturer.. worked up .5 grains upwards.. so basically I measured every bullet COAL and Cartridge Base to Ogive, my thought was to group them into piles but they were all so close it seemed to be a step I didn't need. I also measured every cartridge I had and made sure they were exactly the same. Hopefully I'm not overdoing everything. I'm still learning

. each at .005 from lands
5 @ min load
5 @ min + 0.5g
5 @ min + 1.0g
5 @ min + 1.5g
5 @ min + 2.0g
5 @ min + 2.5g

ect

. each at .0010 from lands
5 @ min load
5 @ min + 0.5g
5 @ min + 1.0g
5 @ min + 1.5g
5 @ min + 2.0g
5 @ min + 2.5g

same for .0015, .0020, .0025..

I had lots of couch time loading rounds so I ended up with about 200 rounds of varying load and OAL

I didn't want to get up to max pressure quite yet.. I'll leave that for after I have more experience with handloads. That was one of 10 targets I was shooting at, with a cooldown between groups (paperwork and notes) that was just the tightest group of them all. some were close, but this was the best.. now I'll zero in on that one and try to fine tune it. I'll give it a try with 47-48 later on for sure, I've heard that a few times. now that I have a good start, I think I'll play with different primers and powders and see if I can get it better.

These are just for punching paper, and I am trying for long distance shooting (+1000y eventually) but I figure I should get good at up to 500 yards before I jump into that with the .338... that's expensive haha. I have read putting a factory crimp isn't really needed, but I wanted to keep pressure build to as consistent as possible between all rounds. Are you saying it's really not needed at all ??

Perhaps a bullet comparator is in my future too ?? Expensive hobby, but fun.


Thanks!

 

[rl4930]

Get a bullet comparator and the hornady OAL gauge. Stop crimping if you want consistent neck tension.

 

[OldDude]

Agree on the working up a load, I actually began with a starting load as per manufacturer.. worked up .5 grains upwards.. so basically I measured every bullet COAL and Cartridge Base to Ogive, my thought was to ...
<<snip>>

Perhaps a bullet comparator is in my future too ?? Expensive hobby, but fun.


Thanks!

How are you measuring to the ogive without a bullet comparator????

 

[dallenk]

How are you measuring to the ogive without a bullet comparator????

Thats the cool part, I use digital imaging and measurement tools.. each finished round goes into a holder, a macro image is taken with a scanner and software measures every aspect of it. I use a pre measured sample with callipers and input a reference/comparison for calibration. Once the software determines angles and gives me the final measurements I group them.

the only downside is it's time consuming to get the initial calibration complete and geeky.. but I'm a tech geek so for me it's not that bad.

 

[curseyou]

Agree on the working up a load, I actually began with a starting load as per manufacturer.. worked up .5 grains upwards.. so basically I measured every bullet COAL and Cartridge Base to Ogive, my thought was to group them into piles but they were all so close it seemed to be a step I didn't need. I also measured every cartridge I had and made sure they were exactly the same. Hopefully I'm not overdoing everything. I'm still learning

. each at .005 from lands
5 @ min load
5 @ min + 0.5g
5 @ min + 1.0g
5 @ min + 1.5g
5 @ min + 2.0g
5 @ min + 2.5g

ect

. each at .0010 from lands
5 @ min load
5 @ min + 0.5g
5 @ min + 1.0g
5 @ min + 1.5g
5 @ min + 2.0g
5 @ min + 2.5g

same for .0015, .0020, .0025..

I had lots of couch time loading rounds so I ended up with about 200 rounds of varying load and OAL

I didn't want to get up to max pressure quite yet.. I'll leave that for after I have more experience with handloads. That was one of 10 targets I was shooting at, with a cooldown between groups (paperwork and notes) that was just the tightest group of them all. some were close, but this was the best.. now I'll zero in on that one and try to fine tune it. I'll give it a try with 47-48 later on for sure, I've heard that a few times. now that I have a good start, I think I'll play with different primers and powders and see if I can get it better.

These are just for punching paper, and I am trying for long distance shooting (+1000y eventually) but I figure I should get good at up to 500 yards before I jump into that with the .338... that's expensive haha. I have read putting a factory crimp isn't really needed, but I wanted to keep pressure build to as consistent as possible between all rounds. Are you saying it's really not needed at all ??

Perhaps a bullet comparator is in my future too ?? Expensive hobby, but fun.


Thanks!

This is probably too many round for the task. I suggest your first loads be dedicated to pressure signs. Load from starting to just beyond max load in .5gr increments.

1 round @min load
1 round @+.5gn
1 round @+.5gn
etc....

Shoot these from low to high watching for signs of pressure. Should take more than 15 total rounds tops. When you do see pressure, stop and dissassemble your remaining loads and recycle the components.

Then using a practical range based on the results from the first test reload another 15-20 rounds or so using .2gn variations and do a ladder test. Google it if you are unfamiliar. Once you have found one or two promising nodes then you can load in .1 or .05 grain increments using 3-5 rounds at each load to fine tune.

Total round count should be less than you proposed. Once you found the best load, then you can continue testing with seating depth.

 

[j_06]

Thats the cool part, I use digital imaging and measurement tools.. each finished round goes into a holder, a macro image is taken with a scanner and software measures every aspect of it. I use a pre measured sample with callipers and input a reference/comparison for calibration. Once the software determines angles and gives me the final measurements I group them.

the only downside is it's time consuming to get the initial calibration complete and geeky.. but I'm a tech geek so for me it's not that bad.

K.I.S.S