Has anybdy reached 3000 fps with a 165gr 30/06 ? If so,what powder was used?

That's pretty dang hot. Some 165gr Hornady Light Magnums I ran through a 22" 30-06 made 2,940fps, so there is a chance that they would have bumped 3,000 with a 26" barrel. Maybe some of that Superperformance stuff can do it. I don't know of any handloads that will hit 3,000fps in a typical 22-24" barrel.

I've done so with Hornady BTSP and Sierra BTHP bullets with 3 powders: R-19, N-204, and H-205. And in these 2 rifles: Ruger M77 tang model that has a longish leade, and a S&W 1500 (Howa) with a 24" barrel. This was back in the 1980s when I was younger and, perhaps, more foolish.

Although I saw no obvious signs of excessive pressure, ie sticky bolt lift, burnished case heads from the ejector, >.001" head expansion; I backed down to around 2900 fps for general use.

Like handling snakes, I can't help but believe that, in time, toying around with over-max loads is inviting trouble. I don't like to red-line the tachometer on my pick-up either.

If you only have 2960 fps you will have to move the truck
4 feet closer.

.............You might not be able to find an available over the counter powder which will get 3000 fps from a 165 grainer. Though some faster `06 barrels might get that.

Hodgdon as of now, doesn`t list their new Superperformance powder for the 30-06.

But for now, you may have to look to Hornady factory ammo to achieve 3K.

www.hornady.com/store/Superformance-with-InterBond-bullets

Play the video. About 2 minutes in, you`ll see Boddington shooting the factory 165 gr Hornady Superformance ammo and getting chrony results of just over 3K from a 30-06.

A while back I did it with R19 and a 165 Sierra HPBT.

Dober

What will 3K fps do for you that 2900 won't?

.........Either you are running a darn fast bore along with a longer barrel or Alliant, Sierra, and Lyman are listing "lawyer loads" as their max loads.

From Alliant; 22" barrel 30-06; 59 gr RL19; 165 gr Speer @ 2614 fps. (Didn`t specify max or not)

From Sierra; 26" barrel 30-06; 55.8 gr RL19 (max); 165 gr Sierra @ 2800 fps.

From Lyman; 24" barrel 30-06; 60.4 gr RL19 (max & compressed); 165 gr Nos BT @ 2816 fps.

In any event, 3000 fps w/165 bullet using RL19 from a 30-06 is extraordinary.

....Nothing. But it`s more a curiosity (push to the limits) issue than anything else.

Out of that barrel it did it with (and I'm going from memory) but it seems to me it was with 61/R19. One of my manuals lists 60/R19 @ 2980.

Side note, in my Mothers M70/06 with 22" barrel I run 59/H4350 and a 165 Horn and it runs in 41 degree weather @ 2943 fps.

It worked last fall on this bull opening morn last year @ 411 yds..



Dober

I ran 57.5gr of RL-17 and 168gr tsx with cci BR2 primer was getting avg 2970fps at 10' from the muzzle. The accuracy was good but on different days it would have different POI. Drop it and went to H4350.

Dober,
I'd say that worked!

I have seen it from a couple of 30/06's with H205,a long gone powder, but very good in the 30/06. Rifles were a Savage 110 and a Dakota M76 with 23" tube....

I'm more relaxed at at 2900-2950 or so and 59 H4350.

Dober's load of RL19 comes close;I have had similar results.

Side note, I've come to a play in my loading where I pretty much work up to max and then back off 100 fps so as to help out with hot and cold temps (meaning pressure is fine at both temps) and to help out with how lots of powder can differ.

I run dotz or turret and 100 fps means nothing to me, even on the guns I do the old 2" high or something like that I'm quite fine with it.

Dober

Dober a 165 at 2850-2950 is a pretty hard load to beat for about anything that we commonly hunt.....if that won't work for ya,a guy should pop a Coors and stay home.

