RE: Good powder for the 30.06
 

I used two work for a gunsmith part time in the 70's.There were always remington 742's and 740's in there that were torn up by IMR 4350 and 4831.Not from pressure to high for a 30/06,but to much pressure at the gas port.The bolt opens too fast too soon.Things tend to bend.Quite often beyond fixing.Those guns are designed to operate with a pressure curve like you get with 4895 and 150 gr. bullets.You can load heavier bullets but I wouldn't use any powder slower than 4064,4320,Varget,RE 15,or 748 somewhere in that range of burning rates.I've delivered stuff to and picked up from the remington ammo plant in Lonoke,AR several times, they get powder by the train car.Reloaders have never been able to get the same stuff they use.A lab tech goes and gets a sample and they figure out how much to put in whatever caliber their loading this week.Of course there are different burn rates they don't use the same stuff in everything but we can't buy it.H4895 or IMR 4895 are hard to beat in a semi auto.

RE: Good powder for the 30.06
 

I'm getting a can of H4895 tomorrow

RE: Good powder for the 30.06
 

Not really sure why you would want to shoot the 220's in a .30-06? When my day gave me his .30-06 many years ago, he gave me some leftover rounds that he had, and some were 220 grainers. My father and mother were missionaries in Somalia in their earlier years, and these 220's were purely to be used as close range stopper rounds, not really for normal hunting. I definately think you would be much happier with the 180's. People trying to do what you seem to want to do with your .30-06 end up turning them into .35 Whelens/.338-06's to shoot the heavier bullets slower. Good Luck.

RE: Good powder for the 30.06
 

Ok, let me get this straight. So you know for a fact first hand, that remington only designed the gun for reloaders only. Not for the general public? Not for people who shoot factory ammo?

RE: Good powder for the 30.06
 

Yea I'm going to either shot the 180gr RN or the 165gr Nosler partion

RE: Good powder for the 30.06
 

I said "those guns were designed FOR A PRESSURE CURVE LIKE YOU WOULD GET WITH 4895 AND 150 GR. BULLETS."Where did you get the only for reloaders stuff?The original surplus 4895 powder marketed by Hodgdon after WW2 was what was used to load M-1 Garand and Browning 30 caliber machinegun ammo.When they load 30/06 ammo at the factory it is loaded with a pressure curve that will safely operate semi auto rifles.Because they don't know what it will be fired in.In the seventies winchester loaded factory ammo in 30/06 that worked great in bolt actions but when fired in rem 742 's the extractor tore the rim because the pressure was to high at the gas port,the operating rod opened the bolt before the pressure dropped enough in the case for it to be extracted.Wrong pressure curve. Winchester blamed the Rem.742 Remington blamed the winchester ammo.This was in several magazines at the time.Winchester quietly changed their 30/06 reciepe.I knew people that had this problem,cases stuck in the chamber sometimes,most of the time the case came out but with the case ruined as far reloading it because the rim was damaged. the American Rifleman had an article about bending the operating rod on M-1 Garands using 4350 and 4831.After seeing an operating rod on a Garand and 742 you would wonder how the rod on the M-1 could be bent since it isso much biggerthan the one on a 742.The guy I worked for did Remington warranty work,I think there was a factory service bulleten about slow burning powders in 740's and 742's.Hornady ligt mag ammo says on the box that is for bolt actions only,not semi-auto's.Pressure curve again.Speer reloading books have a section in the step by stepinstructionsand in the troubleshooting sectionon reloading semi auto's.For a 742 to operate like it's suposed too,you need a pressure curve like that produced by 4895 and 150gr. bullets,not nessesaarily with 4895 and 150 gr. bullets but like that.

RE: Good powder for the 30.06
 

I don't agree. I think thats a whole lot of heresay very little confirmed fact. I have talked before with engineers at the remington plant also, and he told me they use a powder that is compariable to 4350 for an 06 or 270. He wouldn't say what. I used to be concerned greatly with this stuff, and have discussed it with remington customer service, and they assured me, a modern 7400 is designed around modern high performance ammo.

I think most folks believe this because the M1 was loaded around the surplus fast powder. And then that legend kept going and going. No the 742 had some design flaws no doubt and will destroy itself sooner than later. But t

RE: Good powder for the 30.06
 

OK, here is my take on all this semi-auto pressure curve stuff. I load for 4 semi-automatic rifles, 1 Ruger and 3 Browning BARs. Some time ago I was getting the same conflictingadvice as many of you about burn rates and pressure curves.

I called Browning to get their opionion on this matter. The first thing they asked was, "whatis the serial number ofyour rifle". I was told that because I will be handloading for one of their rifles(any model) they needed the serial number to Cancel my warranty. No help there.
I then called several powder and bullet manufactures to get their opioins. They all pretty much said the same thing, The concerns about burn rates and semi-autos is geared towards the military actions like the M1. Modern rifles like the BAR are designed to handle the slower powders. That doesn't mean that they will handle the slowest powder for cartridge like R-22 in an 06 without ware-n-tare on the rifle. It also doesn't mean that extremely fast powder for cartridge like H4895 in an 06is the only powder one can use either.
There is a host of fine powders out there that will work just fine in your Rem without any problems. Just stay away from the very slow and in my opinion the very fast. If I wanted to load for the Rem semi in 30-06 I would look at Hunter, 4350, 4064 and the new IMR 4007.

RE: Good powder for the 30.06
 

The model 4 and7400 were designed after the people that designed the 740 and 742 retired.It ain't quite the same. With 4350 your still getting more as pressure at the port than you need to operate the action.With the number of 742's still around the factorycan't load ammo with a pressure curve that will tear it up.I have seen 742's with the reciever bulged out from 60 grs. of 4831,the surplus stuff you could get for $.25 a pound.You had to bring your own can.I had a Remington 740,middle loads of 4350 worked in it but it had a tendency to hang up,the case wasn't getting out of the way fast enough beforethe bolt went forward again because the bolt was moving to fast to sart with,to much pressure at the gas port.Didn't have that problem with 4895 or 4064,it had other problems but the jamming pretty much went away. Had a Belgian Browning too in 30/06,an entirely different,much higher class of semi auto.It was an offshoot of a Belgian military rifle design.Never shot any thing but 4895 and 4064 in it.That old gunsmith I used to work for used to say he made a living from torn up 742's and 740's that were shot with slow burning powder reloads.30-35 years ago 4895 was in the middle of the burn rate chart and thats what was said to work the best in semi auto's,powders in the middle of the burn rate chart.A lot of people have to make the same mistake others have made before them and suffer the results before they believe that they are making a mistake.An M1 Garand is a considerably stouter weapon than any Remington,every piece is heavier than the same piece on a remington,and if you can tear up M1's with slow powders than you can be assured of tearing remingtons with them.

RE: Good powder for the 30.06
 

No, you can't compare the two. There designs are totally differnet.