Internet searches for the above powder and bullet combo yielded very few useful hits, however, the believable information I saw seemed to indicate that there an OCW in the 57ish grain powder charge.
I read some of German Salazar’s post on 30-06 reloading and one of the things he did was compare the bearing surface of the 185Berger to the 175 SMK…turns out they are pretty close. This bit of information squares with the accuracy node I read on the internet since 57-58gr of H-4350 produces excellent results with 175gr SMKs.
Now, despite this conclusion I reached, I’m no fool…I’m cognizant of the perils of getting one’s reloading information from strangers on the internet. I therefore started my OCW test with 56gr of H-4350...(back in the old days when powder was readily available, I would have started another grain lower, but I’m down to my last jug so this test needs to be efficient…no exploring the low and high nodes). If these test loads produce a hint of pressure, then the test is over, and the plan would be to go home, start two grains lower and work up to first hint of pressure.
Here are powder charges I loaded for the test 56.0gr, 57.0gr, 57.5gr, 58.0gr, 58.5gr and 59.0gr of H-4350.
Due to my schedule, I chose to abbreviate the reloading process…I prefer Winchester brass, however, the only clean 30-06 brass I had on hand were surplus Korean brass (fired from my M1 Garand) so they would have to do for this test.
I conducted no brass preparation prior to this test. Pressed for time, I chose to simply sort the brass by weight. Each brass was sorted into lots no heavier than 1 grain.
Brass was then full length sized, primed, and each powder charge dispensed from my RCBS chargemaster.
I measured the throat on the savage and seated the 185Bergers with a 30-thousands jump to the lands.
Bullet seating was performed with a Forster micrometer seating die.
Test was performed over two days since I could only conduct this test after work and was racing against darkness. The loads were not fired round robin as per OCW, however, the barrel was allowed 1-2mins to cool between shots.
Velocity data was obtained using a MagnetoSpeed V2 chronograph.
The rifle is a Savage Model 112 BVSS chambered in 30-06. It comes in a laminated stock with a 26” SS fluted varmint profile barrel and of course the wonderful accutrigger. My only dig at this rifle is it’s buttpad…it sucks. Recoil is punchy, not punishingly so, but not something I could stomach for 70+ rounds or so fired at our monthly 1,000yard match. I installed an ill-fitting (it does not fit laminated wood stocks) limbsaver recoil pad in its place and shot a 5-shot group today. HOLY COW!!! The recoil vanished. The advertised recoil reduction is 70%...I think it's more...I cant feel the recoil...at all...it recoils less than my 308AR with a muzzle brake!!!
Following are the result of the tests:
56gr H-4350:
2,843ft/s
2,842ft/s
2,828ft/s
2,802ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,829ft/s
SD 19
ES 34
57gr H-4350
2,866ft/s
2,883ft/s
2,868ft/s
2,889ft/s
2,891ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,877ft/s
SD: 10
ES: 25
57.5gr H-4350
2,891ft/s
2,895ft/s
2,901ft/s
2,920ft/s
2,890ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,899ft/s
SD: 12
ES: 30
58.0gr H-4350
2,939ft/s
2,922ft/s
2,942ft/s
2,929ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,933ft/s
SD: 8
ES: 20
58.5gr H-4350
2,915ft/s
2,963ft/s
2,956ft/s
2,947ft/s
2,929ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,943ft/s
SD: 20
ES:48
59gr H-4350
2,956ft/s
2,972ft/s
2,958ft/s
2,951ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,959ft/s
SD:10
ES: 21
Needless to say, I was very impressed with the results . I was hoping to get achieve an accuracy node with a velocity in the low 2,800s and almost fell off my chair when I saw the velocity readout after touching off the first 56.0gr load.
It appears from this crude test that I have an OCW around 57.5gr node. I will re-shoot this test at a latter date loading up from 57.0 up to 58.5 in 0.3gr increments to ensure that I am interpreting the results correctly.
On the 58.0 gr shot string, I accidentally picked up and shot a 59gr charge…the POI was right where the POI for the 58gr group was.
I should mention that by the 59gr charge, I started to notice incipient signs of pressure. Bolt lift was normal, primers, a bit flat, however, there was a slight glow on the case head from the bolt during firing.
I have an informal 1,000yard squadded practice on Saturday, and will run the 57.7gr load to see how well it does down range & to also verify the chrono numbers. Time permitting, I will be trimming the brass, primer pocket uniforming, weighing brass & bullets, blah, blah, blah. Our I may just run w what I got..i mean 12fps deviation from the average should yield decent groups downrange.
I used to be indifferent and even critical of Berger bullets due to their price, and problems reported all over the internet about how finicky they are to tune…now, after shooting them, I can’t bring myself to go back to Hornady, Nosler/Sierra types…except for maybe the 208AMAX…if I can get decent velocity (2700ft/s) out of them, I may run those exclusively in the -06 and save these for the 308s.
