Short barrel 30-06 load?

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alpining

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I'm here to ask your advice, folks: Should I work up a load for 30-06 specific for a 20" barrel?

This is for my dad's rifle, a Winchester 54 with a 20" barrel. He doesn't reload, and he doesn't see the point of me reloading for him since he bought six boxes of factory ammo for it back in the 70s and hasn't put much of a dent in them. You know, one bullet every year for meat, and one every decade for paper. (That's another argument for another day... :D)

The muzzle flash on that thing is ridiculous with the ammo he's using (Norma factory, 180gr SP, 70s vintage). It works just fine, if you look at killing efficiency inside his typical hunting range, but I can't help wondering if using a fast burning powder will cut the flash AND improve performance significantly. I'm not at all familiar with loading for the -06 though (I have some experience with my 308Win), so I'm here to ask your advice.

Thanks in advance...
 
No. Anything that works well for 22", 24", 26"+ .30-06's should work just as well in a 20", 18" etc .30-06.

If you are having impressive muzzle flash (it can be pretty neat, eh?), that is a function of the powder used in that specific ammo. Almost every modern powder will have enough flash suppressants in it that you should notice little to no muzzle flash in daytime with a 20" barrel.

There's nothing wrong with the muzzle flash from that Norma ammo - if it works well, and if the flash doesn't distract him, there's no reason to stop using it.
 
You "might" find a powder that produces less muzzle flash, but as for improving performance in the shorter barrel, not likely to happen.

It is a fallacy to believe that faster powders are better in short barrels.
Fact is, the powder that gives the highest velocity in a 26" barrel, even though slow burning, is likely to also give the highest velocity in a 20" barrel.

I had a 30-06 years ago, that I developed a very nice, potent load for, using the 180 Partition and 61.0 grains of old Norma N205.
Chronograph said 2820 avg in a 24" barrel.

A friend, while hunting with this rifle, managed to stick it into the snow and later fire it, which left a distinct "bulge" in the end of that barrel.
Accuracy, of course, went south.
I had to remove 3" of barrel to get rid of the bulge.
But guess what? The best load was still that 61 grains of N205 and the 180P.
The chronograph now read 2740 avg, but no faster powder could challlenge it at safe pressures.

I would try one of the newer, medium slow burners in that '06 to see how the flash appears. [RL17, Vihtavuori N150 or N160, Ramshot Big Game, etc]
Regards, Eagleye.
 
I guess it's an intuitive fallacy: That big ol flash looks like burning powder to me, which means it would be wasted in terms of accelerating the bullet.

Thanks very much, gents, that's good to know.
 
Short Barrel 30-06

Go get youself some cheap sunglasses. Powders that deliver top performance in long barreled 30-06's will be the best performers in this short version.
 
I agree with the previous postings.

is there a painful bark? Some short barrels with some powders make a painfully load noise. Handloading will allow testing some other powders, looking for something quieter.
 
Ganderite said:
I agree with the previous postings.

is there a painful bark? Some short barrels with some powders make a painfully load noise. Handloading will allow testing some other powders, looking for something quieter.
Click to expand...

I didn't think about the noise, I was more concerned with (my perception of) lost performance. It would be great to reduce the report of any hunting gun, though! But how do you tell the difference if you're wearing earplugs?
 
I disagree with some details of the posts above. People confuse "best" loads with fastest load. If your goal is to reduce muzzle blast and flash a faster powder will indeed help! It is not without a trade off however - you will probably have to give up a little velocity, but not a lot for a noticeable improvement in flash and blast. The ball powders are also more prone to muzzle flash than stick powders of equal burning rate.
That said, I use H4350 with 180 gr. bullets in my 20" barrelled 30-06 Sako carbine. Muzzle flash is not bad, velocity is the best with this relatively slow powder. But I always shoot it wearing muff or plugs.
If I wanted to reduce muzzle flash and noise, I'd probably load IMR3031 or some other extruded & fairly fast powder, and velocity would be within about 50 - 80 FPS of my present load.
 
Reducing muzzle flash is especially important if you are a sniper because a flash will give your position away so that enemy artillery can track you and blow you to smithereens. For the rest of us, however, who hunt and shoot at the rifle range, a bit of noise and flash is not such a big deal.

For whatever it's worth, my pet hunting load in my .30-06 and .300 Winchester Magnum rifles (both with 22-inch barrels) relies upon a maximum charge of Vihtavuori N560. With both rifles and loads, I get a heavy blast and a significant fireball when I pull the trigger. People nearby on the range often turn to me in surprise and ask, "What the hell is that thing?!" So why do I use these loads for hunting?

a) I get consistent 1/2 m.o.a. three shot groups all the way out to 600 metres (as far as I've tested them with both rifles). This is especially significant because both barrels are very thin (the .30-06 is a Rem 700 Mountain Rifle).

b) I get the highest velocity of any load with any powder when I use these loads.

c) The loads are consistent and stable in a wide range of conditions.

