Magnum Primers in "06 AI?

18 May 2002, 15:04

Working up loads in a newly chambered "06 Ackley and have so far been disappointed in load performance. I started to wonder if a magnum primer might be in order. I know that case capacity is close to the "rule of thumb" 60g. Is there any disadvantage to using the hotter primers?
22" barrel
150-180g xlc's and Noslers
Thanks as always for sharing your experience.
ps. Is neck turning just for bench rest competitors or can it make a significant difference in field accuracy?

18 May 2002, 15:20

Pecos41

Snow, I've never personally seen accuracy improved by use of magnum primers. Usually the other way around for me. I would try a lot of different things before I would jack with turning the neck! Try different bullets, powders, seating depths etc. Or, even try magnum primers as you suggest. Opt for the simple solution before the hard ones is my advice. Often it is something simple.

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A well placed bullet is worth 1,000 ft/lbs of energy.

18 May 2002, 15:39

snowcat

Thanks Pecos, The search will continue. How do you go about working up a load? Seems like you have to start with one variable. Here's what I've been doing--
1. Choose a bullet make and weight
2. Hit the books for suggested accuracy loads with good vel.
3. Standardize OAL at .03 from lands (.05 barnes) and don't jerk with it until you find a powder charge that's working.
This is quite an iterative process and so far I've had little success in topping factory loads (though I'm having a blast!) Am I on the right track?
Thanks as always.

18 May 2002, 16:29

Pecos41

quote:
Originally posted by snowcat:
Thanks Pecos, The search will continue. How do you go about working up a load?

Snow - First thing I do is look at the books and see which powder/s look promising.
Then I go see how much of these powders I've got on hand. I either pick the one I have most of or the one I want to get rid of. Next I apply the SWAG factor (scientific wild-ass guess) to whatever a couple of my reloading books tell me. I usually start a couple grains below max from the highest loading book. If that shoots good enough to suit me, I quit.

No magic for sure. But I know my limitations and patience. If I ever post on this forum about putting 5 or 10 bullets in the same hole, everyone will know I'm lying.

If my load will stay 1 - 1.5" at 100 yds, Lord knows that's good enough for government work!

In short, Snow, you can make selecting a load about as hard or as easy as you want. I like to keep things simple. Others will have you weighing each case, turning necks, deburring this and trimming that, yadda, yadda, yadda. AND I've done all this high powered stuff...but it didn't help my shooting near enough to be worth the trouble. Not by half! So I just go back to the old SWAG method. The critters and stuff I shoot don't never complain or know the difference.

And that's the truth about old Pecos45.
Enjoy your guns and shooting and reloading. Don't make it a chore or you may as well take it down and chuck it into the river tonight.

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A well placed bullet is worth 1,000 ft/lbs of energy.

[This message has been edited by Pecos45 (edited 05-18-2002).]

18 May 2002, 16:35

Pecos41

OH, I forgot to ask you, Snow. Are you loading into /06 cases or brass that has already been fire formed for your /06AI?

Also, what gun...barrel etc. Rechambering a 30/06 that wouldn't shoot particularly good, obviously isn't likely to make an Ackley Improved /06 that will shoot any better. Kinda like trying to improve a bad tape recording by recording it onto a different tape.

But let me know what gun etc we are playing with here.

18 May 2002, 17:57

Buzz

snowcat, what is it that you are disappointed with your load performance? Accuracy, standard deviation, velocity, or something else?

Personally I use a magnum primer on my .30-06 loads. Does it help? I don't know but I have a BUNCH of Federal 215's on hand so that's what I use.

19 May 2002, 02:55

snowman

snowcat It appears that you have been shooting Noslers and Barnes X bullets. I have never seen a rifle that would group with the Barnes X when you are also shooting other bullets in that barrel .The soft copper in the X bullet usually creates more copper fouling in your bore than other bullets. I suggest you thoroughly clean your bore and remove all copper fouling. Start over testing either the Noslers or the X's but NOT both at the same time. If this is a new barrel I would stay away from the X's until you have a 100 rounds or so through the barrel. 4350 & RL19 should group with 150 thru 180 gr bullets. RL22 & IMR 4831 should also work good with the 180's.

19 May 2002, 04:49

<Don Martin29>

I think that with the barrel setback that there is an opportunity to correct accuracy problems with an existing rifle.

Put the X bullets someplace where you will forget where they are and clean out your barrel and then clean it again. Buy some Sierra bullets and start over. This will sort out the other variables. Then when the big game season rolls around this fall you can use Partition interchangably with other regular bullets.

I would use magnum primers with 4831 type powders. I have a 30/06 improved and lots of 4831 and I get it in there with a drop tube. It shoots the same as it did when it was the standard chamber which is just OK I admit. I like the cartridge.