Any who loads for this rifle give me an idea of how far off the lands tends to shoot the best? I know every bullet will be different most likely, but looking for if there seems to be a consistent length that tends to be more consistently accurate. Never got real concerned with this as accuracy has been good but looking to improve further on results so far. Ive read .030 off and .010 off the lands are two that keep coming up. I red necked the max c.o.a.l of my rifle and 180 speer bullet combo at 3.425" for an average of three tries. Rifle is a lazermark. Also I'm curious if my c.o.a.l sounds close to other vanguards?
Vanguard .30-06. C.O.A.L for accuraccy question
- Thread starter shorttrac
- Start date
I was loading to 3.32". just usually stay around book max of 3.34" or magazine limit if to long. I have been getting around an 1" at best from several loads. I get completely acceptable accuracy for my purpose. I have never really did much C.O.A.L changes to fine tune a good load, which is what I am going to try now. A side note, I got real good accuracy from factory 165 sp Winchester ammo. 3.26" is what they measured. 3 shot groups at 250 yards were in the 1.5" range. A little discouraging to have the dollars tied up in reloading gear and have factory ammo the most accurate. Now I have not put the proper time into loads for the gun to say I can't do better with hand loads, but not being able to shoot right now I am just getting ideas for things to try when snow goes down a bit.
I'll reply again to bring it to the top. It's the off season and there's a storm going on here. There must be lots of 30-06 Vanguard owners out there.
But that may not help you anyway. My hunting partner and I have identical Winchester Model 70s in 270. Both bought the same year, mine from WSports and his from Cabelas. From the bolt face to the lands there is 17 thou difference between the two rifles! So, the COAL for each rifle's load is not the same because if the loads are made with the same 'jump' to the lands. I'm just pointing out that don't assume that the COAL for a cartridge used in one Vanguard, will have the jump to lands in your rifle. So, you should be comparing for how much jump to the lands and not COAL, as you used both terms interchangeably. I has to be for the same bullet too. Sound right? It sounds like you have an accurate rifle there.
But that may not help you anyway. My hunting partner and I have identical Winchester Model 70s in 270. Both bought the same year, mine from WSports and his from Cabelas. From the bolt face to the lands there is 17 thou difference between the two rifles! So, the COAL for each rifle's load is not the same because if the loads are made with the same 'jump' to the lands. I'm just pointing out that don't assume that the COAL for a cartridge used in one Vanguard, will have the jump to lands in your rifle. So, you should be comparing for how much jump to the lands and not COAL, as you used both terms interchangeably. I has to be for the same bullet too. Sound right? It sounds like you have an accurate rifle there.
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Guess I was just looking for someone to say "my vanguard shot best .030".off the lands with a 165 partition" for instance. I wasn't sure how much variance in chambers there would be. Be nice to hear some others results. I plan on working it up anyway I was just wanting others results. Maybe if anyone has some consistent distances from the lands that tend to be Accurate In Any .30-06 I Would Like To Hear. Thanks for the replies varmit.
This is the best place to start I have found, and with Berger bullets quite often the best distance to the rifling for my loads! Of course you will want to try them loaded a little longer and shorter to make sure you find the sweet spot no matter what brand of bullet you use.I increase or decrease the c.o.a.l. by .005 and load 5 or 10 rounds for testing until I get the best results. But remember the most accurate c.o.a.l. may not work in your magazine and you will have to decide how important it is to you to have a fully loaded mag or the most accuracy!
I played around with 2 two 30-06s I have and found nodes at various distances from the lands but groups were no better than at 20 back. COAL was 3.3 for the nosler partition 165 gr, and 3.335 for the Accubond 150 grain, both 20 tho back from the lands. Since this is below the max 3.34 I just load them at 20 back. These were for a Win70.
I think people need to make the realisation that proximity to the lands is a relatively minor consideration for a typical hunting rifle. Moreover, I've witnessed more than one situation where hunters with "tight" ammo have equipment malfunctions in the field. Ever since it happened to me, I've limited my land clearance to ~ 30 thou - and I can still get my rifles to shoot well by tweaking the other parameters, particularly bullet weight and type.
Do the Vanguards in 'regular' calibers have a significant amount of freebore like the Weatherby chambered ones do? Doing the old bullet in front of an empty case trick in my 257, I can't get the casing to even grab onto the bullet with a boat tail. Still accurate enough though, seating slightly longer than the max recommended COAL gets me right around an inch at 100.
No, only the Weatherby chamberings have free bore.
I do own the Weatherby Vanguard in 30-06 (pre s2), and I load using the Speer 165 gr BTSP, 165 grain Speer Deep Curl, and the 165 grain Nosler Bt. My go-to length for hunting rounds are 3.310" (30 thou off the lands), and groups (5-shots) with new or once fired brass is most commonly within an inch at 109 yards with all of them.
