Accuracy Issues (30-06)

[SA Friday]

Well, I will tell you the only way I've ever gotten 150s to shoot worth a damn out of my 30-06 was to back the powder charge way back and drop a lot of velocity to find an accuracy node. The 165's shot like they had eyes and towards the higher end of velocity. If you can get the 165s to group and get the velocity out of it, thats a much better option than fighting the 150s.

[ferrum]

Great thanks. I am going to head out today and get a flash hole uniformer tool and hit the bench again.

[Zombie Steve]

Well, I will tell you the only way I've ever gotten 150s to shoot worth a damn out of my 30-06 was to back the powder charge way back and drop a lot of velocity to find an accuracy node. The 165's shot like they had eyes and towards the higher end of velocity. If you can get the 165s to group and get the velocity out of it, thats a much better option than fighting the 150s.

I'll second this thought. I found a really accurate load with 150gr. grand slams and IMR4320 (about the same burn rate as Varget), but it was on the low end (just short of 2,700 from a 22" barrel). Still, two shots went completely through a mule deer broadside. It didn't fill the case very well. Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to shoot another deer with it, but I wouldn't be crazy about long range shots on pronghorn (mainly because of the flat base bullet).

For a dedicated pronghorn load, I'd look at IMR 4350 and a 168 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. Just my 2 cents adjusted for inflation.

I think he / we were talking about a flash hole deburring tool, not the uniformer... They do two different things.

[ferrum]

I was thinking this:
http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/c...-uniformer.php

[Zombie Steve]

That's the one you want.

[Hoser]

The KKM version has a shoulder so you dont overcut the flash hole. I ruined a batch of Lapua brass many moons ago. That was an expensive lesson.

http://www.kmshooting.com/catalog/fl...dard_0080.html

[ferrum]

I think I have it figured out now.
I picked up a flash hole uniformer and a COL gauge.

Flash Hole Uniformer:
The Winchester brass was pretty clean but the Hornady brass was very jagged around the flash hole.

COL Gauge:
When I measured my chamber I was surprised to see the measurement was 3.440" .2" beyond the recommended COL for the load. Even if I backed off of this measurement by a couple thousandths it would have left very little bullet left to seat in the brass. Is this common? I expected a few hundredths to the lands, not .2"

I decided to seat the bullet to 3.340" -- the Hornady manual max COL listed for the 30-06 -- and still .1" off the lands.

My best 4 shot group was .5" using a 168 grain Amax in front of 48 grains of Varget.
49 grains of varget would have been a good group (<3/4") but I forgot to take a fouling shot first first thing in the morning

I will now work up a few loads using hunting bullets, knowing that I need to seat them long.

[Zombie Steve]

700's are notorious for a huge amount of freebore. A big jump isn't anything to be concerned about. Load your OAL to function in the rifle's magazine and move on to other things...

I shoot the same load with an A-max - 48.1 grains of Varget loaded to 3.240", CCI large rifle primer, Winchester brass. Not a smoking load at just under 2,600 fps from my 22" barrel, but it is very accurate and consistent out to 500 yards.