|
|
|
Discussion Forums
Forum Index
> Rifles general discussion
> 208 ELD-M in the 30-06
208 ELD-M in the 30-06
@ 11:34 am (GMT) |
Philipp MHowdy All,Long time reader of Nathan's books, first post. I've got a older Remington 30-06 with a long throat, many many boxes of 208 ELD-Ms, and a desire to tinker. Mostly I shoot this rifle with 180 partitions but I guess I'm bored with doing it the easy way. Happy to get recommendations for powder but less worried about that as I'm just going to start low with several powders and work my way up. What I would love some advice on is where to start in terms of seating depth. COAL when the bullet reaches the lands is 3.604. Rounds still feed at close to this length (mag box is around 3.700) but there is not much bullet left in the case neck. I'm thinking of starting COAL at around 3.500, or about .100 jump. This is a fairly long jump but the bullet is still well down into the neck. The other option is to start COAL at around 3.400, which is a .200 jump, and have every possible bit of the useable bullet surface (above the boat tail) gripped by the neck. Powders I'll probably start with are H4350, H4831SC, and Ramshot Hunter. Any thoughts are appreciated. |
Replies
@ 09:10 am (GMT) |
Warwick MarflittRe: 208 ELD-M in the 30-06Load some up and run em thru the Chrono let us know what you get? |
@ 09:40 am (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: 208 ELD-M in the 30-06Hi Phillip, welcome aboard.I suggest you start at an OAL of 3.450". This is as long as you can go without creating a donut in the brass (so that the brass can be used with other bullets). H4831sc may go OK but if possible, I would like to see you start with RE22. The throat is so long that I cannot predict velocities. You'll have to let your chrony tell you where its at. I expect you will get well over 2600fps. There is a chance that the throat is so long that it is sluggish with the slower powders. If so, it might do OK with H4350 or Ramshot. Start with a slow powder. Move to the faster powder if it shows a flat spot over the chrony with no gains. |
|
@ 09:19 pm (GMT) |
Philipp MRe: 208 ELD-M in the 30-06This is excellent. I will report back with results. |
@ 02:03 pm (GMT) |
David LenziRe: 208 ELD-M in the 30-06I am curious to see how this is going if there is more to report. I've got a handful of the 208 ELD-M loaded with H4831sc and Superformance with some IMR 4955 on the shelf.Sorting through tons of different powders is quite a pain, if I'm honest. IIRC, all mine are loaded at 3.4 inches at the moment, and I suspect a bit on the anemic side. The chrono will tell. Project got put on hold because accuracy with that particular rifle continues to elude me. |
|
@ 10:54 am (GMT) |
Philipp MRe: 208 ELD-M in the 30-06I was nervous about using RL-22 just because of the temp swings we get here in the US, it's currently 105 degrees F but I'll be hunting up north in temps as low as 0 degrees F.Using Barnes brass (I had a lot of them and the necks were consistent in thickness, they weighed the same as Remington brass (on the heavy side so that might be who makes them.) Because I was changing so many variables from the books I had to load and shoot a lot of different lots to even begin to find to a load that seemed to work. All the below with CCI magnum primers. All the below testing took place at 105-107 degrees F so I feel pretty comfortable that this is the highest pressure I'll see. Goal was to get to narrow down a few loads to test for real accuracy and low ES. As Nathan predicted, H4831SC did not get me to 2600fps before I ran out of room the case. At 58.5gr I was at 2584. The primer lost some of its roundness, but no other pressure signs. 59 grains showed noticeably more pressure on the primer and did not show an increase in velocity...time to stop. That H4831sc load is sub-MOA but that's all I know about it. The next round of I will do some proper ES and accuracy testing. I will also load some at 58grains. I decided to try RL-23, which I doubted would work bc of its energy density, but I had some and it's pretty temp insensitive. Results were actually in the ballpark...ish. 56grains of RL-23 was all I could crunch in the case but got about 2570 fps and sub MOA. Maybe with a big drop tube. On a whim I tried Hunter, which worked out pretty well and is the general direction I'm going in now. 57.5grains got 2630 fps, somewhat flattened primer but still with rounded edges, easy bolt lift. 58 grains got 2655 fps and very flat primers. Time to stop. I'm going to work on the Hunter and 4831SC and see how they are with actual accuracy (all I know is they're both below MOA) and ES. And hopefully I'll have my load. |
Please wait
ABOUT USWe are a small, family run business, based out of Taranaki, New Zealand, who specialize in cartridge research and testing, and rifle accurizing.
|
KNOWLEDGEBASE |
KNOWLEDGEBASE |