25-06 Reloading assistance

[mjrcpd]

Hey Gang,

I'm relatively new to reloading but have been coached through the basics to limp on to a great hobby. I have recently purchased a new 25-06 and would like to start a whitetail deer load work-up. My question is: How do I get a starting point for bullet seating debth without having to worry about excessive chamber pressures? The max overall case length for the caliber is 3.250. Is it safe to use the values given for my bullet choice (Nosler 120 gr partition spitzer) for minimum to maximum powder charges? I have not yet purchased a means to measure the distance to the lands and grooves for my specific rifle. To get the most accurate load, will I have to adjust powder amount and bullet seating debth or should the former always be consistent? I hope this all makes sense and I appreciate your willingness to help me along. I'm loving my new hobby thus far.

 

[Michael Courtney]

Hey Gang,

I'm relatively new to reloading but have been coached through the basics to limp on to a great hobby. I have recently purchased a new 25-06 and would like to start a whitetail deer load work-up. My question is: How do I get a starting point for bullet seating debth without having to worry about excessive chamber pressures? The max overall case length for the caliber is 3.250. Is it safe to use the values given for my bullet choice (Nosler 120 gr partition spitzer) for minimum to maximum powder charges? I have not yet purchased a means to measure the distance to the lands and grooves for my specific rifle. To get the most accurate load, will I have to adjust powder amount and bullet seating debth or should the former always be consistent? I hope this all makes sense and I appreciate your willingness to help me along. I'm loving my new hobby thus far.

I recommend you buy a couple of the major reloading manuals. I think I gave the "how to" information from abour four manuals a good read before I tried reloading. The 25-06 was one of the first cartridges I reloaded for, and I learned a lot from both practice and reading the manuals. The max OAL length is a good place to start. Usually you only get into pressure trouble by seating the bullet deeper. If your magazine allows, most accuracy gains come from getting closer to the lands, which means seating the bullet further out.

Here's how I found the lands in my early reloading days. I would seat a bullet fairly long (barely in the neck at all) in a neck sized case (or it could be full length sized) without any primer or powder. Just a bullet in an otherwise empty case. Then I would color the bullet ogive (the curved part) black with a marker. When I closed the bolt and chambered the round, the bullet would engage the rifling and effectively be pushed backward into the case. The extracted round would then be shorter and the length of the rifling marks would tell me how far the loaded bullet seated to that length would be pushed into the rifling. Subtracting that from the length would tell me how long that bullet would need to be seated to barely engage the rifling.

There are some subtleties and some tools that are intended for this determination, but this approach will get you started. There are some combinations of chambering and mag length where you cannot reach the rifling without exceeding the length of the magazine, and there are some cases where you cannot reach the rifling with the bullet barely seated in the case. Let us know how things progress.

H4831 and H1000 are awesome powders in 25-06.

 

[snert]

MJR,

You could use your friend's Sinclair OAL tool to find your rifle's statistics. Then you could use his Sinclair comparator to establish an OAL dummy cartridge that is "on the lands". Then you could use your friends comparator to make up a bunch of other dummies with the bullets you would like to try. Then you could use your new Redding Comp bullet seating die to seat bullets closely, but not into the lands, and then vary the OAL a bit while gaining time on the bench, and find the sweet spot for your gun/bullet combo/. If you stay out of the lands, avoid really long bullets seated deeply, follow the advice of the loading manual for primers, powder, bullet, observe safety protocols, you will be fine. And then you can buy your friend an adult beverage and swap tall tales. BTW, Redding opened back up today. Just thought you would like to know.

OR, you could go buy all this stuff and do it yourself....and save the adult beverage for yourself!

The world awaits your decision...

Your friend,
;D
PF

 

[mjrcpd]

I knew it was a matter of time SNERT, as I was aware that you routinely comb the forum. Lets make a date as by the sounds of it, you can save me some $$$, and you know I'm all about that these days. At any rate, I have loaded 3 different loads, all of which are 3.250 overall bullet length. The details are: 48, 50 & 52gr of IMR 4831 behind a 120gr Nosler partition spitzer bullet. I only loaded 3 rounds of each, planning to head to the range in the morning depending on weather. I'm excited ! And SNERT, I'll await a call from you to take advantage of your "resources." ;D !!

 

[DaveMarine1]

I would have to double check, but last fall, after doing some reloading for my Ruger 25.06 I found that Winchester brass and Berger 115 Hunting VLDs with CCI BR-2 primers and 49gr of R19 produced really really well 1/2" to 3/4" three shot groups with some very ocasional one hole three shot groups at 100. I cant remember the velocity but off the top of my head I want to say it was pushing almost 2900fps. It was a fun load to shoot and the rifle is a 15 year old factory rifle. Give it a try.

 

[wapiti25]

Berger hunting bullets shoot good and kill well. seat into the lands, use an unprimed case which you can keep for reference on that bullet, barrel for future loading. I call those "dummy rounds" for my rifles.

