Am I pushing the envelope here?

[tlk]

Loading 30-06 with 168 gr SMK, 58 gr of IMR4350. This is out of the Speer manual (only one I have at the moment), and I am matching the bullet weight and using the tables from there. No pressure issues that I can see and according to Speer I have another grain to go before max charge. Another thread here suggested that Sierra's suggested max load was way below where I am now.

Is it necessary to use the specific reloading tables for bullet brand/type?

Thanks.

 

[kiwi3006]

I think you are in the ballpark. With my 30/06 the accurate load with 165 NBT and 165 SST was 58gr ADI2209/H4350, gave 2700ish from a 22" barrel. I could go up to 60gr and got 2800ish but accuracy was not there.
The 58 gr H4350 seems to be an accurate load in most 30/06 from what I've seen.
Do you have a chrono? Run them over a chrono and check the velocity. When your handload velocity equals the loading manual velocity then you are running the same pressure.
Loading manuals are guides, because they use minimum spec chambers so that their loads will produce lower pressures in most rifles.

Stu.

 

[royinidaho]

my experience and opinion only:

Books keep one from pressure problems when starting out. After that they are pretty much useless to me.

When I use the book I look at the powder producing the highest velocity. Then start with a low load and work up to where I get "my" pressure signs which are just a bit of extraction resistance. When the remmy extractor button hole leaves a raised shiny spot that is a bit too much.

If that powder doesn't work the powder burn rate chart becomes my friend. Then a search on the web for load ranges for that powder in my particular cartridge and its off to shooting again.

Alliant, Hodgon, RamShot and other manuals can be found on the web.

 

[boomtube]

"No pressure issues that I can see and according to Speer I have another grain to go before max charge. Another thread here suggested that Sierra's suggested max load was way below where I am now..... "

There is no reason to think so. Sierra's load was developed in Sierra's lab/test rifle. Speer's was done in theirs. Yours is neither.


"Is it necessary to use the specific reloading tables for bullet brand/type?"

Not at all.

(I can hear the gasps of shock and shouts of denial already! No matter, it don't matter which book you get the data.)

In fact, what you already see in the Sierra and Speer data, added to your own experience, proves that NO pressure issues from component changes are nearly as large as the differences in the rifles they are fired in. That means you can consider ANY load data as generic, all applying as just as well to any bullet of the same weight. No book info can be more than a general suggestion, we still have to prove the results in our own rifles. (Ditto OAL)

"Start low and work up.....," etc., fixes it all.

royinidaho, above, gives you a good condensation of years of solid experience in his simple wisdom. Listen to him!