Powders for 30-06

T

Twohawks11

New member
I am planning on reloading nosler accubond 150 gn for my Remington 700 in 30-06. I have searched for a good hour on possible "recipes" and most all the info or requests are for 165 gn bullets.
I really would like some thoughts on what powder would be best to begin with (and any other advice you may have)
Thank you in advance for your time and help!
 
You can not top IMR 4350 powder for 150 gr. bullets in bolt action 30-06 rifles. Alliant Reloder 19 would be another option. Nosler 7th manual says start at 55 grains and work up to 59 grains maximum with IMR 4350. They used Nosler brass and Win LR primers in their tests. I like Remington brass and Remington 9 1/2 large rifle primers. Nosler tested the overall length with the 150 accubond at 3.320". Make sure this is not too long for your chamber. I load Hornady 150 SP's and no experience with Noslers.
 
Popular powders for the 150 gr bullet and the '06 are 4895 and what I call its near twin brother, 4064. These are mid range burning rate powders and result in higher velocities than most other powders. 4064 is often quoted as being the most accurate of the two. Check your loading manuals for loading data. What might be the worst load in my rifles could be the best in yours, or vice versa, so will not offer any specific formulas, other than to say if loading for the Garand, 47 or 48 gr of either is a common load with a 150 gr bullet. You can go higher with a bolt rifle for increasing velocity if desired.
 
Last edited:
Either H4350 or IMR4350 are about as good as it gets with 150-180 gr bullets. Lots of load data can be found here.

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/
http://www.alliantpowder.com/reload...wderlist.aspx&type=1&powderid=25&cartridge=83
http://www.ramshot.com/
http://www.nosler.com/load-data/

Hodgdon shows 62 gr of H4350 getting 3068 fps with Nosler bullets. I load mine with 60 gr at 3000 fps with MOA accuracy. I use their data for 165's and 180's as well.

I get virtually the same speeds and accuracy with either 4350 (load data is similar, but not exact between the 2). I prefer H4350 simply because it is less sensitive to temperature changes. Reloader 19 and 22 can be used, but are better with heavier bullets at or above 200 gr.

4064 and 4895 have a faithful following and I have no doubt they work, I've just had better results with either 4350. But a lot depends on what you can locate. If you can't find any of the above Ramshot Big game and Hunter are good choices. RL17 is very similar to both of the 4350's too.
 
I have had good results with 4350 and 4895, but overall I prefer WW760 - among other reasons it meters very consistently from my RCBS Uni-Flow.
 
IMR 4895 was developed for the US military 3006 about 100 years ago

I have found that it is my go to powder for 3006 and 308 with a 150gr
bullet
Others use a ball powder with a similar burn rate because it is easier
to meter in their machine, but I get a tighter pattern with 4895 ( a stick powder )

The load I use is 47.0gr IMR 4895 for 8 rifles
( 7 with 24 inch and 1 with a 16 inch barrel )

That puts the bullet in a node or sweet spot
( Load is safe for an M1 Garand )

There is another node with more powder pushing the bullet faster
but that is not safe for a Garand so I do not load to to that faster
node

In your search you need to keep in mind the Barrel length and Barrel
twist ( all of mine are 1/10 ) when you are looking for a powder

I use Varget for 168gr bullets and 4064 for 175gr bullets

Your load may vary from mine depending on components used
 
I have yet to get 4350 to shoot well in an 06 (I have a bull barrel on the way and will see if its just been the rifles.

Go to for us is H4831 (SC if you can get it for metering)

R17 has great possibilities, have to look to see if Hornady had loads for it in that low a bullet (308 it prefers the 168 and up). Salzare like it a lot.

R15 has been highly recommended as well.
 
Firewrench044 said:
IMR 4895 was developed for the US military 3006 about 100 years ago
Click to expand...

IMR 4895 was introduced in 1941, so 75 years old. It's mentioned in IMR's company history on the company web site. The ammunition we started with in WWII would have been existing stocks loaded with either IMR1185 or IMR1186. Both now long obsolete and discontinued.
 
In order of velocity (top/highest), based on
- 150gr Accubond/3.34"OAL/24" barrel
- 95%(+) burn
- 95%(+) case fill/No compression
- PMax of 55ksi

Alliant Reloder-17
Ramshot Hunter
Hodgdon H414 (same)
Winchester 760(same)
Vihtavuori N550
Ramshot BigGame
Alliant Reloder-15
IMR 4320
Hodgdon H380
Accurate 4064
Hodgdon H4350
IMR 4350
Hodgdon VARGET
IMR 4064
Vihtavuori N150
IMR 4007 SSC
 
For target shooting, Hodgdon Superformance gives best accuracy for my bolt action 30-06 with Hornady 150 grain (#3037) bullets.

A little surprised that others have not mentioned this powder.
 
Last edited:
My 30-06 has a definite preference for RL-19 when I shoot with 150gr bullets. When I am using a 165gr bullet IMR 4350 is the definite winner.
 
Thank you gentlemen for your replies and help.
I should have stated before that it is a rem 700 in 30-06 CDL with a 24" barrel and 1/10 twist.
Plan on shooting Nosler accubond 150 grain bullets, reloading Remington shells shot out of this rifle, with probably CCI large rifle primers.
All your info gives me a good base to start with
I thank you all!
 
As perhaps a final thought, you might consider 4895 or 4064 for the 150s and 4350 should you jump up to 180s.
 
Last edited:
Do you have any reloading manuals?

AT least one is mandatory (IMNSHO)

Two best (also IMNSHO) are Hornady and Sierra.

They both have as wide a range of bullets for all calibers (or any sane ones anyway) and they list a wide variety of powders as well as the needed data of case length, trim etc.

Frankly you should never do a load you don't cross check with a manual. 150 gr Nossler is going to be very close to a 150 gr Hornady or Sierra.

Not exact and not at max loads, but its a necessary reference and cross check.

A lot of good information on reloading practices as well.
 
Try IMR 4451 if you can find it, meters good and precision in my rifles has been stellar.
Nosler manual says RL19 is the most accurate powder, but it's truly hard to beat IMR 4350, been using that powder across a wide landscape of 3006 rifles since the mid 80's...
 
I've used IMR 4064 in my model 70 in 30.06. 50 gr. of it under a 150 gr. Barnes TTSX. And my Remington 700 in 30.06 likes IMR 4350 and heavier bullets. You can't go wrong using either.
 
I have to say that I am another in the camp with either IMR or Hodgdon 4350 for my higher velocity hunting loads in the '06. I mention higher velocity since I also use H-4895 for lower pressure loads shot from 03A3's which I don't need the added recoil or pressure with.

I have shot the 4350 loads through over a dozen mixed brands of modern built 30-06's though and have never had an issue of not getting good to great accuracy from them. With the 150's which is what I normally use, I seat them to 3.250". I have my seater set to the 150gr Nosler BT and everything else just works at that setting as well. Truth be told I haven't used the Accubond in this caliber, but have in the 25-06 and it shot equally as well as the standard loads did. In fact the first 3 rounds we loaded with them we had to ride out to the 200yd target to find I did in fact hit it with all three shots, they were just in one enlarged hole.

If I were you, and had some of either of the 4350's I would give them a good work up and see if they hit what your looking for. I would wager that somewhere in the neighborhood of the seating depth mentioned above you will find something starting to group really well as you get to the upper end of the loads.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top