Reloading Auto's

[Alaska-Bush-Man]

In my BAR and 742, I have reloaded for 25 years, and will share my expercience with you all.

First I use a Med Burning Powder in the 30-06 or 308 Win Auto's due to port/chamber pressure curve. My favorite is VARGET, but Reloader 15 and Norma 203 are a very close second. I have found that IMR 4895,IMR 4064 are also excellent in the 30-06/308.

I use CCI BR2 Primers with VARGET and Fed 210GM Primers for everything else.

For Brass I use Fed Prem Nickle.

For Bullets here I use the 180 Nosler Part.

When reloading I use RCBS Small Base Dies and a Lee Factory Crimp Die.

My favorite load in my 30-06 Rem 742 is :

VARGET @ 48.0
CCI BR-2 Primers
180 Nosler Part
Fed Prem Case

[Rick Teal]

In my 742's in 30-06 I settled on a load of 47.2 grains on IMR 4320.  This produced velocities of 2470 fps with a 180 grain bullet, and I had excellent results on whitetails and small moose.  When I used more than 48 grains of this powder I ran into jamming problems.  I didn't like 4064 or 4895 in these rifles, and I've never tried the other 3 powders you mention.  I have picked up some new powders this year, and hope to do some more testing soon.

[Alaska-Bush-Man]

I am glad that you are getting good results, but the vel. seems to be a little low. IMR 4320 is almost too fast in burn time for the 06' auto, would be OK in a bolt, but these Auto's as you know are picky, come back up the latter a bit too, Reloader 15 and VARGET. Both these should prove excellent in your 742/30-06/w/180 Nosler's, you should get 2600 to 2700 FPS. Are you using Small Base Dies when reloading? This in my opinion is a must for REM and BAR auto's, to prevent case hang up.

IMR 4895/ was the powder that was used in WW2 in M1 GARAND 30-06, of course, it was called something else until released to public in the 50's, then the military switched to IMR 4064 because it burned cleaner in GARAND. Today alot of target shooters of M14/M1 use VARGET.

Hope this helps, I enjoy reloading and fine the 742 is a different breed than the bolts I have.