How low can a 25-06 be downloaded for a managed recoil load?
.250 Savage level or Roberts level?
Well, check out your reloading manuals as you don't want to load below the listed minimum with a lot of powders.
There are reduced loads in some of the older reloading manuals using certain pistol powders etc.
So the answer to your question is YES. I think Hodgdons and or Lyman's may have published reduced load data at one time, and it is available at various sites on the net e.g.
www.accuratereloading.com may have it.....
With the right powders, you can load almost any caliber way down safely.
Hodgdon lists 13.4-19.2 of IMR Trail Boss with a 100 gr Partition for 1454-1712 fps.
And if You dont wanna chance it, Remington makes reduced recoil ammo, IIRC w/ the little 100 gn. core-lokt.
Gunner
Always late to the party, sorry.
The Hodgdon manuals have stated that when using H4895 for reduced loads,
Find the max charge weight of H4895 with the bullet of choice in their manual, and load your case with 60% of that Max load.
H4895 is their slowest rifle powder that will burn properly with reduced loads.
"Don't use H4895 in a cartridge/load that doesn't show that powder in their manual."
Check their Web site for more "Reduced Load" or "Youth Loads" info.
I find their annual manuals in Magazine form at the book stores.
Good luck, the 60% loads are lots of fun.
We shot a lot of .25/06 loads with 44 grains of surplus 4895 and 75 grain HP's
(either Sierra or Hornady).
This load worked well in many rifles and was used for varmints and off season practice.
Thanks for the information.
I have several manuals that I use, but I also like to check with shooters who have actually used this type of loading. Manuals do have an ocassional typo. Besides it's more fun to deal with the living.
I use different types of powder for down loading a cartridge...
Hodgdon's Youth Loads with H 4895 I find lacking in accuracy and consistency... while they sell other powders much more adapted to reduced loading, they push the H 4895, strictly because they have data for it GIVEN to them by ADI, which makes the powder..
you'll find better accuracy and consistency substituting IMRs 4895 for it..
consulting cast bullet manuals is a good source of reduced loads, if you desire a load published in a manual..
for my own, I have extrapolated from these various sources loads that work well across the board with certain case sizes...and plenty of testing has shown accuracy and consistency..
powders to reach for are IMR or Hodgdon's 4198, SR 4759 and RL 7
for 308 sized cases SR 4759 I use between 20 and 25 grains, or 25 to 30 grains of 4198s or RL 7.. bore diameter and bullet weight pretty well doesn't matter.... you'll find a lot of these parameters right out of Speer manuals, or within parameters of the old IMR reload data sheets..
for an 06 sized case, SR 4759 from 25 to 30 grains of powder
for the 4198s, and RL 7 from 30 to 35 grains...
for instance, Remington's managed recoil loads using IMR 4198 in the ones I have disassembled, found the charge weight, and then reloaded it, and tested it against the same charge weight using IMR 4198 and shot both over the chronograph...
If you are going to reduce load the magnum route, then the parameters I use for SR 4759 is from 30 to 40 grains...
for 4198s, and RL 7 from 35 to 40 grains...Load data floating around goes higher, but since this is reduced loads, life is good..
you'll find all the above to give much better accuracy and consistency than Hodgdon's reduced loads with H 4895...
you'll also find that you won't get the muzzle blast that H 4895 gives when reduced low enough...
a lot of these loads can be found in cast manuals, and you will also find many of them give the pressures for such loads, at least with cast bullets.... while load pressures can vary with bullet variations, none of these loads are anywhere near what is the max limit for the cartridge...
14 to 17 % of max load for a given powder and bullet weight will give mild recoil. But that depends on criteria for recoil. For most 25.06 loads anywhere in that range will reduce recoil by 2 to 3 lbs felt.
Swifty
so why not search the world over and find a .250 Savage!