I loaded some for my 19 year old that were a mere 2886 fps with 56.5 grs. IMR 4350. He was pretty happy with the performance at 20 yds.
They won't get stuck halfway down the barrel either.
I guess at 3,000 fps it would really flatten out the trajectory for those long 30 yd shots!
whelennut

You can do it, but I would get a Rem 700 action, and chamber a 28" barrel w/ 3/8 th's freebore and do it the easy way.

Gunner

I can do it with mine. 168 NBT 24" 3 grove. No problem, RL-17

I know from a conversation with Mike, in Nosler's ballistic department a few years ago, that he indicated one couldn't get enough H4831 SC in a case to overpressurize it past SAAMI specs..

so that really ought to hold true with a 165...

I know I can reach 3000fps. with the 165gr bullet in an .06, but the draw back is I'd probably only be able to do it once then I'd need a new rifle. Seriously, I'm the cautious type, 2900fps or so will be safe and powerful and with the right bullet it'll kill the biggest cud chewers in this part of the world.

Nosler list a 3000 fps load with their 165g for the '06 in their manual. I think the powder was R-19 or R-22.

just checked the Nosler #6 manual.

63.0 RL-22 with a 165/8 gr bullet at 3002.

Surprised me.

Steve

Strangely enough, they show 3002fps for the highest velocity in a standard 30-06, but only 2940fps with an Ackley, both with 24" Lilja's.

Steve: I tried that load in a pre 64 M70 FW with 22" barrel and it clocked on the mid 2700's(!?).....I subsequently found that I could go almost as high with RL19 and wound up around 61 gr R19 for vels of about 2950.....that was as close as I could come.

Don't know how others have made out.

Bob,
Interesting info.
I've been pretty satisfied with about 2850fps with a 165 in my NULA 30-06. So I really don't have a dog in this hunt.

But the 3002fps in the Nosler manual surprised the hell out of me.
Your getting 2700 + seems more realistic.

Steve

Yeah, I too have seen the Nosler #6 load with R22, but no rifle I've tried it in got anywhere near 3000fps. And @ 62grs it is a highly compressed load, more importantly accuracy was never good. If I wanted to reach 3000fps I'd go with a 26" barrel and R19 then lean on the powder measure hard.

The old Hornady Light Mags clock an advertised 3015 fps out of a 24" barrel.At 40 degree's they clock 2975 fps(my 24") and my hand loaded 165 Sierra's do 2915 fps,at 40 degree's.




Jayco

Logcutter that's about what I got from the Fed Prem as well.

A lot might play on how your rifle is chambered and your barrel.
How many groves, how long it is. Free bore if any.

Happy Hunting

I was getting 2950+fps out of my 22" A-Bolt .30-06 with the Nosler load before I swapped it off. Same load in a Mauser 3000 in .30-06 got about 2700+fps go figure.

There you go.
Guns, they are each to there own.

I don't remember exactly right off the top of my head, but on an average day that 63 gr RL22 w/ Hornady SSTs got me about 2700 fps w/ a 23.6" barrel.

In that rifle I've gotten nearest (and I mean VERY near) 3k w/ 165 gr SSTs & RL19 & RS-Hunter.

As others have said, while I like to tinker as much as any rifle loony, there isn't a darned thing that 3k will do that 2900 won't.

Not in the 06 mind you and just a side journey for a second but...friend Mac was shooting some 165 Fed HE's one day in his 308 and I can't recall the speed for sure but it seems to me it was in the 2900 range in his 22" tube...wowsa

Dober

Anyone with a 308 win ought to try out the 2000MR powder from Alliant. It is exceeding their listed max in my 23" 308 win right now. Looks like quite a bit of room as well. 2850-2900 fps with this powder and 165 gr bullets looks very safely obtainable. My numbers with other powders in this gun (ie, Varget, TAC, etc) look very consistent with many others here, and with listed data. So I am believing what I am seeing. It is also doing great with 150 gr bullets and in the wife's 7-08ai. This 2000MR looks to be even faster than their already fast listed loads on their website. Worth a check IMO.

Thanks for the tip on the new powder.

