13 twist 30Cal

[MachV]

The 6.5-284 barrel on an old Savage has been a little disappointing, not a bad shooter just not good enough for long range prairie dogs. A 30-06 barrel came along with the trade and the guy said it was a real shooter but for some reason I just never got around to putting it on till now.
So I swap barrels out and run a new batch of brass through the die to make them round (Knew there was a reason I don't normally buy Remington brass). Then started charging cases with powder for the 185 grain Berger VLD's........Daa what twist does the 30-06 barrel have?? $#!! the rod takes 13.25" to make a revaluation. Well not being up on the twist rate for the 30-06 I start paying attention to what is actually written on the bullet boxeslightbulb
Berger has 1-12 for the 185VLD and 1-11 for the 210
Hornady says 1-12 for the 168Amax and 1-10 for the 178Amax
Also have a box of 180 Accubonds, 180 BT, 180SST, and 168grain HPBT.

Not probably gonna shoot anything bigger than a prairie dog so kinda figured I'd start with the 168HPBTs but without wasting any more ammo than necessary what bullet would work the best?? Does it pay to try the 180's???

 

[LouBoyd]

You didn't mention the length of your 13" twist barrel. Check the ballistics on various 155 grain Palma bullets. They give excellent accuracy and range beyond 1000 yards in a reasonable length 308 or 30-06 barrel with twists of 13-14 inches. Sierra, berger and the Lapua Scenar would be ones I'd suggest trying.

 

[BountyHunter]

I would sure shoot the 180s.

Some of us are using 1-11 or even 1-12 with the 300 WSM and 210s at 2850

BH

 

[milanuk]

It's certainly worth a try to run the 185s through your gun... there have been people run 175 and even 190s through 13 tw barrels in a .308 Winchester... with the extra 'poop' from a .30-06 you may not have any problems at all.

 

[SWALI]

I would try the Berger VLD 175g on your rifle.

I think on the Berger web site they even go down to 165g with a 1>13 twist.

175g work extremely well on my 24inch barrel 1>13.

Good luck.

 

[MachV]

Thanks guys I'll givem a try......Right after I figure out why there is 12 thousands runout useing Lee die's. I'd like to blame the runout on the Remington brass but fortunatly the runout seams to be comeing from the seating die as the cases only have a thousands runout after the resizeing die??

 

[trueblue]

Since your post states that you aren't going to shoot anything bigger than a prairie dog, I see no need to worry about your twist rate and whether it will stabilize the heavier bullets.
Go with your original thought, and shoot the 168gr SMK, or an even lighter bullet, as suggestede by Lou.
I think Sierra makes a 135gr bullet in 30cal too. I would also look at ahooting that.