30-06 Load for a 22" Barrel

[hawk4974]

I have an old Remington 700 30-06 with a 22" barrel and I'm having a bear of a time getting a load to shoot semi-accurate (1"-2" @ 100). Does anyone have any ideas on what to try? I'm not used to loading a short barreled 30-06 and I'm wondering if there's a trick to it. I've tried my regular IMR3030 and IMR4350 powders with 165's & 180's. The loads I've used have been accurate in Rugers, Winchesters, Weatherby's, Remington's, etc. but they've all had 24" barrels.

Do I need to speed things up, slow them down, etc. I know all rifles are different but I should at least have a group less than 6" by now. Someone mentioned that the barrel may be shot out. How do I check that? We bought this rifle from a friend of the family and he received it brand new as a gift and said he rarely used it so I can't imagine that's the case.

 

[TJAY]

I would start checking the scope, the mounts, the bedding ect. Powders used in other 06's should work. Barrel could be fouled badly and need a good cleaning. Barrel length ,2", will make no difference in powders. I guess I would look at things other than powder if it is shooting 6" patterns.

 

[hawk4974]

I've checked and rechecked all of those. I know it's not the scope either because I took it off and put it on a 300 WSM just to see if that was it and it shot like it normally does. I'm wondering if I need to bed the stock.....there may be some shifting I can't duplicate by hand that's doing it.....

 

[MudRunner2005]

Try floating the barrel and bedding the stock. Or possibly buying a new stock for it, like a Bell & Carlson Medalist, then floating the barrel and bedding the action.

Also, don't be discouraged, my uncle has one he bought back in the 80's just like the one you're describing with that crappy rubbermade stock, iron sights, and desperately in need of a trigger job, and his shoots around 1-2". Those short 22" models just aren't very accurate rifles. for most hunters 1-2" at 100 yards is more than good enough (sadly).

Personally, I won't hunt with a rifle I can't get to group good enough to shoot a comp with. Hunting and target rifles have to shoot less than 1/2" for me. My only exception is lever-actions and sporter barreled rifles, since they are more prone to barrel whip. In which case, I give the sporter barreled rifles a 3/4 MOA maxinum group size. And lever guns get a 1½" group size.

I think I have finally talked my uncle in letting me take the reins on his rifle. He was talking about doing a "sprucing up" on his inbetween seasons, before next season. I told him to give me the rifle and $750, and he'd get back a masterpiece (new barrel, stock, trued, worked, tuned, the works), and possibly get back some change, and I would do some load development and have it shooting under 1" @ 100 consistantly. But I haven't talked to him since hunting season ended (we've always hunted together). I need to call him this week to see if he is still interested in customizing his rifle...

 

[hawk4974]

That's what I was thinking Mud. I know you've seen the rifle I'm talking about because I was thinking of converting it to something else. I'd love to just get this thing shooting CLOSE to where I'm aiming!

P.S. - Glad I reminded you to call your uncle!

 

[MudRunner2005]

That's what I was thinking Mud. I know you've seen the rifle I'm talking about because I was thinking of converting it to something else. I'd love to just get this thing shooting CLOSE to where I'm aiming!

P.S. - Glad I reminded you to call your uncle!

I recently bought an old .270 Win just like the .30-06 you are describing...

It got immediately stripped-down, and turned into my .30-06 AI build.

Here's a before and after...


The day I bought it...

The day I picked it up from the smith...

 

[hawk4974]

Nice! Here's a picture of the rifle I'm trying to get to shoot. This isn't the exact rifle, just one that looks like it.

 

[Buttermilk]

Barrel length really doesn't have much to do with "accuracy". I shoot handguns that have short barrels (by rifle standards) and are chambered in "rifle" cartridges.

