White Oak 06

I would like to know if your Vanguard likes the bullets to jump or touch ?
Powder , primers and bullets you use as well .
Thanks !!!!!

bronko22000

MY 06 load is 49 gr of IMR4064 under a Sierra Game King 180 gr. bullet. CCI large rifle primers. I normally start with my bullets .050" off the lands and work in or out from there to determine what the rifle likes. This of course is magazine permitting.

White Oak 06

Thanks for the feedback , I'm looking forward to learning the art of reloading soon.
I understand you have to have the correct powder for cal. and bullet weight, but how does powder play a role in accuracy ?
Is powder like bullets, meaning you have to find the right powder for your rifle ?

Ridge Runner

your rifle will tell you, it will like certain bullets, it will like them better at a certain velocity, at a certain pressure.
this is where the powder preference comes in, in the '06 you can bet that somewhere in the burnrate of the 4350 powders (IMR and H) you will find what your looking for
you can easily match factory load accuracy with reloads 99.9999% of the time, the challenge in reloading is bettering factory load accuracy
RR

Topgun 3006

Yep, I'd agree with RR 100%, as I'm using IMR 4350 for both my 25-06 and 30-06s and it performs very well with the Hornady BTSPs and SPs I put in front of it in all four rifles.

White Oak 06

This year I tried the factory hornady interlocks btsp and the fusion , both in 150 gr.
and they would not group.

So far the bullets that do group are fed. power shok 150 gr and scirrocco 150 gr

Is this bullet or powder ?
The ogive to the lands with these bullets that aren't grouping?

When I get started , I guess I could measure ogive length of the ones that don't group and compare to the ones that do group and have the the ogive length of lands to rim to get in the ball park of what's going on.

When they load at the factory , are they using the same powders that is offered to reloaders?

Thanks guys !

Ridge Runner

my answers to your ?'s are in red
RR

Topgun 3006

When you say they won't group, exactly what are they doing as far as MOA measurement, etc.?

White Oak 06

This information has been very helpful, thank you ! I am getting a better understanding.

The groups are not sub moa with bullets mentioned! Somewhere around 1.5 to 2 in.
The vanguard s2 is a sub moa rifle with the right bullet/ load.
I've had it a year so far and only tried 4 types of ammo so far.

This probably sounds crazy , but the ammo that doesn't group well causes a difference in recoil compared to the ones that shoot good !

2 in. can make a difference if you have to make shot beside a tree , but not for the broadside whitetail .

So ! in a nutshell , it's the burn rate from a powder and mainly the bullet design and weight for accuracy ?
Thanks again to all !

Topgun 3006

If you aren't reloading to get the benefit of really getting down to the nitty gritty of what the rifle wants, you may not get better groups than what you mentioned. How is the trigger on the rifle? That is one of the first things to look at besides the ammo because you can't have good groups with a lousy trigger than has a lot of pull, creep, and /or overtravel. I brought groups way down in my 03A3 just by putting a Timney in it and getting rid of the trigger the military used.