Hey all,

Recently I turned an old (right hand action) 8mm WWI era Mauser (FN action) into a "left hand" .25-06. It shoots great with Remington 120 grain CoreLokt factory loads, but I've always enjoyed reloading.

A friend gave me a set of reloading dies and two full boxes of 120 grain bullets for the .25-06 and I was wondering.

I have almost a full pound of Winchester 760 powder. I looked up the powder on the internet and found that Winchester only recommends it for the 85 grain bullets.

Has anyone ever used this powder for 120 grain bullets? If so, what was the starting weight of powder used and what results did you have?

This powder is now distributed by Hodgdon....have you checked their website?

Actually, if you go to the Winchester site, then click on the reloading data, it automatically directs you to the Hodgdon site. So I guess that while I didn't directly go there, that's where I got the information from initially...

Just finished loading 50 rounds of 7x57 for a bub of mine.Using H-414 at 47.0grs the loads shot well in my rifle and his.
They are the same powder H-414 and win 760.

I have just started using 760 again as I was working up some 70 grain Nosler BT in a .243 and getting some great velocities around 3750 with great accuracy.

I used to use this powder in a 22-250 when I first started loading for the first one I had.

So, does anyone have an idea of a starting load of 760 for the .25-06? Would 47 grains be a good starting point?

quote:

Originally posted by Shof:
So, does anyone have an idea of a starting load of 760 for the .25-06? Would 47 grains be a good starting point?

47 grains is listed as a max load for a 100 grain bullet. It's most definitely too much for a 120 grainer.....

May I suggest that since the manufacturer does not recommend it (by way of not listing it) that you drag out a twenty dollar bill and get a pound of supreme 780.....It'll be a well spent bill!

WW760/H414 is on the fast side for a .25-06, particularly with 120 grain bullets.

As others have suggested, you are better off to purchase a slower, more appropriate powder. I use IMR 7828 SSC in my .25-06, but RL-22, RL-25, H-4831, and similar powders also have the potential to work well.

When looking through the Lee manual(25-06) which lists many other manuals data there really seems to be inconsistancies when comparing h-414 to W760 and either of those to to IMR 4064 for instance. At times( a number of cartridges) it would appear that IMR 4064 is slower burning than 760 or 414.
I,ve always considered H414 and H 380 to be very close in loading and performance ,just a little faster burning than the 4350s and slower than IMR4064. You would than think that although not the greatest for max. velocity the H414 would be a rather good powder to use in the 25-06. JMHO roger

W760 is in the same burning range as H414, 4350, AA2700, RL17 etc...NOT AT A GRAIN FOR GRAIN conversion...but it has a slightly faster burn rate and works "better"? for the lighter bullets...H4831 is much better for the heavier bullets, so conventional wisdom dictates.

Got to any gunstore and look up loads in their reloading manuals.

W760 is a good powder....Winchester must like it...I've used it in a few calibers but there are much better powders for the 25-06 for all the bullet weights.

I've had 4 25-06's over the years...I like the 25-06 very much as a game getter, but it eats powder by the ton as a varminter and isn't quite up to snuff for the larger beasties(not trying to get arguments started, I KNOW what it will do game wise, I've taken game from sage rats to Moose with it)...but after all these years with it, I go to smaller more efficient cases for the lighter, smaller caliber bullets for varmints and larger cal bullets in the '06 case or larger for the bigger beasties.

My last 25-06, A rem Sendero, shot the most accurate and with the highest velocities with the following bullets and powders...

Horn 75 Vmax and RL-15 seated touching the lands and a top manual load...VERY destructive on ANYTHING IT HIT.

Horn 87 SP and H4831 set up the same...

Nosler 100 Part and H4831...0.020" off lands.

Nosler 115 CT with H4831, 115 Part with RL19, Horn 120 with RL19 and RL22, or Barnes 115 TSX with 7828.

Previous rifles did their best with different bullet/powder combos but I never had a 25-06 that wouldn't shoot very well with a case full of H4350 or H4831 and just about any bullet weight.

I've had hard luck with ball powders so I don't use them for the most part but H414 and H4350 are peas in a pod and just a couple steps slower than W760.

I won't recommend any starting loads for many reasons including the fact you don't seem to be all that familiar with reloading practices and you didn't mention WHAT brand of bullet or how old the powder is, but if you look at the Hodgdon.com data you will see that a 100 gr Nosler starting load is listed for W760...I would start at least 4 grains below that and work up slowly...

BUT my conserted opinion is that you forget the W760 and go with a slower burning powder such as H4831 or H 4350...don't let a few dollers worth of powder cause a major problem.

Luck

Foobar,

I've loaded thousands of rounds for the .44 magnum, .243, 6.5x55 Swede, .30-06, .300 Win Mag and .45/70.

It's not that I'm unfamiliar with reloading, it's just that I like to be cautious and ask questions if I'm not 100% certain. I used to have an old gunsmith friend that I bounced questions/ideas off of, but he died a couple months ago...

I know I can spend $25 and buy a pound of recommended powder.

I know that Win 760 has properties similar to other powders and just thought someone might have used 760 in the past as I have some left. It's not old (three years), but I have no use for it currently.

So, I'll go buy some recommended powder and save the 760 for later use...