need some 30/06 powder suggestions

saskgunowner101 said:
Are we looking at a potential problem by just going with a plain old Lee RGB die set(the cheap 2 die set) for use in this rifle?
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I use Lee RGB dies in both my 7600's, 243 and 308 and they feed fine. Just for accuracy fun I even neck sized the 243 and partial sized the 308 (just bumped the shoulder). I have had no feeding problems. I find the chambers on these guns have a little more room in them than say my savage bolts.

They are surprisingly accurate. Groups regularly range from .075 to 1 MOA for 5 shots @100 with favourite loads.
 
Turns out we're going with IMR-4895.....I gave him a list of powders first choice to fifth, and that's what he ended up with. The salesman was nice enough to point out that 4350 was a very popular powder. In fact, he mentioned having 10 lbs sitting at home.
 
H4831 has been the old standby for 60 years. In a rifle like the 7600, it would be flawless and the new short cut version would be a lot less temp sensitive than the older long cut. I didn't think that there would be any differences between the two but there is, especially when extreme temps are encountered.
 
After a gazzilion reloads for many .30-06s I always go for IMR 4064 or 4895 for 150-168gr bullets and IMR 4350 for 180gr. You will use less of 4064/4895 to achieve the same performance as 4350 with the lighter bullets. Slightly less recoil and economy on powder can be an advantage.
 
My go to, (if I can) powder for heavier bullets in a 30-06 and all bullets in the 270, is Norma 204 and 205.
About 20 years ago I did quite a bit of experimenting, using an Oehler 33 chrono to check them. In my rifle I had the 165 Hornady bullet averaging 2912 fps, with Norma 204. My note beside it says, "Pressure OK."
I had the 180 grain Norma bullet going 2810, with Norma 204.
Interesting thing here is that with Herters 100, (I still have a couple cans) a grain less than the 204, gave the 180 bullet 2789 and my notation says, "Normal pressure." A point of interst here is that I never had/have any loading data, whatsoever, for the Herters 100, so it took some experimenting to safely arrive at normal loading data!
Also, in a loading manual of the day, they had 54 grains of 4350 driving a 180 grain bullet at 2700 fps. I tested that loading and it gave me an average of 2436! So much for never loading higher than figures given in a manual. 58 grains of 4350 in my rifle still gave me only 2642.
With Norma 205 I drove a 200 grain Nosler partition at 2715 fps. This is straight out of the old Norma loading charts, and is one of the reasons I always say that Norma is the only loading manuals that you can trust their velocity figures to be accurate, + or - a very small amount.
At the recent Kamloops gun show I bought a new can of Norma Magnum Rifle Powder, which superceded Norma 205, and was to be less effected by temperatures. I paid half the price of a pound of regular powder for it.
 
MudChucker said:
Im shooting 165 Gr Hornady SST as well as Nosler spire points - both are deadly accurate with 57 gr of IMR 4350 - I am considering changing powders to see if I can get just as accurate a load with less powder..
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Lets say you use 50 rounds for load development. Lets say your goal is to get the charge weight down to 48gr, like a varget charge. You do realize that for those first 50rnds, you will have to save 10grains 240 TIMES just to break even. And if the first powder you try doesn't pan out, it might take another 50 rounds with another powder and another 240 rounds before you break even again. ;)

Don't get me wrong, experimentation/load development is a worthwhile endeavour. Saving a few grains of powder should not be the goal you set. IMHO
 
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