Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters RL26 in .30-06 and 200 gr bullets?

Before the Barnes X bullet showed up, the 200 grain .30 caliber Partition was very popular here in Alaska for both the 30-06 and the .300 Win. We used it in our 30-06 for years with IMR 4831 and I believe we were getting a bit over 2,600 fps mv out of the 22" barrels. The .300 mag. users were landing between 2,800 and 2,900 fps mv. Both cartridge's killed every thing very well with the 200 grain Partition and the flatter trajectory of the 180 grain bullet was not missed. That told and showed me that 2,600 fps or more mv velocity with the 200 grain Partition was a real killer of Alaskan game.

The velocities reported in this thread with RL 26 make the grand old 30-06 more better in my opinion if one wishes to use a 200 grain bullet. We long ago went to the 180 grain Barnes X and with in the last year went to the 168 grain TTSX for the 30-06. After reading this thread I may try some 200 grain LRX bullets with the 30-06 and RL 26 see what they do. I feel this would be a real "rompin stomping" dedicated big bear load and penetrate like crazy for shots under 300 yards, which is almost always possible in Alaska.

My little 6.5 lb. Husqvarna 30-06 is easy to carry with out a scope when hiking and fishing up here and 5 of those big 200 grain bullets in the magazine makes me feel I am well armed when stepping in them big brown bear tracks that are all over the Kenai. Hanging on to the little rifle when firing one of those heavy loads should be a hoot!

For us, the lighter Barnes X bullets kill very well and have much less recoil then the old 200 grain Partition loads. But, that 200 grain Partition .30 caliber bullet is a great killing bullet and seemed to shoot well in every rifle we saw it loaded in.

Thanks for your post; I figured as soon as I pulled the trigger on the first round and saw 2821 on the screen that most of the loads were too hot. But with a 24-inch barrel maybe more reasonable than I assumed. If a 200-grain bullet can get 2660 with a 20 inch barrel a 24-inch barrel should yield a bit higher velocity, maybe 2725 or 2750.

Thanks for your post, good to hear about the 200 PT. I have 2 boxes on the reloading bench at home! I read that JB has never recovered one, I take that as good feedback.

According to the above mentioned Speer Manual the '06 will loose approximately 20 fps per inch of barrel less than 24".
If 2660 is good in 20 inches then, in theory, 2740 should be possible from 24 inches.

Cheer,
Walt

Thanks!

If you’re pointing at a B B, I suspect you will be focused on the bear more than the recoil.
Good Luck


Jerry

I discussed a long time ago, about where one could not get enough 4831SC in an 06 case
to exceed SAAMI specs... Nosler's Ballistician actually came on line and backed me up...

so that being true, one should be able to assume one can't get enough RL 26 into an 06
case to exceed SAAMI specs, if RL 26 is even a slower burn rate than 4831SC.

Reloder 26 is much more dense than H4831SC so I would not bet that a case full could not produce excessive pressures. The loads that I used did exceed SAAMI specs for the 30-06, though hopefully did not exceed 65,000 psi. Speer #15, which I assume contains pressure-tested data, listed a maximum load of 57.8 gn of R26 for 2667 fps in a 24" barrel. Anything beyond that and you are on your own. I arrived at the loads I did by using Speer's approximation of 20 fps variation per inch of barrel and a careful application of JB's Rules. I think the loads I worked up are reasonable but cannot know for certain without actual pressure testing. Was all of this worthwhile for an increase of ~80 fps over the book velocity? Only a looney could say for sure.

Powders are assigned their place in burn-rate charts by lab tests. In actual cartridges burn rates can vary depending on the cartridge. For instance I have loaded for a cartridge where IMR4350 seemed to have a faster burn rate than Win. 760. Burn-rate charts should be regarded as a vague guideline only.

I probably babbled on long enough to bore veteran handloaders into a coma, or at least a refreshing nap, but wanted to clarify for those less experienced.

Cheers,
Walt

WOW. Can’t see much reason for a 338-06, 35 Whelen, etc.

Just FINALLY scored a jug of RE26 so I have to bring back this 2018 thread to see who else might have some new 30-06 200 Partition/ RE26 data to add.
To RinB,
I have two 338-06 and a wildcat I made that might be equated to something like a 338 Gibbs (if there ever was such a thing), a 35 Whelen AI, and a 9.3x62, but I am still jazzed to get a real nice 30-06 load with the 200 Partition (which I have loaded up on from SPS) at around 2700 FPS. The reason for the former rifles? Because I can! I reckon the '06 with the 200PT would kill most anything in the USA that the others would, but I just want to play with them all.

Cheers,
Rex

Still a bit skeptical RL26 is a optimum powder for the 06 and 200 grainers.

I mean, if a guy wants to stay within max SAAMI pressures anyway.........

I really enjoy reading these old threads, love to see BobinNH's posts...

Thanks for bringing it back to life.

I have a big jug of RL-26. Think I'll save it for my 7RM and such. I have other powders I'd rather use in my '06.

DF

Word from the ballisticians is you just can't put enough H4831 or Re26 in an '06 case to exceed SAAMI, and still seat a 200 PT.
And figuring the '06 is 60K PSI and the .270 Win is 65K PSI in exactly the same rifle, there is a pretty significant "pad' there to protect us fools and drunks.
Not that I bank on that.

