i am having a 30/06AI built as we speak. it will have a 25" shilen bbl and i am looking for suggestions on what will be the best type of load to fireform the brass. cool, med. or hot loads. also would like to have some direction on good hunting loads for 165 and 180 grain bullets.

thanks

Bounty Hunter

See the post on favorite 30-06 loads. There you will find some options for all weights of bullets. That discussion should be mad permanent in my opnion as it is so popluar.

7mm. guy

I just use Winchester 30-06 ammo for fire forming. It works great. I have been working with 165gr Nosler Ballistics tips. 60.0 grains of Reloader 19 with Rem 9 1/2 primers. This will shoot sub MOA. I have been as high as 62.0 grains without any signs of pressure, however the group opens up a bit. The rifle is a Ruger #1 with a 26" Douglas barrel.

Bounty hunter, I shoot a Bill Wiseman creation in '06 AI and have found it's best to seat your bullets out to engage the rifling when fire-forming. I use a relatively full load of 4350 burning rate powder and a 180 grain bullet to form. Then the R22 or IMR 4831 and 180's or 200's will kill anything that walks the earth! Enjoy your new toy!

Bounty Hunter I spent a whole bunch of time.powder,bullets,and brass trying to outdo the Nosler #4 manual but couldn't do it. 59gr behind a 165 is the hot set-up. I can use 62.5 in my 30gibbs but not much difference over the ackley. A few yrs ago I DLP'd a brown bear in my yard with a 165 horn sp pt and a 470nitro wouldn't have killed him any faster. good luck Jim

Bounty Hunter,A few years back,I rechambered a friends Sako 3006 to AI.With 180gr.bullets we were able to average 2925fps with 60grs.of IMR4350.H4831 gave us an average of 2880fps.with 63grs.Those velocities came out of a 24" barrel.All loads tested showed excellant accuracy.

Favoite loads for my 26" barrel 30/06 AI:

165 gr. NBT of NPT

-66 grs. of Re19 gets ~3150 fps.
-69 grs. of Re22 gets ~3200 fps.

180 gr. NBT or NPT

-69 to 70 grs. of Re25 gets ~3100 fps.

Both would be running ~65,000 psi. All accurate in my rifle (Rem 700 with Hart barrel finished 0.75" diameter at the muzzle).

I'm posting this for those who perform a search for "favorite loads" for the 30-06 Ackley Improved.

After confering many times with Ackley Improved User, I took his suggestion to use Rel 25 and the Nosler 180 Ballistic Tip.

Rifle is a Rem 700 that has a 26" stainless Lilja barrel with a .542" diameter at the muzzle. The Nikon 4.5-14x40 is set at 14 and the side focus removes all paralax at 300 yds.

Winchester cases with .015" or less neck thickness variation were used. Fed 210M primers seated with a Lee Universal Primer tool. The brass has their primer pockets reamed and I use a fireforming load of 12 gr Bullseye under 1/4 sheet tissue paper, then Cream of Wheat topped of with another 1/4 sheet TP.

I weigh out 68.6 gr of Rel 25; this needs to be trickled in slowly with a funnel/6" drop tube. Powder which should come about 1/2 to 2/3's the way up the neck. I use the Lee collet neck die and the standard .3055" decapping mandrel which comes with the die, though I've broken off the decapping pin and first decap with a Lyman Universal decapping die.

When I started working up my loads via the Audette Ladder method at 300 yds, I was seating my bullets .005" into the lands. Once I settled on the 68.6 gr load I performed a seating depth test, moving away from the lands in .005" increments. Shooting was done at 300 yds. When I hit .015" off the lands my groups went to .5"-.75" groups. I use the Forster Ultra 30-06 seater die with a custom Ackley floating chamber; cost about $45 IIRC.

Velocity is hitting 3050 fps.

Please work upto these levels slowly and carefully. I started at 64 gr in .3 gr increments and was getting hard bolt lift and ejector marks at 69.5 gr (seated .005" into lands) during the ladder test.

Temps during the ladder test were in the single digits to teens. Primer test was in the 30's.

Like 308 Sako said for fireforming any wildcat. My 06 Ackley loves Win cases with 59 grs of IMR 4350 and 165 Barnes TSX sparked by CCI 250 primers.This load will shoot ragged one hole groups @ 200 yds.

Yep!

68.6 gr of Reloader 25 pushing 180 Nosler BT to 3050 fps. Even in 95 deg heat, no pressure signs two days ago.

Disregard the date on the photo. Their were no batteries when I went to take the photo and it reset the date to 20020101.

