Anyone Shoot a 30-06AI?

[Timnterra]

I have a friend who doesn't reload but acquired a nice custom 30-06ai it shoots factory fireforming loads sub moa. I bought a set of dies for the rifle and would like to develop a load for him. The catch is he moved about 900 miles away. I'll have to load about 20 rounds at a time for him to shoot and ship them to him. Anyone have any can't miss load recipes that will give me a good starting place? I'm probably going to go with a 178gr or 200gr eldx bullet. Does h4831 sound about right? What load range? I'll probably load 5 groups of four rounds each and send them to have him test. Any advice would be great.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Wouldn't it be easier, and faster, to get the rifle from him for load development?

 

[MudRunner2005]

I built mine in 2014.

Berger 180 Elite Hunters, IMR 7828 SSC, Fed 210M primers, brass of your choice. Seated to .025" off the lands.

Powder charge is subjective. Ackley says start with parent case load data, and work up slowly from there. It will be nearly impossible to nail a load from 900 miles away without shipping brass back and forth for inspection for pressure signs, and without sending him charge weight ladder tests. Personally, I would have him bring you the rifle to you next time he visits, and then have him pick it back up when he comes back to visit. Or have it shipped to a local FFL, for you to pick it up, and take possession of it, and then do the load development for him. Then ship it back to his local FFL with the ammo.

 

[Timnterra]

Wouldn't it be easier, and faster, to get the rifle from him for load development?

Yes it would be easier and I might do that. However, I thought if copper creek can do it with their load development packs I might give it a try.

 

[Timnterra]

I built mine in 2014.

Berger 180 Elite Hunters, IMR 7828 SSC, Fed 210M primers, brass of your choice. Seated to .025" off the lands.

Powder charge is subjective. Ackley says start with parent case load data, and work up slowly from there. It will be nearly impossible to nail a load from 900 miles away without shipping brass back and forth for inspection for pressure signs, and without sending him charge weight ladder tests. Personally, I would have him bring you the rifle to you next time he visits, and then have him pick it back up when he comes back to visit. Or have it shipped to a local FFL, for you to pick it up, and take possession of it, and then do the load development for him. Then ship it back to his local FFL with the ammo.

What kind of velocity are you getting before running into pressure?

 

[Timnterra]

I didn't think about him not being able to identify pressure signs. That could be a problem.

 

[MudRunner2005]

What kind of velocity are you getting before running into pressure?

Every rifle is different, and because there is no SAAMI specs for Ackley's, every reamer will be slightly different. Just because my rifle works great at a certain velocity doesn't mean his won't be blowing primers.

Also, since not much is known about his rifle, you need to measure the shoulder angle and find out if it's a 30º or 40º shoulder. This will help determine which dies to purchase. 40º is most common, but occasionally you do see a 30º sneak in the mix.