Cheers,
Rex

This is very interesting to me as i just picked up an used left hand Ruger 77 30-06 and am a fan of heavy for caliber bullets and ive only used a 30-06 on a few occasions. Ive got got 338RCM which has a better form factor in that its lighter and more handy with plenty of power but the heavy bullet 30-06 is up my ally and makes sense.

Rex,

If there was lots of room for the 30-06 to grow in the pressure department I would think we would see 180 and 200 gr +P loads for it.

I realize SAMMI set the limits a long time ago with older rifles in mind, but with other old time cartridges boasting +P loads why not any heavy bullet loads for the most popular cartridge in America?

I have a 30-06 AI that went with me to Alaska twice in the early 90's, the second time with 200g NPt's. A year later a couple friends and I had unlimited access to a Oehler M48 Ballistics Lab. That 06 AI spent the summer with a strain gauge glued to it. I tried most of the slow burning powders from H4350, H4831, IMR7828, VV N170, and several more. None of those powders could I fill to the point of compression without exceeding 60k according to the M48, and ejector marks/flattened primers.

I realize RL26 carries a lot of energy, but I'm skeptical one can't exceed 60k--by a fair margin--in a 06, especially with a heavy bullet.

In recent times it seems everybody wants their 30-06 based cartridge to run at 65K because the 270W does. As JB said somewhere in this thread, RL26 is kind've a specialty powder that works well in a few cartridges--very overbore, highish pressure, heavy bullets.

I see Alliant as providing pressure/load data for the appropriate cartridges, leaving out most other cartridges. This gave handloaders--being handloaders--free reign to tamp as much powder as they want into their favorite case. Some of the velocities being posted on the internet makes me cringe.

These days guys are sprinkling RL26 on their Wheaties and claiming their farts go 200fps faster One of those days they're gonna blow their azzhole off........

Also, I have seen a number of elk killed with the 30 cal 200g, the 7mm 175g, and this year two elk with the 270 cal 160 NPt's. Based on those two elk, each shot twice, they all performed similarly and the one recovered 160g looked just like the recovered 7mm and 30 cal NPt's I have seen. And my lightweight 270 with a 160g NPt is a lot more fun to shoot than my lightweight 30-06 AI with a 200g.

Alpinecrick,
Thanks for your very reasoned post.
I took a little 30-06 200 NPT velocity ladder to the range yesterday and have now fired a total of 8 (eight!) rounds in my entire life powered by RE-26 so of course I am now an internet expert on that powder. That said, I'll share what I found.
I have to preface this with the fact that this rifle, a Sears JC Higgins M50 FN Mauser, has a "fast" barrel, which of course means it develops higher pressures with lower charges than most other barrels. As a reference, in this 22" barrel, 56.3 grains of my batch of H4350 gives the 165 NBT a touch over 2900 fps. For the 165 NAB, I back of to 56.0 to get the same speed. That's a LOT more fps than most manuals show for this powder and bullet combination. So view the following through that lens.
In Lake City '67 Match brass, sorted for less than .001" neck wall runout, I loaded the 200 NPT .050" off the lands which resulted in an OAL of 3.245 (this rifle has a slightly short throat).
These cases were charged with 58, 59, 60, and 61 grains of RE-26 and lit by a CCI250 primer. I realize most folks have been having great results with the CCI200, but I already had these 8 cases primed with the 250's and decided to just go with that versus trashing the primers (blasphemy, these days). I should note the first shot with 58 gr was from a clean barrel and hit well below the rest of the rounds. These are 2-shot "groups" at 100 yards:
58gr - 1.46", 2600 fps, ES = 48 fps
59gr - 0.71", 2646 fps, ES = 5 fps
60gr - 0.65", 2685 fps, ES = 1 fps
61gr - 1.80", 2760 fps, ES = 3 fps

Note in my rifle there was a significant spike from the otherwise smooth ramp-up of powder increase to fps increase going from 60 to 61 grains, and a big increase in group size. There were no traditional pressure signs in any of these, but recent data tell us these old standard signs often don't show up until approaching 70K PSI, so I no longer rely at all on primers and bolt lift, except to know that they are DEFFINITE signs I've gone way to far.

It really looks like 60 grains is a very sweet spot in my rifle, but because I am so set on not being the only kid on my block NOT getting 2700 fps with 200 NPTs and RE-26 I plan to load up 8 each of 60 and 60.5 grains (with CCI200s, of which I have "lots") for the next trip and see how they do. Will report back.

Knowing this particular rifle, I expect the average 30-06 will take an extra grain or two to do the same velocities I am getting. Of probably 50 of them lying around the house (including about a dozen 30-06s), this is the ONLY rifle that consistently produces higher velocities per grain of powder than most manuals show. So I know that and always approach it with caution.

Best to all,
Rex

Tag

I'm late to this thread but - I just finished load development with my 30-06, 200 Accubonds, Re 26. 60 grains, lit by a WLR. Goes a bit over 2700 and groups MOA. I do not believe it exceeds 60k psi. I like it.

Looks like a nice load. Should work well with most critters.

Mine loves 58.5 R26 Fed 210 Nosler brass