818 yds, 4.25" group

My absolute favorite rifle is a custom 30-06 Ackley Improved on a 98 Mauser action. I have loaded this with various 150 grain, 165 grain and 180 grain bullets and feel this is a very versitile cartridge for Pronghorn, Whitetail, Mullies and Elk. I have shot this for years and have extensive notes on various loads. This rifle has a number 2 contour, 24" long, 1-10" twist, chamber was cut with a Clymer reamer ("off the shelf dimensions"), headspace set .003" short of a standard 30-06 "go" gauge. Action is a german K98, receiver trued, bolt face trued, locking lugs lapped, glass bedded into a walnut stock, barrel free floated, timney sportsman trigger, etc. Magazine box was lengthened to 3.4". Only minor feed rail work was needed for flawless chambering. The short headspace will "pinch" the new un-formed brass in place for proper fire forming. Standard 30-06 loads were used to fireform the brass. Once fireformed, all brass was trimmed, primer pockets were de-burred and necks were annealed. All brass was neck sized only. Most load development was done with 165 grain Nosler Balistic Tip bullets but there were a few other bullets tested.

NOW...this is load data developed in my rifle and should not be used in another rifle without slowly working up! Guidelines only!

Here we go guys...

Lake City 68 MATCH BRASS
Winchester LR PRIMER
165 Nosler Balistic Tip
IMR 4350
60.1 GRAINS
2921 FPS AVERAGE

R-P BRASS
Winchester LR PRIMER
165 Nosler Balistic Tip
IMR 4350
60.2 GRAINS
3005 FPS AVERAGE

Lake City 68 MATCH BASS
Winchester LR MAG PRIMER
165 Nosler Balistic Tip
RELOADER 22
64.6 GRAINS
3014 FPS AVERAGE

Lake City 68 MATCH BRASS
CCI 200 PRIMER
165 Nosler Balistic Tip
IMR 4831
62.4 GRAINS
2967 FPS AVERAGE

R-P BRASS
CC1 200 PRIMER
165 Nosler Balistic Tip
IMR4831
62.6 GRAINS
3050 FPS AVERAGE

Lake City 68 MATCH BRASS
Winchester LR Primer
150 Nosler Balistic Tip
IMP 4350
61 GRAINS
2997 FPS AVERAGE

LC68 MATCH BRASS
Winchester LR Primer
150 Nosler Balistic Tip
IMR4350
61.5 GR.
3080 FPS AVERAGE

R-P BRASS
Winchester LR PRIMER
165 GR Nosler Balistic Tip
OAL SET .020" OFF LANDS
IMR 4350
59.8 GRAINS
2925 FPS AVERAGE

R-P BRASS
WLR PRIMER
165 GR Nosler Balistic Tip
OAL SET .010" OFF LANDS
IMR 4350
60 GRAINS
2991 FPS AVERAGE

R-P BRASS
WLR PRIMER
165 GR Nosler Balistic Tip
OAL SET .010" OFF LANDS
IMR 4350
60.5 GRAINS
3020 FPS AVERAGE

R-P BRASS
WLR PRIMER
180 GR NOSLER PARTITION
OAL SET .010" OFF LANDS
IMR 4350
60 GRAIN
2964 FPS AVERAGE (hot load)

R-P BRASS
WLR PRIMER
165 GR Nosler Balistic Tip
OAL SET .010" OFF LANDS
RELOADER 22
64.5 GRAINS
2962 FPS AVERAGE

R-P BRASS
CCI 200 PRIMER
165 GR Nosler Balistic Tip
OAL SET .012" OFF LANDS
RELOADER 22
64.8 GRAINS
2975 FPS AVERAGE

R-P BRASS
WLR PRIMER
165 GR Nosler Balistic Tip
OAL SET .010" OFF LANDS
IMR 4350
60.2 GRAINS
2993 FPS AVERAGE

R-P BRASS
CCI 200 PRIMER
165 GR Nosler Balistic Tip
OAL SET .012" OFF LANDS
IMR 4350
60.2 GRAINS
3058 FPS AVERAGE
(NOTE - AMMO SET IN FULL SUN AT 85 DEGREES FOR 1 HOUR BEFORE FIRING)

R-P BRASS
CCI 200 PRIMER
165 GR Nosler Balistic Tip
OAL SET .012" OFF LANDS
IMR 4350
60.2 GRAINS
3001 FPS AVERAGE

R-P BRASS
CCI 200 PRIMER
168 GR HORNADY A-MAX
OAL SET TOUCHING LANDS
IMR 4350
60.2 GRAINS
3029 FPS AVERAGE

R-P BRASS
CCI 200 PRIMER
165 GR Nosler Balistic Tip
OAL SET .020" OFF LANDS
IMR 4831
63.0 GRAINS
2998 FPS AVERAGE

Never use the above loads in brass that has not been fireformed.

Now what I have settled in on as a all purpose hunting load is the 165 grain Nosler Balistic Tip in R-P brass, Winchester LR Primers, IMR 4350, 60.2 grains, OAL set .010" off the rifling. This will average 3,000 fps and is very accurate (under 1/2" @ 100 yards in my rifle). Fine load for Pronghorn and Deer. For elk, back off the IMR 4350 a little and use a Nosler Partition loaded to 2,900 fps.

I have tried a lot of different powders other than the above listed ones. IMR 4895 is too fast burning and will show pressure signs when loading a 165 grain bullet at 2,900 fps. Reloader 22 is really too slow and inconsistant for me.

Have fun and be safe!

Tony