Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30/06 Ai thoughts?

Loder-do you recall the overall length of the round? Also, did you clock that load on more than one day.

Side note, from the Aliant site. 62 of 22 with a 165 Speer, 22" tube = 2725 fps.

Interesting stuff isn't this loading stuff?

Dober

Mark,

I gave up a round in the magazine, but I took a new 06 sporter barrel and punched it 308 Norma Mag.

I can easily load it to 06 Ackley speeds with less fuss.

And, I will, 200's at 2,800.

i shot 200SMK in my 30-06AI and at 258yd broadsids shot at a Wyoming mulie,
it was snow,sleet and freezing rain and upon impact ,blew the deer DRY! then it fell

300WSM = 30-06AI +p is a great description

Yes sir, from 1970's era.

Clocked that load in 2007, 2008 & 2011 at 82, 85 & 91 degrees. Accuracy was 3/8" @ 100 yds.

I just received a phone pic from him yesterday showing two successive shots @ 250 yards side by side on a nice W.T. buck. He is still excited about how well the Accubond puts animals down. He likes the velocity too. It took me 7 or more years to talk him into trying some reloads.

O.A.L. 2.773 measured with Stoney Point Gauge, ogive to base.

Looneyism, ballistic gack, minutia, etc. Should I mention fairy dust, pin heads and mental gymnastics.

That article was a big influence on the building my .338-06!

I had a regular 30-06 and could get 2800 fps with 180 grain on top of reloader 22. Cant recall the charge though.

Barrel length?

A good friend and I played with a 30-06 AI 47 years ago. All we had for powder was WWII Hogden surplus 4831 and some 4350, and we used RWS primers; they were hotter than standard US large rifle primers. We "borrowed" his dad's prized chronograph.

We couldn't get much if any "improvement" with 150gr bullets, 60-80 FPS more with 165s, and almost 150 FPS more with 180gr bullets. All bullets were Speers.

It convinced us back then that the '06AI was a distinct improvement with heavier bullets, only.

I've not tried one with our modern powders.

I took my old, shot out Rem 700 in 30-06 and had it rebarreled with a lightweight Lilja barrel with a 1:11 twist in 30-06AI. I tapped into the knowledge of a gent over on the Accuratereloading.com site. His handle is "Ackley Improved User". IMO, he's very knowledgable about the AI cartridges. He gave me a ton of data to include a few suggestions. I went with Rel 25; quite A-typical but wow. I was getting 3100 fps with Nosler 180 BT/AB's and great case life. I finally settled on a load that ran 3000 fps with 1/2 moa accuracty. Love the fact that case trimming is pretty much negated with the steep shoulder angle.

Alan

I built an 06 IMP on a Colt light rifle a few years ago. 2950 fps was no problem with 180s. I'd take another 06AI over any 300 wsm

Any one had feeding issues with either 30-06AI vs 300 WSM? Four to five down for the AI and only 2 down in the mag for the WSM.

Alan

No feeding issues with the AI I had

I have a 300 RSAUM.
I can pushed 185g Berger LRBTs to 3000 fps.
I use 210g Berger LRBTs at 2800 fps for 1000 yard BR.
Barrel length? 28 inches.

Im running 300 RSAUM brass from Nosler and its excellant.

dave

Mark,

Sorry I didn't weigh in earlier, but was gone for a few days, with little time for the Campfire. Just got back home and want to wish everybody a very merry Christmas!

I haven't tried the .30-06 AI but did fool around with Dr. Ken's version, the .30 Howell, with the shoulder moved forward. It could indeed get considerably more velocity than the standard .30-06, but Ken designed is primarily to produce standard .30-06 velocities with less pressure.

Part of the reason AI'd versions of many older cartridges work so well is the factory pressure of the parent cartridge was relatively low low. The .30-06's standard SAAMI pressure is 60,000 PSI. Give the round another 8-10% in case capacity AND load it up to 65,000 PSI and it does come very close to the .300 WSM--and basically duplicates the .300 SAUM.

And you have another round or two in the magazine. This can be regarded as irrelevant or important, depending on your perspective. Since Phil Shoemaker has killed a number of wounded brown bears with the .30-06 (bears his clients screwed up on) an extra round or two would certainly come in handy now and then. If you don't regularly hunt brown bears it probably wouldn't.

Somebody mentioned the .35 Whelen Ackely Improved, wondering why it doesn't increase performance much over the standard .35 Whelen. I can address this with personal experience, since I once did own a .35 Whelen AI:

The Improved version doesn't change much of anything because there's hardly any shoulder on the .35 Whelen to be blown out. In fact I nominate the .35 Whelen AI as the most useless Ackleyrized cartridge.

A Merry Christmas to you and yours as well John.

I really enjoy your informed posts.

Dave so if you're @ 3K with a 185 out of a 28" tube I'd guess that if one chopped it to a normal length of 24" (or I could say abynormal and go 23"...grin) that the 185 would be right @ 2900 give or take.

Make sense?

Dober

JB-thx for chiming in. I was out hunting ditch pigeons today and got to thinking JB hasn't chimed in yet. He's either out taking care of biziness and or thought I was full of prunes again and was being nice...

I got to thinking that I've a stash of the old Noz 200 grain semi's and what a great "dark timber load for the raking shots" these would be...

Merry Christmas to you and E

Mark D

Mark,

Yep, sure
Really could not say as I never chronoed a 23 inch 300 RSAUM.
Its a 17lb 1000 yard BR rifle.
Chopping 5 inches off my Obermeyer, isn't going to happen.

I like the 300 RSAUM.
ALOT.Figure just a bit more snap than a 30-06 improved.
The Nosler cases im usuing have some of the most consistent necks i've ever measured.That includes brass from Lapua.
One batch of cases have well over 10 reloads and are still ticking .
In my load development I shot the 185g Berger,It shot very well at 500 but I had to keep playing.
My go to load ended up being 60.2g of Ramshot Hunter with he 210 Berger LRBT.Russian Tula mag primers.
I could manage to get to 2900 with Reloader 22 and the 210.
But Hunter, at 100fps slower shot better.

Load development was in say 65 to 80 degree range.
Hunter shot very well and very clean for ball powder.
Colder temps cause me to drop out of my "node" and accuracy falls off.
Last match of the year in Oct temps were 38 in the morning never got above 45.
I got my butt kicked.
In temps over 60...its a threat to win any match im in.
Its a beast.
Had the barrel scoped at 900 rounds.
Throat is still excellant.
Ill get at least one more full season out of it if not more.

Ill make the case for the 300 RSUAM over the 06 improved.
dave