Dlebeck,
My old Rem 700 30-06 w/ a 22" factory barrel had been Mag-na-ported two yrs after I bought it in '82. The fastest vel from a 180 gr I ever saw over my Ohler M33 Chrono was 2750 fps. Once I realized I shot the barrel out, I had Dan Lilja turn down a 26" stainless, 1:11 twist, 3-groove barrel for me. Ian Jensen, formerly of Barnes Bullets, chambered, threaded, crowned and mounted the barrel. I hooked up with a gentleman who goes by "Ackley Improved User" over on
www.accuratereloading.com. His experience with the '06 Ackley is extensive. I ran with his advice and started out using Reloader 25 and Nosler 180 BT's. Starting at 64 gr and topping out at 70.7 gr, I went from 2700 to 3100 fps; Win brass fireformed via COW, Fed 210M primers, Lee Collet neck die, seated .005" into the lands. I ran a 300 yd Audette ladder and settled on 68.6 gr for 3050 fps. Groups were running sub-MOA. I then ran a seating depth test, seating .005" deeper (away from the lands) each step, until I hit .015" off the lands were my groups (100/300/600 yds) hit 1/2 to 3/4 MOA and have stayed there if I did my part. Pressure, when I was working upto the 70.7 gr max was monitored via traditional primer appearance, bolt lift, ejector marks, increasing velocity increments and case head expansion measurements just forward of the extractor groove with a .0001" micrometer. At the upper end of the powder range, you will be heavily compressing powder charges of Rel 25 but it is such a slow powder, you will really have a hard time getting into pressure trouble. Before I embarked upon this journey with Rel 25, I discussed this with the Hodgdon techs. With out mentioning caliper or powder specifics, I asked about heavily compressing powder charges. Their basic premise was to NOT use any kind of rod/dowel/etc to ram/jam/beat/crush the powder to submission; but to just use normal bullet seating; even when the powder gets up to 3/4 the way up the case neck.
Hope this is what your asking for.
