The Oregonian
Well-Known Member
Having spent an hour or so reading the thread about "how to blow up your rifle", I have a few questions....bc i have been loading for a few years and have done minimal load development (one load from scratch and redoing a load with new powder), i want to refresh my memory on a few things in light of the "blow up thread", and bc i will be redoing load recipes for 2 new rifles to adjust for recipe with my own powder and primer lots. Want to make sure i refresh some knowledge as i kind of got into a groove with loading for only one cartridge with the same powder and primer lots for a few years, so i did almost no load tinkering for a couple of years...some background first.
Background
I bought a custom 30-06 about 4 years ago...Hart, Borden, McMillan, Jewel, built by Darrell Holland. I started reloading just before I got the new gun - my first hand loading was for my previous gun, a factory A-Bolt 270...I have been loading for about 5 years. Darrell worked up a load for that gun when he finished the rifle.
Questions
I use H4350 and Nosler 180BT in a 24" barrel, and the load is 57.2gr for best accuracy and MV of 2844 based on Darrell's load. The charge is over Nosler book max (57.2 vs book max of 56.5) and MV is 2844 vs MV of 2769. Is that bc Nosler book max is designed for any 30-06 brand and so may be a bit generic, and the fact that they won't be too aggressive due to liability issues?
My load is safe to shoot in my rifle as measured by lack of pressure signs, correct?
I moved cross country and didn't bring powder and primers due to movers, so I am now going to be working up a load with new lots of both. I assume I should back off maybe 10% of powder and look for pressure signs, with the goal of trying to match the MV of the previous load? Accuracy will be the true measure, but a similar MV should have similar harmonics and should be close to the most accurate load, correct? So I would work upwards looking for pressure signs, maybe in .5gr increments, starting at about 5-6 grains below prior load. Assuming no pressure signs, I will be looking for accuracy (I use the OCW method and look for something that has forgiveness between on each side of an accurate charge weight) - and that may be similar MV to prior load using same components but different lots, correct?
Should I continue past accurate load to see where I get pressure signs as a good reference point to how close I am to max charge?
I just got a 28 Nos and have a 6.5cr being made now, maybe a month or two until delivery. I would guess I should follow the same process i described in the above paragraph (and incorporate any revisions based on feedback here).
The other thread made me a little timid about messing up and I just want recheck my load development process and thought process before jumping into adjustments for new lots of powder and primer for 3 guns.
Many thanks.
Tom
Background
I bought a custom 30-06 about 4 years ago...Hart, Borden, McMillan, Jewel, built by Darrell Holland. I started reloading just before I got the new gun - my first hand loading was for my previous gun, a factory A-Bolt 270...I have been loading for about 5 years. Darrell worked up a load for that gun when he finished the rifle.
Questions
I use H4350 and Nosler 180BT in a 24" barrel, and the load is 57.2gr for best accuracy and MV of 2844 based on Darrell's load. The charge is over Nosler book max (57.2 vs book max of 56.5) and MV is 2844 vs MV of 2769. Is that bc Nosler book max is designed for any 30-06 brand and so may be a bit generic, and the fact that they won't be too aggressive due to liability issues?
My load is safe to shoot in my rifle as measured by lack of pressure signs, correct?
I moved cross country and didn't bring powder and primers due to movers, so I am now going to be working up a load with new lots of both. I assume I should back off maybe 10% of powder and look for pressure signs, with the goal of trying to match the MV of the previous load? Accuracy will be the true measure, but a similar MV should have similar harmonics and should be close to the most accurate load, correct? So I would work upwards looking for pressure signs, maybe in .5gr increments, starting at about 5-6 grains below prior load. Assuming no pressure signs, I will be looking for accuracy (I use the OCW method and look for something that has forgiveness between on each side of an accurate charge weight) - and that may be similar MV to prior load using same components but different lots, correct?
Should I continue past accurate load to see where I get pressure signs as a good reference point to how close I am to max charge?
I just got a 28 Nos and have a 6.5cr being made now, maybe a month or two until delivery. I would guess I should follow the same process i described in the above paragraph (and incorporate any revisions based on feedback here).
The other thread made me a little timid about messing up and I just want recheck my load development process and thought process before jumping into adjustments for new lots of powder and primer for 3 guns.
Many thanks.
Tom
