3006 Hornady 165 gr Interlock

[338winmag]

Well time for a crazy question.
Has 3006 owner ever used Hornady's 165gr Interlock BTSP and had the seating depth at -.050 or greater off the lands?

I am just not getting any decent groups (would really like sub MOA @ 100) with this Savage when trying many depths from touching to -.040.

The cannelure is at about -.035 and wondering if anyone has ever seated this particular bullet\caliber deeper.

Thanks
Steve

 

[FOTIS]

Never in My 06's but.... never had one not shoot these well even far from the lands. H4350 is your huckleberry.

 

[JD338]

How does the rifle shoot other bullets?
I foound out a long time ago that if a given rifle doesn't shoot BT's, there are other issues with the rifle. This is why I usually start my load development with BT's.
Give the 165 gr BT a try in your rifle and see what she can do for you.

JD338

 

[338winmag]

Thanks
I am using H4350 and WLRs. I am trying one more option and that is to lower the powder charge to 55.7. At 57 I was getting 2900's. If that doesn't work, I am off to another bullet.

Thanks
Steve

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Yeah I too have never had ANY trouble with that load. I used 56.5-57grains with H4350 and WLR's and seated to the cannelure depth. I have since moved on to Accubonds in my 30-06 of the same weight and same recipe but I would never hesitate to shoot the Hornady's again, they did well, especially on deer. Hmm...

 

[6mm Remington]

IMR4350! H4350 would be equally as good. Which ever one it likes best...

 

[SJB358]

Looking forward to seeing how your loads work out Steve. I am sure you will get it shortly! Scotty

 

[efw]

I've never experienced this but have heard that rifles can react badly to boat tails.

Have you tried the flat based version of this bullet at all?

My '06 LOVES the 165 gr SST w/ RL19 and Ramshot-Hunter for a balance of accuracy & velocity. For pure accuracy w/out the speed RL22.

While the 4350s are the old standbys for the 165 in the '06, I've had great experience w/ the above 3 powders. I've tried IMR-4350 but haven't had as the results I did w/ the others. RL19 & Hunter are the absolute best IMHO.

Good luck!

 

[tddeangelo]

I have used these a lot, mostly from Light Magnum ammunition when it was produced.

Hornday seats them DEEP. I no longer have my measurements recorded, but they were seated noticeably deeper than the Hornady manual lists. The factory ammo had the cannelure just about all the way invisible with how deep they seated them.

 

[338winmag]

Guess What Team! I had almost given up - never!
There was a long response delay because I had to go out 3 additional times to the range.
Scotty you just knew I wouldn't rest till I figured this out.

I had to do three changes:
First Trip:
I was getting 2980's with 57.7 and no pressure signs. I brought the charge down significantly (less 3.6 grains) This brought my speed down about 185 FPS to 2795 FPS and closed the groups about 1/2".

Second Trip:
I changed the seating depth to on the Lands.
I also crimped slightly tighter tension. Vernier show inside diameter to be .0035 less caliber diameter. Not sure if using a vernier instead of a micrometer makes a significant difference.
Guess what - had two out of three 4 shot groups at .538 and .489. Third group had a slight flier making it just under 1".

Third trip:
Loaded 18 rounds to test and validate. Shot two 4 shot groups and I am happy. Each group had a flier making them just under 1" groups but that is becuase these fliers had an ES deviation of almost 35 FPS. (I am opening another posting asking about why?)



Thanks all
338winmag

 

[ACLakey]

Glad things are looking up for your 06. I shot the 165gr Hornady Interlock in front of 57.5gr of H4350 for a long time with moa accuracy and a lot of dead critters. My grandpa shot the same bullet with IMR4350 for many years with great results. A few years ago I switched to the 165gr BT and 165gr AccuBond combination as they have virtually the same poi for my rifle. These the BT/AccuBond gives more consistent groups and seems to kill just fine.

 

[338winmag]

Thanks ACLakey
I forgot to mention that on the second trip I used both Hornady 165s and Sierra 165s both boat tails and the last trip I used only Sierras. Both bullets had excellent 1/2" groups and only the POI was different. Even the velocities were very close to the same.

