Guys y’all have probably figured out by now that I’m a Tinkerer. If I have time I like to see how different brass or primers effect a load. I have 270 and 30-06 Brass on hand. 53.4 of H-4831sc in Winchester 270 brass at around 2875 with 147 Hornady’s will shoot about 1/2 inch 4 shot groups and speed consistency is ok. I decided not to even mess with the federal brass as they were once fired and the few I processed had primer pockets were not tight at all. I wonder how the FC nickel cases would hold up? If the nickels primer pockets are more resilient?
I have also collected quite a few 30-06 Hornady cases over the years but when I started weighing them they were all over the map. They ranged from 200 to 170 grains and seemed to have 3 different ranges. The new Hornady brass someone gave me years ago are consistent in weight. I’ve decided not to throw the Hornady into the mix for now.
Anyway, I have quite a few Remington 30-06 and 270 around so I decided to try both. 53.6 had been my best load in other cases so I loaded 5 of the 147s in 30-06 and 5 in 270. I did load a few under this mark in steps to look for pressure On the way up. I weighed the cases and both calibers were right at 205 grains. Loaded neck diameter and OAL were identical. The Remington 270 case load didn’t group very well and averaged around 2870. Now here’s the strange part. The same load in the 30-06 cases were consistent And averaged 2930. Pressure signs were absent. Why did I get higher velocity in the Remington 3006 brass?So I decided to try something. 2895 seems to be the spot for groups and consistency in this barrel. So I took .4 grains off and loaded 5 loads at 53.2 grains Into the RP 30/06 cases. Those five bullets averaged 2895 (very consistent) and the first 4 in the group measured .25”. I relaxed and let the last one drift high for just under 1/2” 5 shot group. It definitely appears that like RP 30/06 brass has some use in my case.
Lastly, I switched gears because I had been wanting to try some 140 eldm’s. I had quite a few Winchester 270 brass prepped so I decided to start with those. I worked up to around 53.7 grains and consistency wise this load is the best load I have seen yet from this rifle.. 5 shots with an SD of 3 and extreme spread of 6. Three of these went into the same hole but I had gotten a bit tired and the group opened a bit with the last 2 shots. This load shoots to the exact same POI as the 147 load with RP 30/06 cases.
It seems that through all this madness I have finally found 2 loads to focus on And try to develop. RP 30-06 brass, 53.2 H4831sc with 147 eldm’s and Winchester 270, 53.7 H4831sc with 140 eldm’s. Both loads seated to 3.384 OAL. Field data and drop tables out to 1000 seem to indicate that my chronograph reads around 25fps slow. Nothing new here as it’s done that with every rifle and load I’ve ever used.
I‘ve posted this for a couple of different reasons. One, there’s not a whole lot of info out there on the 6.5-06 and book loads tend to be quite anemic. There’s even less info on the 6.5-06 with Hornady’s 147s. All of these loads have been carefully worked up to in my rifle but may prove to be unsafe in yours. Please work up slowly and carefully. All of these loads are with H 4831sc. I’m after accuracy and this rifle really didn’t start to play ball until I got to 53 grains. Primers used have been Fed. 210match. I have considered trying premium brass but I wanted to see what I could do with what I have on hand first.
Another reason for posting is I seem to have an acute lingering case of “CRS”. I won’t spell it out but I feel sure some of y’all may be familiar. Posting like this helps me remember.
I have also collected quite a few 30-06 Hornady cases over the years but when I started weighing them they were all over the map. They ranged from 200 to 170 grains and seemed to have 3 different ranges. The new Hornady brass someone gave me years ago are consistent in weight. I’ve decided not to throw the Hornady into the mix for now.
Anyway, I have quite a few Remington 30-06 and 270 around so I decided to try both. 53.6 had been my best load in other cases so I loaded 5 of the 147s in 30-06 and 5 in 270. I did load a few under this mark in steps to look for pressure On the way up. I weighed the cases and both calibers were right at 205 grains. Loaded neck diameter and OAL were identical. The Remington 270 case load didn’t group very well and averaged around 2870. Now here’s the strange part. The same load in the 30-06 cases were consistent And averaged 2930. Pressure signs were absent. Why did I get higher velocity in the Remington 3006 brass?So I decided to try something. 2895 seems to be the spot for groups and consistency in this barrel. So I took .4 grains off and loaded 5 loads at 53.2 grains Into the RP 30/06 cases. Those five bullets averaged 2895 (very consistent) and the first 4 in the group measured .25”. I relaxed and let the last one drift high for just under 1/2” 5 shot group. It definitely appears that like RP 30/06 brass has some use in my case.
Lastly, I switched gears because I had been wanting to try some 140 eldm’s. I had quite a few Winchester 270 brass prepped so I decided to start with those. I worked up to around 53.7 grains and consistency wise this load is the best load I have seen yet from this rifle.. 5 shots with an SD of 3 and extreme spread of 6. Three of these went into the same hole but I had gotten a bit tired and the group opened a bit with the last 2 shots. This load shoots to the exact same POI as the 147 load with RP 30/06 cases.
It seems that through all this madness I have finally found 2 loads to focus on And try to develop. RP 30-06 brass, 53.2 H4831sc with 147 eldm’s and Winchester 270, 53.7 H4831sc with 140 eldm’s. Both loads seated to 3.384 OAL. Field data and drop tables out to 1000 seem to indicate that my chronograph reads around 25fps slow. Nothing new here as it’s done that with every rifle and load I’ve ever used.
I‘ve posted this for a couple of different reasons. One, there’s not a whole lot of info out there on the 6.5-06 and book loads tend to be quite anemic. There’s even less info on the 6.5-06 with Hornady’s 147s. All of these loads have been carefully worked up to in my rifle but may prove to be unsafe in yours. Please work up slowly and carefully. All of these loads are with H 4831sc. I’m after accuracy and this rifle really didn’t start to play ball until I got to 53 grains. Primers used have been Fed. 210match. I have considered trying premium brass but I wanted to see what I could do with what I have on hand first.
Another reason for posting is I seem to have an acute lingering case of “CRS”. I won’t spell it out but I feel sure some of y’all may be familiar. Posting like this helps me remember.
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