Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Picking a powder for 30-06 180 NAB / Re-17 the winner

Have shot 165's over H4350 for years but moved up to a 180 NAB for an elk hunt using my M70. Started from scratch on powders. After several rounds of testing, I settled on (surprisingly to me) Re-17. Had some good groups from Re-22 and H4350 at 100, but they fell off at 200 while Re-17 shot MOA (or sub-) at both 100 & 200. IMR4350, Re-19 and Hunter never made it to the second round. When starting this process, I expected it to be either Hunter or H4350. Nice to be done.

I use RL-17 in some of my 30-06 loads as well.

Did you use a magnum primer with Hunter powder in the 30/06? Hunter and 180s generally shines as long as a magnum primer is used.

Yes

My hunting load Im useing in my Swede this year is with RL 17 so I guess we'll both find out how well it works 😁

R-17 gave me significant velocity swings based on temperature. One reason I went to Hunter.



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I have a bunch of RL17, and have planned for far too long to try it in our 30-06 and our 6.5-284 Norma. It should work quite well as the burn rate is very similar to 4350! memtb

What kind of velocity did you get with the -06? It is my go-to, in my .260.

If starting from scratch I would go with R16 as it has similar applications to R17 but is one of the stablest powders around, fully equivalent to the Enduron powders in my limited testing. But for hunting use in a reasonable temperature range this is not so critical.

If your extreme spreads are small and a gun shoots at 100, it shoots at all distances unless dispersed by wind. There is no physical mechanism by which some bullets "remember" they're supposed to take a right turn at 150y, and others a left turn. This has been repeatedly confirmed via using multiple paper targets in a line.

RL-17 is horrible with temp. I would never use it for any outdoor application. RL-16 and H4350 are your friend in that burn rate range. For the 180 Accubond RL-16 is the top temp-insensitive powder spotting only 20 ft/s to RL-17 and with a better slightly compressed load ratio.

H4350 has worked great for me with the 180 A/bond.

My ‘06 loved 56.5 gr R-17 and 165 Ballistic Tips at 2900 FPS and sub MOA groups.
Use it in my 260 as well.

H4350 or Ramshot Hunter works nicely with the 30-06. I too had velocity swings with RL-17.

30-06 with 24" CBI barrel. Winchester brass

150gr / imr 4064@ 52 grs. 2990 fps
165/168 / H4350 57.5 grs. 2840 fps
185 VLD / H4350 57.0 grs 2820 fps ( Favorite long range load ).
208 amax/ Ramshot Hunter @ 58grs over max 2710fps


I have tested the 185's at 320 yards and getting 1" groups. 5-shot 4" Group @ 830 yards.Has also been very good out to 1K.

What twist barrel are you using for 185's.?

H4831 has always been very accurate from my 30-06 w/ 180's. Not the fastest but always accurate.

1:10 twist. 185's was the best combo. 208's carries some energy.