in .308 Win convinced me, quite some time ago, to buy a pound of the stuff. Just in case. I figured that since it worked so well in the .308, it ought to work fairly well in the .30-06 with heavier bullets too - especially given the .30-06's like for H4350 and IMR4350.
I also needed a bunch of "ready to go with little testing" ammo, so I loaded some 60.0gr of H4831SC under a 180 grain Partition.
There isn't much info out there on RL17 plus the .30-06, so I did some figuring based on H4350, IMR4350 and Barnes 180gr TSX data. I also considered SAAMI's relatively low pressure limits on the .30-06. The 175gr LRX is obviously a bit lighter, plus it has one less groove. I have some data that was pressure tested (found on the internet so who knows?) with 180gr TSX and RL17, but that was with Lapua brass and I had R-P brass.
I decided to give 55.5gr and 56.0gr a try.
The 180 Partitions shot well, printing 3 shot groups in the 0.625" range. More than "good enough". The Oehler 35P said the velocities were hovering around 2630 fps. A bit slow, but hardly an issue. Interestingly the primers were flatening but there was no ejector mark and the bolt lift was very easy. That was probably the quickest and easiest 'load developement" ever!
So I grab the 175 LRX and 55.5gr RL17 load. I shoot and whoa...very obviously heavier recoil. I don't see a hole on the target. Darn. I look at the read-out.... 2990fps. Holy smokes. I lift the bolt - very easy and not a hint of sticking. The primer is flattened a bit, just like with the 4831SC, and no ejector mark. Was it a erroneous reading? I hold at the bottom of the target, which is a haywire way of doing things and shoot again - 2929 fps and the bullet hole is 5" higher than the point of aim. The third shot is 3013fps and the hole is 1" from the second shot.
The mean velocity was 2977fps. For those of you who enjoy energy numbers, that is 3444 ft-lb of energy at the muzzle. I decided against trying the 56.0gr load. Velocity wise this is, imo, very high and even though there were no signs such as sticky bolt or ejector mark I decided to let it be. Of course I can't say much about accuracy for the obvious reasons noted above.
At any rate I am going to drop down to 54.0gr, 54.5gr and 55.0gr and take another look at this combo as it does appear to have some promise. I am pretty confident I can work up an accurate +2900 fps load with this powder and bullet. That is, imo, amazing performance for a .30-06. And out of a 22.5" barrel!
I was using R-P brass, F210 primers and COAL was 3.370"
Rifle is an Ithaca LSA 65 (Tikka) which has a 1:10 twist 22.5" barrel. Altitude is approximately 2200' ASL and it was a very warm day at 29 C .
Just for information's sake, my friend's .300 Wby + 84gr of RL25 + 200gr Partition out of a 24" barrel was averaging 2930 fps today.
I also needed a bunch of "ready to go with little testing" ammo, so I loaded some 60.0gr of H4831SC under a 180 grain Partition.
There isn't much info out there on RL17 plus the .30-06, so I did some figuring based on H4350, IMR4350 and Barnes 180gr TSX data. I also considered SAAMI's relatively low pressure limits on the .30-06. The 175gr LRX is obviously a bit lighter, plus it has one less groove. I have some data that was pressure tested (found on the internet so who knows?) with 180gr TSX and RL17, but that was with Lapua brass and I had R-P brass.
I decided to give 55.5gr and 56.0gr a try.
The 180 Partitions shot well, printing 3 shot groups in the 0.625" range. More than "good enough". The Oehler 35P said the velocities were hovering around 2630 fps. A bit slow, but hardly an issue. Interestingly the primers were flatening but there was no ejector mark and the bolt lift was very easy. That was probably the quickest and easiest 'load developement" ever!
So I grab the 175 LRX and 55.5gr RL17 load. I shoot and whoa...very obviously heavier recoil. I don't see a hole on the target. Darn. I look at the read-out.... 2990fps. Holy smokes. I lift the bolt - very easy and not a hint of sticking. The primer is flattened a bit, just like with the 4831SC, and no ejector mark. Was it a erroneous reading? I hold at the bottom of the target, which is a haywire way of doing things and shoot again - 2929 fps and the bullet hole is 5" higher than the point of aim. The third shot is 3013fps and the hole is 1" from the second shot.
The mean velocity was 2977fps. For those of you who enjoy energy numbers, that is 3444 ft-lb of energy at the muzzle. I decided against trying the 56.0gr load. Velocity wise this is, imo, very high and even though there were no signs such as sticky bolt or ejector mark I decided to let it be. Of course I can't say much about accuracy for the obvious reasons noted above.
At any rate I am going to drop down to 54.0gr, 54.5gr and 55.0gr and take another look at this combo as it does appear to have some promise. I am pretty confident I can work up an accurate +2900 fps load with this powder and bullet. That is, imo, amazing performance for a .30-06. And out of a 22.5" barrel!
I was using R-P brass, F210 primers and COAL was 3.370"
Rifle is an Ithaca LSA 65 (Tikka) which has a 1:10 twist 22.5" barrel. Altitude is approximately 2200' ASL and it was a very warm day at 29 C .
Just for information's sake, my friend's .300 Wby + 84gr of RL25 + 200gr Partition out of a 24" barrel was averaging 2930 fps today.
