Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles StaBALL 6.5 in the 30-06

Friends,
I have just started tuning and working up handloads for my friend's Custom FN Mauser (22.5" barrel).
I started with H4350 but then thought it better to work with powder he can easily buy now. The LGS has StaBALL 6.5 on the shelf, and one trip to the range shows it having pretty great potential in his rifle, using some of my stock, so I bought him 3 pounds. He also has a 7-08 he loads for, and I reckon this will be good for it too.
The bullets he has on hand are the 168 TSX BT (about a hundred), and the 165 Partition (about 50). Along the same lines of using "bullets you can buy now" I am going to also work the 155 Scenar and the 165 Hornady Interlock (both plain base and BT).
I have been through all of Hodgden's online data, and all of the "Good 30-06 loads" sticky here, as well as everything I could find online.

Very interested if anybody here has experiences to share with StaBALL 6.5 and any of the bullets listed above. Also interested in general observations of the powder's performance and properties, particularly temperature resistance.

No need to post all the other great 30-06 loads I ought to be trying instead - trust me, my eyeballs are falling out after having read them all!

So far I have seen (sample size of one 3-shot group each, WLR primer used, but I also have most every kind of LR and LRM primer on hand)
155 Scenar, 60/SB6.5 = 2998 FPS, 1.15" group (.010 jump) plan to go up 0.5 gr next time
165 Part, 59/SB6.5 = 2862 FPS, 2.05" group (.020 jump) plan to go up 0.5 gr next time, then maybe seat a little deeper
168 TSX BT, 57/SB6.5 = 2810 FPS, 0.97" group (.050 jump) plan to go up 1.0 gr next time, then maybe seat a little deeper
168 Hor HPBT molly, 58/SB6.5 = 2780 FPS, 0.84 group (.020 jump) Not a hunting bullet, but my buddy had a box of them he sent me, and I am using them as a control. They shoot well in this rifle.

Thanks in advance for any advice with these bullets and any general StaBALL 6.5 gouge you have to share.
Rex

The 168 TSX at .97" looks pretty good to me with .050" jump.

Agree with jumping the 155 Scenar a bit more than .010". I'd probably increase jump in .01" increments, looking for a sweet spot.

Sometimes Partitions are the most accurate, often not so, still good enough groups for most hunting.

Some say mag primers work better with ball powders. I'd try both and see.

Interesting project, look forward to your follow up report.

DF

I had excellent results with 180 Hornady SP with 58g and 210 primers or 200 Partitions with 56gn and 215 primers.

Not the bullets I am looking for data on, but great bullets nonetheless, and now that you teased me, please describe the excellent results! Groups and speeds please. I won't be using those in my friend's rifle but might in my own later - I have a lot of 200 Partitions.

Thanks,
Rex

Tried 3 the other day, similar to yours. New Howa 30-06. 150 tsx, 61 gr Staball, Fed case, Fed210. Pressure very similar to Fed 150 psp. No idea about group as someone else fired a bunch on my target. No chrono that day. Also one shot at 52grains with 208 Amax. WW case, Fed 210. Very mild lots of room to go to Hodgdon Max.

I tried Staball 6.5 today for the first time in 30-06. I loaded 150g Sierra ProHunters over 61.4g of Staball using CCI 200 primers.

I didn’t chrono. But I obtained a 3/8” - 3 shot group and a 7/16” in my Tikka T3. I was very pleased with the performance.

I’m excited to see what it’ll do in .270.

Focus on one bullet man. I don't see any load workup there. You'll be chasing your tail for a long time, going the route you are headed..

BSA,
I appreciate the input regarding "Focus on one bullet..." I've been doing this a few decades and this shotgun approach is odd, but is in response to this, a pretty specific handloading problem with another man's resources, where instead, I am focusing on "one powder" and a handful of available bullets. Right now, I am just gathering initial data, with the goal of wasting as few of my buddy's bullets as possible. The first couple trials (and this thread!) are an effort to choose the "one bullet" to focus on, if that makes sense.
In a couple days in my shop and two trips to the range, I have a rifle that had never shot better than two MOA before shooting ~MOA at decent velocity with three different bullets.

This thread is an attempt to gather more people's experiences with StaBALL 6.5 and the subject bullets in the 30-06, which are:
165 Partition
168 TSX BT
155 Scenar
Have run the above with both H4350 (as a baseline) and StaBALL so far.
Plain-base and BT 165 Interlock (not yet tried)

From my OP:
"Very interested if anybody here has experiences to share with StaBALL 6.5 and any of the bullets listed above. Also interested in general observations of the powder's performance and properties, particularly temperature resistance."

Cheers,
Rex

From a SAKO 75 with 20-3/8" barrel - 2-7 VX-R scope - 100 yd:
180 Hornady SP - 58 gn StaBall 6.5 - 210 primer 3.34" ol - 2780 fps - 35 es - .62" four-shot group.
200 NP - 56 gn StaBall 6.5 - 215 primer 3.34" ol - 2630 fps - 44 es - .84" four shot group - no sign of pressure at 90F.

Thanks wswolf!
Rex

Sure love the way StaBall and Superformance meter thru my Uniflow. They have made the trickler redundent. I think you'll find best accuracy closer to max loads. Goodluck
.mb

this is what I needed to see for a 2023 Canadian Moose hunt. Thanks for sharing.

Back from the range today with an update. I did the things I described above (bolded) and here are the results:
I omitted the Hor 168 HPBT since I have enough data with it and it's not a planned hunting bullets.
155 Scenar, 60.5/SB6.5, 3008 FPS, SD 5, 2.02" group - don't think I will progress further with this bullet.
165 Part, 59.5/SB6.5, 2857 FPS, SD 3, 1.4" group. I increased the seating depth to .040" jump. This one is on the short list for keeper loads.
168 TSX BT, 58/SB6.5, 2865 FPS, 0.63" group, SD 14. Did not seat deeper yet, still at .050" jump. This is really working out - just need to see if it is repeatable. Was sub-MOA last week at a grain less powder, so I think I'm at a really good place now if the load stays consistent.

As planned, I also tried the 165 Hornady Interlocks, both the FB and BT varieties, with 59 grains each of SB/6.5. 1.93" and 1.79" groups respectively in the 2870 FPS range (speed as expected), seated .020" off the lands. If these bullets get along well with this barrel and powder, I would have expected to see more indications of it at these parameters so won't pursue them further in this rifle. I just tried them for my buddy because they are available these days. which is important.

Further work will focus on the 165 Part and 168 TSX. As I wrote before, my friend has less than 50 Parts and nearly 100 TSX. If the TSX is repeatable, I'm there with that. and the 1.4" Partition load is decent enough - I'm not going to waste a lot of his bullets trying to improve on that.

Cheers,
Rex

I’d roll with the tsx, plenty good for a hunting rifle

Just looking at older threads.

I'm wondering if there's an update here what you decided on what you found?

I'm loading some '06 and I'm gonna be using a Sierra 168 match, first. But branching to a hunting load with a SPEER 168 gold DOT or a sierra 165 HPboat tail. All was sta-BAL 6.5.

CW