For hunting rifles, what more could you ask? Who cares about a bit of blast and muzzle flash? Anyway, as I've noted, anyone who sees and hears you will certainly think that this dude means business!

Moral of story: use what gives you the best combination of accuracy, velocity and consistency.
 
I'm here to ask your advice, folks: Should I work up a load for 30-06 specific for a 20" barrel?

This is for my dad's rifle, a Winchester 54 with a 20" barrel. He doesn't reload, and he doesn't see the point of me reloading for him since he bought six boxes of factory ammo for it back in the 70s and hasn't put much of a dent in them. You know, one bullet every year for meat, and one every decade for paper. (That's another argument for another day... )

My advice
leave your Old Men alone....if you reload for him and he misses or looses wounded game it will be blamed on your reloads...
He is happy with performance and if you don't like muzzle blast get yourself ear plugs.:D
 
Muzzle blast is caused by
  • muzzle gas pressure
  • unburned powder which is burned all at once when the bullet exists and propellant gas come in contact with air's oxygen.
What you should do is:
  1. Use moderate load of faster burning powder to insure that muzzle (exit pressure) is lower
  2. use a propellant and load that insures that 95-98% of propellant is burned in the barrel
I used to shoot heavy loads of 70gr of Retumbo in a 24" 270 WSM and the muzzle blast was simply insane! The same could be said of 49gr of Retumbo in a 22" 243 Win.
I tried many other powers and the difference in muzzle blast between Retumbo or H4831 and the muzzle blast from H4350 or Varget has to be seen, felt and heard to be believed.

Take all look at Hodgdon Reloading Center 30-06 loads and try a moderate load of some of the fastest burning powders for a given bullet weight (Varget is always a good candidate).
You will lose 100-200fps but the huge muzzle blast and concussion will also disappear since almost 100% of the propellant will be burned and the muzzle gas pressure will be much lower.

Much of the magnums bark is caused by high muzzle gas pressure and incompletely burned propellant. I've fired monster 270 WSM loads from 30" barrels and the 6" difference in barrel length made all the difference.
While you can't lengthen a short barrel but you can select a load which will burn completely and have a lower muzzle pressure in a shorter barrel.

Alex
 
Andrzej said:
I'm here to ask your advice, folks: Should I work up a load for 30-06 specific for a 20" barrel?

This is for my dad's rifle, a Winchester 54 with a 20" barrel. He doesn't reload, and he doesn't see the point of me reloading for him since he bought six boxes of factory ammo for it back in the 70s and hasn't put much of a dent in them. You know, one bullet every year for meat, and one every decade for paper. (That's another argument for another day... )

My advice
leave your Old Men alone....if you reload for him and he misses or looses wounded game it will be blamed on your reloads...
He is happy with performance and if you don't like muzzle blast get yourself ear plugs.:D
Click to expand...

X2
If he is able to bring home the "bacon", so to speak, and he is happy with what he has, don't mess with success. As has been said, if he misses, he will blame the reloads and he won't trust them. Unless he asks for you to work something up for him, let him be.

However, this doesn't mean you can't work something up for yourself that will work in his rifle. If it is good enough, he might decide to give your reloads a try.
 
AlexF said:
Muzzle blast is caused by
  • muzzle gas pressure
  • unburned powder which is burned all at once when the bullet exists and propellant gas come in contact with air's oxygen.
What you should do is:
  1. Use moderate load of faster burning powder to insure that muzzle (exit pressure) is lower
  2. use a propellant and load that insures that 95-98% of propellant is burned in the barrel
I used to shoot heavy loads of 70gr of Retumbo in a 24" 270 WSM and the muzzle blast was simply insane! The same could be said of 49gr of Retumbo in a 22" 243 Win.
I tried many other powers and the difference in muzzle blast between Retumbo or H4831 and the muzzle blast from H4350 or Varget has to be seen, felt and heard to be believed.

Take all look at Hodgdon Reloading Center 30-06 loads and try a moderate load of some of the fastest burning powders for a given bullet weight (Varget is always a good candidate).
You will lose 100-200fps but the huge muzzle blast and concussion will also disappear since almost 100% of the propellant will be burned and the muzzle gas pressure will be much lower.

Much of the magnums bark is caused by high muzzle gas pressure and incompletely burned propellant. I've fired monster 270 WSM loads from 30" barrels and the 6" difference in barrel length made all the difference.
While you can't lengthen a short barrel but you can select a load which will burn completely and have a lower muzzle pressure in a shorter barrel.

Alex
Click to expand...

You've given me the idea of trying to develop hunting loads (for my own rifles) that are as quiet as possible while still maintaining sufficient velocity and accuracy. More 'work' to do! Thanks! :p
 
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