RL26 for 30-06 and 25-06

Now for some love for the 25-06, 30-06, and 7 Mashburn Magnum.

Never tried it. Still using IMR 4350 and IMR 4831 in my 25-06. Guess I need to check out 26.

I picked up a 8lb jug my self and going to be trying it soon.

I was really surprised at the case fill for the 30-06.

I wanted to try the 200 Hornady ELD-X in the wood stock 30-06. Here's a picture of the bullet at the lands. I held another bullet next to the case for comparison.



Here's 63 grains of RL26 in the case. It is pretty dense; it comes to just below the case neck. I'm confident I wouldn't be able to get 63 grains of IMR4350 in a 30-06 case.



And here is the bullet seated 0.02 off the lands, 63 grains RL26 underneath.



Now it's time for a pressure/velocity check to find a consistent velocity node.

Looking forward to seeing your results. The case fill on that 30-06 is much better than I would have expected, it looks like 56-58 gr of a more traditional 30-06 powder.

And I loaded up some for the 25-06 and 110 ELDX



0.03 off the lands. I loaded between 52.6 to 54.6 in 0.2 gr increments to check and see if there's a consistent velocity node in there. The Alliant loading data doesn't list the 110, but it lists a max for a 100 BT at 56.5 and a max at 51.5 for a 120 PT. I picked a range between the two. Hoping for a consistent velocity around 3200.

Since I am pretty much a fan of the 30-06, I'm very interested in your range & field results!

Thanks, Guy

Me too. I simply loaded 63 gr behind a 180 AccuBond. Yields 2850 and a touch under 1 MOA. Certainly worth playing with.


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RL26 is working great in my 25-06 and 270 WSM. The 25-06 and 100 gr Etips shot 1/2 Moa. Now I'm working on a target load with 115 gr Ballistic Tips blems, went up to 56.6 gr at 3280 fps, with no pressure signs. Scotty ran QL for me and max was 59.0 gr at 3260 fps, he did say QL is high for RL26, so I started at 50.0 gr and worked up slow. I wanted a light target load for this combo and didn't know if RL26 would work for that, in my 270 WSM it likes to be near max, but with the 25-06 I found a flat spot between 51.6 and 52.4. Loaded up some at 52.0, different OAL and found a great load, at 1/2 moa, with a SD of 8. Shot it again today to confirm and got .397" group at 100 yards, next 200 and 300 yards.

Nice!


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Joel, let us know how those 110 gr. ELDX Shoot for you, it will be interesting to see.

Will do! I had plans to get to the range last weekend to do the velocity check but sick kid. Maybe this weekend!


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I hope your young-one is dong better.
Good times at the range, always shooting for tight groups.
Take care

salmonchaser":25zmki9l said:

Me too. I simply loaded 63 gr behind a 180 AccuBond. Yields 2850 and a touch under 1 MOA. Certainly worth playing with.


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Click to expand...

2850 fps with a 180 gr AccuBond is certainly a combo worthy of any big game in North America!

Guy, I've had the rifle since 1968+\-. Spent the summer bucking bales, picking beans and berries to earn the money. Had it rebarreled in the late 90s after thirty years of hard service. She now sports a 26 inch PAC nor( I think) bbl. Always a tough call to leave her home or in camp, love that rifle, made some spectacular shots with her over the years.


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I made it out today, and the weather was chilly and misty. About 40 degrees. It rained here all day yesterday, so everything was wet, roads muddy. Perfect for a trip to the range, because I was there by myself for 2 hours!

The first shot of the wood stock 30-06 and the 200 grain ELDX I figured the load was too hot. As you see below that shot was within a grain of a slight ejection mark. Not a strong mark, but still a mark. But that range around 62.2 looks really flat! Still thinking about if it's too close to the ejection mark of 62.8.



Since last week I picked up some 200 grain Partitions. I might load up 61-62.2 and see how flat that is with the 200 PTs.

Also from the wood stock 30-06 I shot some 178 ELDXs and H4831. I got some impressive speeds out of the H4831, higher than I would have guessed. 60.2 to 61 looks pretty flat.



I brought my McMillan stock 30-06 with me. I had loaded some 180 Scirocco IIs and RL26. Really not sure where to start here because the whole range is pretty flat, but 63.2 looks pretty good.



And the 25-06, I need to do the test over. I started too low. But 53.8 looks superb if I can't find a node around 3200 or 3250.

With your 25-06 I would run 5 shots each with .1 gr up in charge between 53.6 and 54 grs to see what you get accuracy and SD, ES wise.

FWIW I think you have a little room yet in the 25-06.