One powder to rule them all (30-06)?
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just country
Well-Known Member
morning, bullet style, maker and weight have a lot to
do with what powder to use. H-414, RL-15, W760, ramshot
hunter, big game, all 4831, 4350, 4064 and 4320.
justme gbot tum
do with what powder to use. H-414, RL-15, W760, ramshot
hunter, big game, all 4831, 4350, 4064 and 4320.
justme gbot tum
greenejc
Well-Known Member
There really is no one powder to rule them all in 30-06. Having said that, the best all around powder I've found is still IMR 4350, although the newer iteration of this powder seems to give lower velocities (as much as 70fps lower) with my normal charges. That may be variations between lots, though. I do know I get better accuracy with 180grain and 200 grain bullets with this powder.
greenejc
Well-Known Member
Also, one powder to rule them all only works if that powder is available. I had about 5 years when locating IMR 4350 was very difficult. It finally became more readily available around 2016. But from around 2011 until 2016, it was mostly hard to find, and I had to use other powders that were available. An example of this now is RL26 which I would like to try with the Speer and Sierra 200 grain hunting bullets in 30-06. But its currently hard to find. If I had to stay with one powder though, it would probably be IMR 4350.
nicholasjohn
Well-Known Member
I've used H-4350 a lot with the 30-06, with both 165-grain and 180-grain bullets. I have had better accuracy with H-4350 than with IMR-4350, but slightly better velocity with the IMR. There has been talk over the years about temperature sensitivity being less with the Hodgdon powder, but I had never had any trouble with that when I was using the IMR powder. Take your pick - neither flavor will disappoint you. Also, a buddy of mine had great results with RL-22 years ago, but he did have issues with temperature sensitivity. Maybe RL-23 is the cure for that. Don't know - haven't tried it. Good luck.
greenejc
Well-Known Member
I guess I should try H4350, but I regularly get groups under 1" from both my Ruger M77MKII and my O3-A3 with the IMR. RL 22 gave me 1.3 inch groups or a little larger. By the way, these are 5 shot groups with both powders. I've never noticed a temperature problem with IMR 4350, but there is some variations between lots it seems where Muzzle velocity with the same charges are concerned. I'm going to be experimenting with this powder and RL26 and Superformance with Sierra and Speer 200 grain bullets this summer/fall, and will let you know what I find out.
nicholasjohn
Well-Known Member
When you settle on a favorite, it might be a good idea to buy and eight-pound can of whatever works best. Then you can dedicate that can to that rifle & cartridge, and have a lifetime supply. If it's all in the same can, it's definitely all from the same lot - and your lot-to-lot variation problem is out the window.
I have three eight-pounders that I bought during the obama gun control scare several years ago. It was the only way to buy H-4350 ( the one-pound jars got bought up so fast you would never see one.) I watched & waited a year for it, and bought one the same day my wife bought the other two for me. ( She was on her way home from Costco, where she buys massive quantities of everything, so her mindset was to get all she could carry out of the store.) Now, one of those jugs has a sticker on it that reads "ONLY FOR 30-06.") Another one is about to get opened up to start ginning up a load for my new .280. If things go well with that one, it will get a sticker pasted to it as well. ( I'm more expecting that the jug that holds the H-4831 is going to be dedicated to the new rifle, but we'll see how it goes.)
I know that seems like a lot of powder to dedicate to one rifle, but it goes pretty fast when you start shooting a lot. In addition, as new bullets come on the market, you never know what you might want to try next. When the rifle likes the burning rate of a particular powder, that is the obvious first choice to work with when switching bullets. Even if one doesn't switch bullets, it's always fun trying something new.
greenejc
Well-Known Member
yep, I did that. I bought two 8 pound cans of IMR 4350 and have bought every one pound can I come across. I also have an 8 pound can of IMR 4831 and H 414. I'm working on getting more Superformance, because I want to experiment with it and 200 grain bullets. Like I said, I think I don't want to limit myself to only one powder, because I like to tailor my loads to the rifle and bullet combination in the 30-06. But if I had to , IMR4350 would be it.
NEMTHunter
Well-Known Member
IMR4350 has worked good for me in the past shooting 200 Grain gamekings. Still A good powder for what I do. Just running with RL26 because of the extra speed I can get.
greenejc
Well-Known Member
Roger that. That's why I want to experiment with it a little. Speer lists it as getting 2670fps with the 200 grain hotcor and if I can get around 2625 or so, that's a very good medium long range 30-06 round.
NEMTHunter
Well-Known Member
I now when I did it years ago before I new anything about ballistics my brother and I were shocked at how fast and hard the 200 grain gameking hit the 400 yard gong. We were used to shooting 150 and they did not do as good. we even ha to hold higher to get the 150 on the gong then the 200 grainers. Like I said that before I new much of anything about ballistics and how it all worked.
Depending on the gun and if you can load over the max length they spec you should be able to get more powder in and get more velocity.
greenejc
Well-Known Member
Both the Sierra and the Speer 200 grain bullets retain tremendous energy at distance, especially if you can launch them at around 2575 to 2650fps. It also shoots much flatter at distance, since the BC for the Sierra is about .545 and the Speer is around .50. When zeroed for 100 yards with a velocity of 2600fps and an altitude of around 8000 ft. the rounds match my Shepherd P2 scopes out to about 700 yards, within 1 moa of drop. No guesswork. IMR 4350 will get about 2600fps using Remington standard primers and a load of around 54 grains. At 400 yards, the bullets have over 1900 ft/lbs of energy and because of the mass of the projectiles, great penetration and energy transfer. I have both the new and older manuals, with the newer manuals reflecting the lawsuit fears of the publishers, so I tend to load from the older ones. A word of caution here-54 grains is 0.5 grains over the max in the newest manuals, while 56 grains is the max for IMR 4350 using 200 grain projectiles in manuals older than 5 0r 6 years.
nicholasjohn
Well-Known Member
The 200-grain bullets really perform well in the 30-06. I've never been a fan of the lighter bullets in this cartridge, but have used 150's a lot in the .308. ( I haven't done that in decades, though. I went to 180's long ago, and that's still my preferred heavy bullet for the .308.) In the '06, it used to be that the 150 was the light bullet, and the 180 was the heavy, at least among hunters. Now people are seeing the benefits of going heavier in the larger-capacity 30 calibers, and 165 & 200-grains are the light & the heavy. That's fine with me. As shooters drift toward higher BC bullets, and hunters lean toward that and higher sectional density, this all improves downrange performance regardless of your sport. If a guy really likes 150-grain bullets smaller diameters are the way to go. Even in 7mm cartridges the long range crowd doesn't go much below 168 grains anymore. Sportsmen are definitely trending away from lighter bullets at high velocity.