These include:
308Win - 15"
30-06 JDJ - 15"
280 Ackley - 15"
280 Ackley - 16.5"
307 Win Impr. - 15"
7-30 Waters - 14"
30-30 Ack Impr. - 14"
7mm Rem Mag - 15"
30-338 Win Mag - 16.5"

I've never had a problem getting any of the above to shoot at least 1 MOA. My 30-338WM will consistanlty shoot 1/2-2/3 MOA with at least 3 loads.

Typically, the powders that give me the highest muzzle velocity also give the highest MV in a rifle.

For example, my 280 Ackley 15" bbl really liked RL22 for accuracy and velocity. My 16.5" 280 Ackley barrel produced the hightest velocity with IMR7828ssc.

My 30-06 JDJ was very accurate with RL22, H4350, Varget, and IMR4064.

My 30-338 Win Mag barrel currently is shooting very good with IMR4350 (Berger 175 VLD @ 2846 FPS - 16.5" bbl) and H4831sc (Nosler 180 Ballistic Tip and Accubond bullets @ 2800 FPS). Both of those load, and the three bullets are shooting right at 1/2 MOA for me out to 200 yards.

I think you just have to find the load your gun likes. Or it's very possible that you may have to have some things improved (bedding, free floated bbl, etc) on your gun if it really doesn't like certain powders/bullets known to be accurate.

 

[Trnelson]

That screams something is loose to me. Or severely, severely fouled. Maybe, maybe a bedding problem. Since you've tested the optic holds zero something is shifting... I would re-check torque on all the scope mounts, bases and action screws. I'd also apply a bit of locktite to completely rule those variables out, fully de-copper the bore and re-test. As a long shot the barrel could be rubbing on the stock. If that doesn't amalgamate your issues you can decide between bedding the existing stock or purchasing a new quality stock to bed the action into.

 

[hawk4974]

I'm going to redo the scope this week. I bought some new mounts (just in case) and I'll take the action out of the stock and refit it to see. Is there anything internal that could be loose? I've never heard of anything like though.

 

[Trnelson]

I'd start with the rings and bases followed up with a serious deep cleaning of the bore. Pay special attention to torque settings on assembly. Others can chime in on what they recommend settings, I can't honestly remember what torque settings I used on mine as it's held settings for better than five years now.

 

[LoneTraveler]

That rifle looks like the rifles Remington made in the late 1960's. Check the bedding and barrel float some Remington rifles need about 15 lb of tension on the lump on the front of the stock about the front sling swivel to shoot well. Clean and check the bore. CHECK THE FIRING PIN SPRING poundage. In working on old 700's, 721 and 722. 50 years of sitting around cocked has take its tole on the Firing Pin Spring. I inherited a 722 that was making a sharp edge around the edge of the firing pin dent on the primer. Once in a while it would blow out the firing pin dent and smoke coming in the action. It shot 2-3 inch groups. A new firing pin spring stopped the primer problem and the rifle went back to 1/2- 3/4 groups I remembered from when it was new. Good Luck in finding the problem.

 

[hawk4974]

How am I to measure 15lbs of tension without taking it to a gunsmith? The firing pin is fine, we've seen no abnormalities with the primers. I'm going to clean the you know what out of it before I shoot it again. When we bought the rifle, it was filthy and all of the oil was gummy. I spent the better part of an afternoon going through the entire thing cleaning it. Thanks for the tips!

That rifle looks like the rifles Remington made in the late 1960's. Check the bedding and barrel float some Remington rifles need about 15 lb of tension on the lump on the front of the stock about the front sling swivel to shoot well. Clean and check the bore. CHECK THE FIRING PIN SPRING poundage. In working on old 700's, 721 and 722. 50 years of sitting around cocked has take its tole on the Firing Pin Spring. I inherited a 722 that was making a sharp edge around the edge of the firing pin dent on the primer. Once in a while it would blow out the firing pin dent and smoke coming in the action. It shot 2-3 inch groups. A new firing pin spring stopped the primer problem and the rifle went back to 1/2- 3/4 groups I remembered from when it was new. Good Luck in finding the problem.

 

[hawk4974]

Where can I find a reasonably priced lightweight stock?