I read some of German Salazar’s post on 30-06 reloading and one of the things he did was compare the bearing surface of the 185Berger to the 175 SMK…turns out they are pretty close. This bit of information squares with the accuracy node I read on the internet since 57-58gr of H-4350 produces excellent results with 175gr SMKs.
Now, despite this conclusion I reached, I’m no fool…I’m cognizant of the perils of getting one’s reloading information from strangers on the internet. I therefore started my OCW test with 56gr of H-4350...(back in the old days when powder was readily available, I would have started another grain lower, but I’m down to my last jug so this test needs to be efficient…no exploring the low and high nodes). If these test loads produce a hint of pressure, then the test is over, and the plan would be to go home, start two grains lower and work up to first hint of pressure.
Here are powder charges I loaded for the test 56.0gr, 57.0gr, 57.5gr, 58.0gr, 58.5gr and 59.0gr of H-4350.
Due to my schedule, I chose to abbreviate the reloading process…I prefer Winchester brass, however, the only clean 30-06 brass I had on hand were surplus Korean brass (fired from my M1 Garand) so they would have to do for this test.
I conducted no brass preparation prior to this test. Pressed for time, I chose to simply sort the brass by weight. Each brass was sorted into lots no heavier than 1 grain.
Brass was then full length sized, primed, and each powder charge dispensed from my RCBS chargemaster.
I measured the throat on the savage and seated the 185Bergers with a 30-thousands jump to the lands.
Bullet seating was performed with a Forster micrometer seating die.
Test was performed over two days since I could only conduct this test after work and was racing against darkness. The loads were not fired round robin as per OCW, however, the barrel was allowed 1-2mins to cool between shots.
Velocity data was obtained using a MagnetoSpeed V2 chronograph.
The rifle is a Savage Model 112 BVSS chambered in 30-06. It comes in a laminated stock with a 26” SS fluted varmint profile barrel and of course the wonderful accutrigger. My only dig at this rifle is it’s buttpad…it sucks. Recoil is punchy, not punishingly so, but not something I could stomach for 70+ rounds or so fired at our monthly 1,000yard match. I installed an ill-fitting (it does not fit laminated wood stocks) limbsaver recoil pad in its place and shot a 5-shot group today. HOLY COW!!! The recoil vanished. The advertised recoil reduction is 70%...I think it's more...I cant feel the recoil...at all...it recoils less than my 308AR with a muzzle brake!!!
Following are the result of the tests:
56gr H-4350:
2,843ft/s
2,842ft/s
2,828ft/s
2,802ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,829ft/s
SD 19
ES 34
57gr H-4350
2,866ft/s
2,883ft/s
2,868ft/s
2,889ft/s
2,891ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,877ft/s
SD: 10
ES: 25
57.5gr H-4350
2,891ft/s
2,895ft/s
2,901ft/s
2,920ft/s
2,890ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,899ft/s
SD: 12
ES: 30
58.0gr H-4350
2,939ft/s
2,922ft/s
2,942ft/s
2,929ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,933ft/s
SD: 8
ES: 20
58.5gr H-4350
2,915ft/s
2,963ft/s
2,956ft/s
2,947ft/s
2,929ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,943ft/s
SD: 20
ES:48
59gr H-4350
2,956ft/s
2,972ft/s
2,958ft/s
2,951ft/s
Avg Velocity: 2,959ft/s
SD:10
ES: 21
Needless to say, I was very impressed with the results . I was hoping to get achieve an accuracy node with a velocity in the low 2,800s and almost fell off my chair when I saw the velocity readout after touching off the first 56.0gr load.
It appears from this crude test that I have an OCW around 57.5gr node. I will re-shoot this test at a latter date loading up from 57.0 up to 58.5 in 0.3gr increments to ensure that I am interpreting the results correctly.
On the 58.0 gr shot string, I accidentally picked up and shot a 59gr charge…the POI was right where the POI for the 58gr group was.
I should mention that by the 59gr charge, I started to notice incipient signs of pressure. Bolt lift was normal, primers, a bit flat, however, there was a slight glow on the case head from the bolt during firing.
I have an informal 1,000yard squadded practice on Saturday, and will run the 57.7gr load to see how well it does down range & to also verify the chrono numbers. Time permitting, I will be trimming the brass, primer pocket uniforming, weighing brass & bullets, blah, blah, blah. Our I may just run w what I got..i mean 12fps deviation from the average should yield decent groups downrange.
I used to be indifferent and even critical of Berger bullets due to their price, and problems reported all over the internet about how finicky they are to tune…now, after shooting them, I can’t bring myself to go back to Hornady, Nosler/Sierra types…except for maybe the 208AMAX…if I can get decent velocity (2700ft/s) out of them, I may run those exclusively in the -06 and save these for the 308s.
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