You're not talking about handloading "modern" .30-06, you're talking about loading an over-pressure .30-06 +P or whatever you want to call it.
No, I’m talking about loading to SAMMI pressures. The .30-06 does what the 308 Win can do but at lower pressures.
“Winchester also lists a 190g .30-06 load at 2750fps. Velocity and energy at 300 yards is listed at 2339fps/2309fpe with a 7.5" drop. There is no comparable .308 Win load, the 180g Power Point being the closest in terms of bullet weight but it only has 1971fps1553fpe at 300 yards with a 9.7" drop. In fact, as measured by retained energy, the .308 /180g load at 95 yards most closely resembles the .30-06 energy at 300 yards.”
Please demonstrate an equivalent .308 Win load from a major manufactuer or pressure-tested load data.
The other .30-06 loads I’ve discussed were also SAAMI compliant. The advantage of loading the .30-06 to equal pressures has been purely speculative based on known data. The is no substitute for greater case capacity if equal pressures are used, yet you denied the .308 gets a significant advantage due to its higher SAAMI pressure.
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Everyone knows that literally any cartridge can have it's performance improved by increasing the pressure beyond SAAMI spec. That's obvious. It's also pretty obvious it's not safe to do without either a) having the brass and gun manufacturers OK the higher pressure or b) doing your own engineering calculations that show the higher pressure is safe, with substantial margin. As far as I know, no one has ever done either of those things for a .30-06 +P. I don't have a problem with hotrodding cartridges, and the .30-06 is a really good candidate because there are lots of easy-to-fix bad decisions designed into it (which was my original point). But let's not skip the safe engineering part, and let's not pretend the result is the same thing as the original cartridge.
On the contrary, it is a statistical certainty that a lot of handloaders have examined the data and come to the conclusion that the .30-06 can be safely loaded beyond SAAMI standards in modern rifles. By “modern”, let’s simply limit the rifles to those that are also chambered in .270 Win, which has a 65,000PSI SAAMI limit and, prior to the pinch trim operation during case forming, which establishes different case lengths for the .30-06 and .270, uses the same case blanks. Creating the primer pocket, headstamping and then shoulder and neck forming are subsequent operations. I’m sure manufacturers know this as well but are unwilling to manufacture non-SAAMI compliant ammunition (and rightly so for a host of reasons).
I’ll grant that the .30-06 at 65,000 PSI would have greater bolt thrust pressure than a .270 Win due to the larger bullet diameter, so a “modern” .30-06 might have a pressure limit somewhat lower but still equal to or higher than the 62,000 PSI of the .308 Win.
Suggesting a .30-06 cannot be safely loaded past the SAAMI 60,000 PSI limit in modern rifles ignores the fact that a variety of 30 caliber short mags , mags and “ultra” mags are routinely loaded to 64,000 to 65,000PSI. As to bolt thrust, even the .338 Win Mag is loaded to 64,000 PSI so it shouldn’t be a problem in a modern 308” rifle that is chambered the .30-06 and these other cartridges. The manufacturers have already determined the rifle can handle the pressures so the “safe engineering” is already done.
Last edited by Coyote_Hunter; 06/19/17. Reason: spelnig
Coyote Hunter - NRA Patriot Life, NRA Whittington Center Life, GOA, DAD - and I VOTE!
No, I'm not a Ruger bigot - just an unabashed fan of their revolvers, M77's and #1's.