Out of a 24" barrel, I get 2930 fps with 165 Accubonds and 58 gr of H4350. Pretty accurate, too.

as a side note i got 2880 with fed HE 180s out of my 22 inch rem 700ti. i new when it went off out of that light gun. i only got 2980 with fed 180 tsx out of my 300 wm 26".

I just did a search of a bunch of recent data, and the highest velocity with 165's in a .30-06 is still Nosler's 63-Reloder 22 for 3002. They must have had an exceptional lot of powder, though Partitions do develop somewhat more velocity (and pressure) than most other bullets. I've even given them a little cheerful grief about their "magic" RL-22, though some lots of 22 have varied noticeably. Alliant, by the way, lists 62 grains a max, for 2725 fps with the 165 Speer Hot-Cor, also a bullet that develops more pressure than average.

The next highest velocity was from Hodgdon: 2938 fps from 59.0 H4350. They don't list barrel length but no doubt it was a 24", the standard SAAMI length for pressure-testing these days.

Most manuals top out at 2880-2920 in a 24" barrel, with 760, Accurate 4350 and Ramshot Big Game the most common powders. I suspect, however, that Ramshot Hunter might get 3000 in a 24" barrel. Ramshot lists it at slightly lower velocities than Big Game, but the pressure of their maximum Hunter load (62.5 grains) is only 55,700 psi.

Like all the Ramshot rifle powders, Hunter is a very dense ball powder, so more than 62.5 grains would fit in a .30-06 case. I might try it with a lead-core bullet like the Partition or Hot-Cor that develops a little more pressure, and see what happens in my 24" barreled NULA--very carefully, of course.

59g of H4350 and a 165g hornady interbond does almost 3000 from my 24" broughton 5c but it is showing pressure signs so I usually back it down a grain for that gun and run em about 2950. That broughton barrel runs faster and generates pressure with lower charges than my other 30-06's.

I usually run 56g H4350 and a 180 AB and it clocks 2775. I tried 57g with the 180 and it was a bit too hot and clocking 2840.

I've got an 8# can of Hunter I'll have to play with.

Bb

What makes you think that 3000fps is high velocity????????????

One thing it seems every reloader ignores,is brass capacity...There not all the same and the '06 is no different!!!!It does make a difference...




Jayco

That aint no lie. I can't remember the headstamp but I remember trying a load from a Speer manual using different brass than they used and the charge wouldn't even come close to fitting in the case.

I hit it today. RP brass, WLRM primers, 63 gr Hunter, and 168 gr NBT; 3074, 3003, and 3038 fps for 3 shots.

I won't be doing it again because the primers were pretty flattened. On the upside, however, was the accuracy at about an inch in a mountain-weight rifle!

Try 58 grains of RL-17, this will put you in the hunt.

I went up to 57 and was at 2900, but didn't go above that... yet...

Years past I have seen some H205 loads that broke 3000 with a 165...one rifle was a Savage 110.

In any event that powder always got us easily into the high 2900's from 22-23" barrels.

But I have shot those loads,and others that hovered in the high 2800's-low 2900's to 400-600 yards.Near as I could tell there was not a lot of difference;and I sort of concluded if you want to beat what a 30/06 gives, you better beat it by a lot to see any differences.....which to me, means a 300 magnum of some sort.

You're absolutely right; with primers as flat as those I had w/ my recent foray, I'm happy w/ 2900.

There is some magic to 3k that makes it an obsession but you're correct Bob, that is what a 300 WSM is for I suppose.

Mans gotta see all the zero's...

Dober

I'm a believer that most non-magic powders suitable for the 30-06 top out around 2,950 max for a 165 w/ a 24" barrel. Personally, I've never been able to go beyond around 2,880 comfortably with a 22" barrel, but I never used RL22 either

Nosler's "magical" load of 63 gr RL22 did only like 2700 fps in my 23.6" barrel w/ a 168 gr NBT.

Here are the caseheads after my Hunter excursion related above:



I'm definately happy w/ "only" 2900 though !

Dober/ew: 2900 knocks the snot outta anything I've seen killed.....