 

[2506]

Just follow this advice and save yourself a bunch of time and money. Time tested loads here. Get you some 117 gr Sierra Pro Hunter flat base bullets, and load them 10 thousands off your lands with 52 grs H-4831 with CCI-BR2 primers or use CCI 250 primers and 49 grs IMR 4350 with Remington cases. Both will run right at 3000 fps and shoot well under MOA in most rifles. This bullet is a real deer killer. BANG FLOP. The same loads work pretty well with 115 Nosler BT.

 

[K22]

Deer Hunting - you're in my world now

The most important consideration for hunting reloads are that they function flawlessly. For hunting ammo I would strongly advise against seating into the lands especially if you are new to reloading. The last thing you want to do in the field is have a bullet stick into the rifle when you go to extract the cartridge. I would start at the Max SAAMI COL which is 3.250 and work back. You may find that your rifle shoots more accurately at a shorter COL.

The 25-06 is an excellent cartridge and it quite easy to load. With a quality rifle, 1 moa to sub 1 moa accuracy is not hard to achieve. IMR 4350 powder would be my first choice followed by IMR 4831. Bullets in the 115 to 120 range are excellent long range deer pills.

PS - Just as important as accurate reloads is marksmanship - practice a lot in the hunting position you'll use in the field - it will keep your freezer filled with venison.

 

[kyreloader]

I agree with K22, a long loaded round for a hunting rifle does not help if it will not fit in the magazine. I would measure the maximum overall length of a round that will fit in your magazine and use that length as your maximal overall length of your loaded round.

If going to shoot Berger VLDs, use their OAL testing recommendations which are magazine length, -40 thous, -80 thous and -120 thous. Find which of those OAL shoot best and fine tune in 5 thous increments around that OAL. If shooting any other bullet, just load magazine OAL and move out in 5 thous increments for a few and see if any work better.

In both of my 25-06 barrels, the length to the lands was always longer the magazine length.

 

[wpalmer]

Hey Gang,

I'm relatively new to reloading but have been coached through the basics to limp on to a great hobby. I have recently purchased a new 25-06 and would like to start a whitetail deer load work-up. My question is: How do I get a starting point for bullet seating debth without having to worry about excessive chamber pressures? The max overall case length for the caliber is 3.250. Is it safe to use the values given for my bullet choice (Nosler 120 gr partition spitzer) for minimum to maximum powder charges? I have not yet purchased a means to measure the distance to the lands and grooves for my specific rifle. To get the most accurate load, will I have to adjust powder amount and bullet seating debth or should the former always be consistent? I hope this all makes sense and I appreciate your willingness to help me along. I'm loving my new hobby thus far.

I too have a question. Will accurate 2700 powder be ok in the 25-06? If so how many grains should I useto start?

 

[358WCF]

I too have a question. Will accurate 2700 powder be ok in the 25-06? If so how many grains should I useto start?

It might work well. The starting amount would depend on bullet weight.

 

[timeout]

I too have a question. Will accurate 2700 powder be ok in the 25-06? If so how many grains should I useto start?

You might want to start a new thread. The OP was last seen in August of 2012.

 

[Big Mc]

Hey Gang,

I'm relatively new to reloading but have been coached through the basics to limp on to a great hobby. I have recently purchased a new 25-06 and would like to start a whitetail deer load work-up. My question is: How do I get a starting point for bullet seating debth without having to worry about excessive chamber pressures? The max overall case length for the caliber is 3.250. Is it safe to use the values given for my bullet choice (Nosler 120 gr partition spitzer) for minimum to maximum powder charges? I have not yet purchased a means to measure the distance to the lands and grooves for my specific rifle. To get the most accurate load, will I have to adjust powder amount and bullet seating debth or should the former always be consistent? I hope this all makes sense and I appreciate your willingness to help me along. I'm loving my new hobby thus far.

Welcome to the rabbit hole. 117 to 120 bullets work great for deer. Powder 4831 , 4350 , H100 BLC2 will all make you happy. Mine likes 4831. Use what your manual tells you. Just my two cents Tommy Mc

 

[timeout]

Hey Gang,

I'm relatively new to reloading but have been coached through the basics to limp on to a great hobby. I have recently purchased a new 25-06 and would like to start a whitetail deer load work-up. My question is: How do I get a starting point for bullet seating debth without having to worry about excessive chamber pressures? The max overall case length for the caliber is 3.250. Is it safe to use the values given for my bullet choice (Nosler 120 gr partition spitzer) for minimum to maximum powder charges? I have not yet purchased a means to measure the distance to the lands and grooves for my specific rifle. To get the most accurate load, will I have to adjust powder amount and bullet seating debth or should the former always be consistent? I hope this all makes sense and I appreciate your willingness to help me along. I'm loving my new hobby thus far.

Welcome to the rabbit hole. 117 to 120 bullets work great for deer. Powder 4831 , 4350 , H100 BLC2 will all make you happy. Mine likes 4831. Use what your manual tells you. Just my two cents Tommy Mc

Zombie thread. mjrcpd was last seen here August, 2012.