Well, Santa has gotten me a reloading press for Christmas (a day early). I also got dies and a couple of manuals.

I am reading up today and have a question.

Rather than buying all sorts of poweders, I was wondering if you guys could suggest one over the other.

The rifle is a Rem 700 in 30-06. It loves Winchester premium 168 gr ballistic silvertips and 180 gr partition golds in factory ammo.

It seems IMR4350 is a very versital powder. It is also the powder most suggested to me for the 30-06.

Would previous history with the rifle suggest duplicating the factory load be the best starting point (I still have the spent cases)? I was thinking W760 as it is in several manuals.

As an aside, I also have a 6mm Rem I would like to load for one day. Seems as both should cross over to that cartridge also.

Is there anything that would suggest shying away from W760 for a beginer? Does alyone seel less that 1 lb lots for trials with several powders for a guy that might not reload for alot of calibers?

Thanks

4350 works well for my '06 w/165 gr. Sierra Gameking

Whenever I start a new endeavor handloading I contact the ballistics guys at both Sierra and Hornady. They are very free with information and have spent countless hours testing many combinations of bullets and powders. Their results may not alwasy be what you will get but they can tell what works best with their test barrels. Great place to start....
IMR4350 is what I use in my 30-06, .300 Win mag and a couple others....very versital.

Hodgdon sells what they call their Xperimental Pack. Four 1\4 pound containers for only a litttle more than a 1 pound can. Available in burning rates for Hunter Rifle, Light Varmint and Magnum Rifle class cartridges. Both ball and extruded powders are included. I can't seem to find it listed on their website but I have seen them in gun stores.

FYI: Hodgdon 414 and Winchester 760 are the same powder, made in the same plant in St. Marks, Florida. Winchester owns the trademark for "ball powder" so Hodgdon came up with their own term...spherical.

The 4350s are not bad in the 06 at all.If you are a full velocity guy looking for accuracy you might think of starting with powders such as:

IMR 4064

H-380

one of the 4895s

IMR4320

A real surprise performer for me and some of the guys I shoot with has been the inexpensive 2230-C, and WCC846.

Merry Christmas roger

For the 168's:
* IMR-4350 From 47.5 grains to 59.0 grains
Winchester WLR Primer

IMR-4064 From 39.5 grains to 52.0 grains
Winchester WLR Primer


For the 180's:
IMR-4350 From 44.8 grains to 57.0 grains
Winchester WLR Primer

* IMR-4064 From 37.5 grains to 50.0 grains
Winchester WLR Primer


The "*" would be my powder of choice.


Both these powders will also work in your 6mm Remington with bullet weights from 55 grains to 107 grains, however, my choice of powder for the 6mm would be RL-22.

Hope I didn't confuse you...

Any of the 4350's are very versatile in the '06. H414/WW760 are also good, and give very similar performance to equal charges of 4350 in the '06.

For heavy loads with 200 and 220-grain bullets, Re 22 is very good as well.

RL 22 is also very good with 180 grainers

Geronimo

Metalman29, you are going to have many containers of powder within a few years anyway....you might as well stock up now

Metalman, if you had asked in a vacuum, I would have said to go for IMR 4350. Having said that I love W-760, it meters very smoothly, and I wouldn't discourage anyone from using it. It does penetrate into carpet very well also--not a typical attribute/lack of one, that someone would look for, but I have done some pretty extensive testing on this and wanted to mention it.

Finally, I agree with some of the other posters, you will want several lbs. before you're finished, so just go ahead and drop $40 if you can and get a couple lbs.!

Merry Christmas--Don

I use IMR 4350 in more cases than than any other powder. Nothing wrong with playin around with that one. I also use H4831 in several cases with heavier bullets.

For both the 30-06 and the 6mm IMR's 4350 is outstanding. As mentioned IMR 4064 is also very good.

You might try H-4350 as well, it meters better than IMR-4350 and has a very similar burn rate.

xmr 3100

You can't go wrong with the various 4350s. One thing I would do however, is measure the cartridge overall length, aka COL, of your favorite factory fodder. Your gun performes with them primairly because the ogive/land relationship is favorable with that particular brand and your rifle. If you do this, it will save you much experimenting and money in the beginning.