Varget 30-06 155 SMK Palmas

[Heavies]

Hello folks,
Got a question. I have found a very good load for my .30-06 Rem 700 bdl, 22" barrel, with 50.7 grains of Varget(max load), PMC primers, and the (new)155 Palmas or the 155 Amax. This load is running about 2800fps at sea level.

Previously I had been using H4350 with light to heavy bullets and Rl-22 with heavier bullets and I never got the accuracy that I did with the Varget combo.

I have always heard that a full case of powder is conductive to low ES and SD, but this load give me 5 shot avgs in the single digits.

What is the reason for this? I have even done experimentation by tipping cases forward or backward before firing, without much variation or accuracy degradation.

Any thoughts on why Varget with that much free space works so well?

 

[Heavies]

Any body have any theories?

 

[jo191145]

And i'm probably one of the few that does'nt buy the 100% "sacred cow" theory even in Benchrest cartridges. My loads are probably running around 85% load density in my PPC and 80% in the 6BR if I cared enough to do the figuring.
I'm just using a different powder than everyone else

As Lawrence said, just go with it.

 

[GermanS1]

The .30-06 is a very accurate and very flexible cartridge. Its accuracy with a huge variety of bullets, powder, and loads is truly amazing. The National Match load from Frankford Arsenal and Lake City used approximately 47 grains of IMR 4895 with the 173 gr. match bullet, plenty of air space and very accurate. Although I normally shoot 190 gr. bullets with H4350, my load with moly-coated 155's is 48.5 gr. of 4895 (2830 fps 28" barrel); plenty of air space left and still fantastic accuracy at 500 yards.

Here's some good reading on our favorite cartridge:

First, a history of National Match ammunition:

http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2010/04/history-us-national-match-ammunition.html

Second, an overview of the .30-06 for competition use today:

http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2009/11/cartridges-logical-30-06.html


Enjoy the rifle!

 

[ForneyRider]

I just did a hunting load with 30-06 nickel case, CCI 200 primer, 51gr Varget and 150gr Sierra Pro Hunter that came out at 2840fps from a Ruger 77. Can't recall the COL offhand, but it was a match to factory Federal.

 

[bigedp51]

I remember when............................

Lyndon Johnson was President, gun writers wrote their articles on manual typewriters and spell checker was the dictionary kept close at hand.

I remember when my first computer was made out of thick card stock paper.

I remember why this computer is in such good shape after 43 years...........

Over 70% of your reloading manual loading data falls into the recommended load density percentage.

That is why my first computer is in such good shape............
because I never used it again after finding this out.

Remington-Dupont set the ADI powder plant up in Australia, then because of the extreme temperatures in Australia the military asked ADI to make powders less temperature sensitive with better ballistic uniformity.

In your rifle Varget has the "sweet" spot and it has good ballistic uniformity.

So go ahead and switch to Winchester ball powder and their 180 grain bullet and watch the uniformity go out the window.
(SD 3,100 CUP - EV 10,100 CUP) :

It was a bad year for Winchester, stamped parts in their rifles and no quality control at the ammo plants.

 

[Heavies]

Thanks for all your input.

I will continue to use this load as I have found it to be the best in my rifle to date. I was thinking the design of the powder, to be more stable in all temps, is one of the reasons for the consistancy, even with low charge density. Other temp stable powders seem to follow along the same lines.