My father just bought a handloading kit..

He wants to handload at least a 7mm remington magnum, a 300 winnie mag, and possibly a 30.06...

What reloading manuals do you all reccomend, due to the fact that we are beginners at this, and second of all, what are your pet loads for these rifles?

Thanks in advance guys!

Rick

 

My manual collection includes the free one available from several powder manufactures (IMR comes to mind because thats what I use the most)

I also have the Hornady set of books and one from www.Midwayusa.com that is exclusively for the 7mm Rem Mag.

I guess my pet load would be 60 Gr. of IMR 4831 with a Speer gameking 150 Gr. Soft Point Boat Tail. It seems to be the one my gun likes best. I can go up to 62 gr on the IMR 4831, but my groups get worse.

 

Speer, nosler, and hornady here.

 

Hornady and Speer are both great, and I have a few from powder companies and I think a Lyman cast bullet manual.

If you are both new to reloading, however, there is no substitute for having someone experienced there to look over your shoulder for the first couple of times...

P.S. my 30-06 seems to like 165 grain bullets the best, with IMR4831. Barnes X's gave good accuracy with close to max book load.

 

I personally like the Nosler and Sierra manuals. Each of these will list several different brands of powders. Just keep a few things in mind:

1. Start with the lowest recommended powder charge
2. Load about 6-7 rounds increasing the powder charge in 1/2gr increements until you reach max recommended charge. Don't load anything over max receommended charge!
3. Shoot through a chrono so you have an idea of velocities/charge. Your velocities should be close to what the manuals state. Shorter or longer barrels will effect your velocity so keep that in mind.
4. Watch for high pressure signs, cratered primer, bulging head, split necks, hard to eject cases, etc...
5. If you start seeing signs of high pressure, back off on the charge by at least a gr.
6. From there, try several different charges, while using chrono, and see which load gives best accuracy for the velocity you want to maintain.
7. Anytime you use a new powder, you MUST repeate these steps. Not all powders, or lots of powders for that matter, act the same.

For high power, I typically like extruded IMR or Hodgedon powders. They tend to be more uniform in charge and load characteristics. Just keep in mind that extruded powders work better if you measure out each load. Most powder measureers don't do to well with extruded powder. Most extruded powder also burns cleaner. Ball powder is easier to measure while using a mechanical powder measure but it typically burns a little dirty.

Handloading is addictive! If done correctly, you will see accuracies that you couldn't dream of with factory loads!

 

Ken Waters "Pet Loads"------very informative book

 

Plus Lyman cast bullet manual, RCBS manuals, plus some others, looks like a library. That and we have different editions of several of those books too. They like to add/delete stuff and I find myself refering to older books to get load data for powders that I like or have alot of.

RC51, good advice.

 

This is exactly what I was going to tell you as well. This is the way to do it. Also keep in mind, the bullet you want to use, might not be the most accurate. If you have your mind set on the grain of bullet you want to use, try all manufacturers. It is very time consuming, but it will pay off.

 

Starting back in about 96 or 97, the publication Precision Shooter started a new publication called Tactical Shooter. This journal series had invaluable information on handloading, accurizing and proper shooting techniques. They had lots of input from people like Norm and Rocky Chandler, Carlos Hathcock and barrel manufacturers like Shilen, Hart, Lilja and others. If you can still obtain these publications, I would highly recommend reading them. They will get you started in the right direction for accurate handloading.

 

Paperwork is also a MUST. Check this link out.