which .30-06 round for a 19" barrel?

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So my dad gave me an old remington 740 (aka the legendary jam-o-matic) in .30-06 last year, as i was on the hunt for a good semi-auto deer hunting rifle that i could turn into a carbine brush gun. i toted it around for a season and i was predictably annoyed with the 22" barrel, so i just had it chopped by our family gunsmith. so i'm the proud owner of a 19" .30-06 barrel with a recessed crown.

my big question now: what ammo should i be using to minimize a fireball/concussion?

There are a few low recoil rounds out there, but is low recoil the way to go to try matching the shorter barrel with the powder load?
i'm not recoil sensitive and i'm very concerned about maintaining the 1000 foot/pounds ethical standard for game animals. that makes me lean towards the buffalo bore...

https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l ... tail&p=339
http://www.chuckhawks.com/federal_low_recoil.htm
http://www.chuckhawks.com/rem_managed_recoil.htm

edit: got the model # wrong
Last edited by tincankilla on Thu Sep 24, 2015 11:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

Re: which .30-06 round for a 19" barrel?

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Reduced recoil does not equal reduced flash necessarily. For reduced flash, an additive is put into the powder.
Even though it's listed for hog hunting, it would do just fine for deer as well I suspect, and since it's got a powder with the flash suppressing additive, should be good to go.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: which .30-06 round for a 19" barrel?

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shinzen wrote:Reduced recoil does not equal reduced flash necessarily. For reduced flash, an additive is put into the powder.
aha, thank you! that's good to know, although i'd worry a bit about an all-copper bullet zipping right through a deer. i should clarify that i haven't shot the gun yet after the modification, but i've read a lot of complaints about shorter barrels and the blast of the .30-06 round. Partly flash, but also the noise and concussion that I assume comes from cartridges that are designed for longer barrels.

Re: which .30-06 round for a 19" barrel?

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It's a big cartridge to be sure. My M1 certainly has a fair amount of concussion even with a 24" barrel, I'd imagine the 19" barrel will have a pretty good boom and fireball. If you could find some 846 surplus powder, I believe it has the flash suppressant in it, but not sure about commercial rifle powders.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: which .30-06 round for a 19" barrel?

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So I've done some learnin over the past 24 hours:

1) the barrel on the gun has a 1:10 twist, so Remington recommends bullets in the 168-180gr range

2) reloading forums wrestle with this problem occasionally: how to get the most out of the barrel length without ridiculous concussion and muzzle blast, etc. the common recommended solution to reduce blast and get the best performance is a heavy bullet (180gr) and the slow burning powder that goes with it.

Re: which .30-06 round for a 19" barrel?

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tincankilla wrote:So I've done some learnin over the past 24 hours:

1) the barrel on the gun has a 1:10 twist, so Remington recommends bullets in the 168-180gr range

2) reloading forums wrestle with this problem occasionally: how to get the most out of the barrel length without ridiculous concussion and muzzle blast, etc. the common recommended solution to reduce blast and get the best performance is a heavy bullet (180gr) and the slow burning powder that goes with it.

Yep. The standard twist for an 06 is 1:10, for .308 it's usually 1:12. The standard barrel length for older Rem 700s in 06 is 22". My 22" version does have a bit of flash and blast, but I hunted with it for a couple of decades without any problems. I realize the 19" does not equal 22" but I wouldn't sweat it too much. As to the velocity, even if you lose 75fps per inch of barrel (I'd expect you'd lose only 1/4 to 1/3 of that), you'll have no trouble getting enough MV to take most things in North America. It's a "brush" gun so I'm assuming you're not going to push it beyond 400 yards. And, if you do go long once in a while, it should still work fine.

If you're concerned about the flash/bang the Hog Hammers sound interesting. If hand loading I'd go for a medium weight bullet (155-175 gr) and the fastest powder you can push it with. I'm not sure why you're seeing a recommendation for slow burning powder. A slower powder will simply not have enough time in the barrel. You'll throw a lot of unburned powder out of the muzzle, and what comes out will contribute nothing to muzzle velocity and may well keep burning after it departs equaling more flash/bang. I personally like 165/8s over 4895, 8208 or Varget. In the end it's an empirical question. Try both. Let us know what happens.
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