 

[jmad_81]

Way to hang in there. I gave up on a rifle to soon one time, will never happen again.

 

[SJB358]

Excellent job Steve! You are really mastering the craft buddy. Pretty addicting stuff huh! Scotty

 

[1Shot]

If you are loading to touch the lands and are going to be using this to hunt with you may be sorry. Speaking from the school of been there and done that. They make those hunting bullets on different machines and the ogive is not always in the exact place lot to lot. You can also get a little slop etc. in your seating die and cause you to load that bullet just a touch too long. If you load one of those rounds that are even just a couple thousands longer in your rifle while hunting and do not shoot it when you go to unload your rifle it can, and in my case, IT DID stick the bullet in the bore and when the case was pulled away from the bullet it dumped the powder all down into the action. I did not have a cleaning rod with me to poke the bullet out of the bore and had to drive 60 miles round trip to get one. I never load any closer than 10 thousands to the lands for hunting ammo now. Try different primers they do make a BIG difference in accuracy. Also I have found that it pays off to try different powers to achieve the accuracy and velocity I want. IMR 4064 has always been a good powder for me in the 06 with 150 & 165 gr bullets. Don't settle for "that will do" get what you want within reason out of your loads and rifle.

 

[338winmag]

1Shot...
Very good thoughts. I ended up using on the lands after testing so many ladder combinations and no go... I might try .005 off. This is for hunting so you have a good point.

One of the reasons I have gone to Hodgdons powder is their advertising temperature insensitivity. Every season we hunt in Colorado, some days will be 77 degrees and then a few days later drop down to 30 degrees. If I am buying into some hype, let me know.

Thanks

 

[SJB358]

I don't think it is a bad thing to look for temp insensitivity, but all in all, I haven't found the others to really be a detriment to my hunting which is fairly short range compared to many. RL22 is supposed to be really bad, but in my shooting in the dead of winter and then in the heat of the Va Summer, I haven't found enough difference to think it is as bad as some say. Also, I try not to load on the edge that will lock up a rifle if there is a change in temp upward, so maybe that helps me to some extent. Scotty

 

[jmad_81]

I think it is great to be aware of the themp sensitivity, but in all reality I don't think a guy will see a huge difference in POA in field contitions, under normal hunting conditions. My brother and I did an expirament with the ballistic calc. the other day. We were talking about the down side to CDS dials (being one elevation, temp, bullet, speed), so we put a bunch of different enviromental conditions into our calculator. (turns out the CDS dials don't have as big of a disadvantage as I thought.)

We used a 140 AB with at BC of .496 out of a 270 WSM.

We started off with a 140 AB @ 3200 Elevation of 800 feet (here at the farm), temp of 60, and calculated a drop chart out to 600 yards. Drop was 49.25"

Next we changed the elevation to 4000 ft (a big higher than our normal hunting range), left the temp at 60 and calulated the drop out to 600 yards. Drop was 49.72"

Next we changed the temp to 30 degrees and left the elevation at 4000 feet and the bullet speed the same. Drop was 51.38"

Finally we guessed that we would lose at the most 75 FPS due to temp so we dropped the fps to 3125, kept the elevation at 4000, and the temp at 30. Drop was 54.21" (75 fps slower only made a 3" difference).

I guess my point is that even if you do get some temp difference, its not going to be a ton, and I know that in my light hunting rifles I would have a hard time shooting the 3" difference at 600 yards. If a guy is hunting at normal hunting ranges (450 and under) I don't think that a guy would have to worry to much about the difference in fps caused by temp. Most of the powders I use are not the H extreme powders. Nothing against them, I just found loads with other powders that worked great and stuck with them.

Don't be afraid to try other powders to see that your gun likes.

 

[338winmag]

Jmad_81 and Scotty
Some excellent experience testaments. That has made me re-think the temp insensitive scenario.

 

[DrMike]

Though many of those for whom I develop loads specify they wish their loads developed with Extreme Powders, I've never made that my focus for my own rifles. I haven't had a problem in a hunting situation yet. On the other hand, I'm not hunting in extremely high temperatures.