Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Anybody work up a Sierra Gameking 165grn HPBT in a 30-06?

Sounds like some choose not to use a good propellant because it "cuts" in a charge thrower due to the length of the kernels. Never has been a problem as I'm still strong enough to get the cutting done and the charge weight doesn't change because the kernels that get snipped are the last one or two kernels through the window. I use an old RCBS Uniflow. Long kernel powders, as in 4064, will easily stay within 1 or 2 tenths of a grain from charge to charge.
Kind of a crude old machine. Some of the high $$$ charge throwers of today are no doubt better.

My go-to '06 load is currently 57.0 H4350 under a 165 Hornady SST. Accurate and deadly.

Some who choose not to use said propellant have done tests weighing long strings of thrown charges from RCBS and Redding measures. These tests showed 4064 will on occasion throw a charge a good bit more then one or two tenths off. Furthermore the "off throw" was not necessarily detectable during the throw by feel of the measure handle.

If you want a scary accurate load that won't rattle your eyeteeth when fired in a light rifle, try 40 gr. of 4064 behind the Sierra 165 BTHP for 2400fps on the nose. It makes shooting my 7lb. Mauser sporter actually fun instead of a teeth gritting experience. Performance in the field is more than adequate too. It is in fact the only .30/06 load I've hunted with for 12 years now. I can't honestly see any difference in "killing power" from the 2800fps loads I had been using since the late 70's, with that bullet.

I stumbled onto this load when looking for something to lessen the pain in my arthritic shoulder generated by the full house stuff I was shooting. Now it's all I shoot (in the '06).

Just because one gun shoots a particular bullet and/or powder well does not mean another will, but its a start in the right direction..

The 06 shoots a bunch of powders and bullets well, one of the reasons its so popular, that and it kills most things very well.

mathman, Any math to throw in along with those "tests weighing long strings"? Does the "off throw" weigh more than or less than the intended charge? And how many tenths were they off? Seems you may have some hard data to share. Thanks.

I dug around in my "filing system" and found the stats for a couple of twenty throw strings with the Redding BR-30.

The extreme spread of the 4064 string was 0.6 grains, compared to 0.3 for 4895.

For the 4895 string the charges not right at the average were distributed pretty evenly above and below.

For the 4064 string most of the throws were just below the average with a few high ones that contributed to the higher ES.

Just fooling around with different powders in the shop I've found the throw strings of 4064 to be more ragged than those from 4895, RL15 and Varget. The 4064 generally shows an OK string overall, but marred by the occasional 0.4 or 0.5 grain hot throw.

Edit: These were in typical 308 size charges.