wc 782 and my 30.06

[Friends call me Pac]

After nights of research I got a 8# jug of WC872 to see how it would do in my Rem 700 30.06 with a NOE 202gr (311299). Went to the range today and brought my portable reloading press so I could change load data on the fly. I started with 46gr of 872 and a dacron filler. I loaded 3 rounds, fired them recorded the hits and moved up 1 gr at a time until I reached 51gr of 872. 46gr was a pleasant load in the recoil department but 51gr was becoming a bit heavy on recoil. All shots were taken at 100 yards from a bench to get the best possible rest I could get. The small squares are 1" and the large squares are 4". On a side note I used standard primers and had zero misfires. The powder went off like it is supposed to every time. There was unburnt powder but a dry patch through the barrel cleaned it right up.

46 + dacron



47 + dacron



48 + dacron



49 + dacron



50 + dacron



51 + dacron



There wasn't much difference in the groups no matter what load. Think I'll stick with the 46gr load for now. I do plan to try a NOE 311165 rf next with this powder.

[MT Gianni]

I have shot this and 860 a lot with a 165 gr cast. I use 3-5 gr IMR 4198 as a kicker to get better ignition and clean up the barrel a little. I find it a lot better than Dacron.

[Friends call me Pac]

I've read a lot about using a kicker but have never tried it myself. I imagine I will before too long. Always nice to know you have another tool handy.

[MT Gianni]

I had used dacron before a friend ringed a barrel and we switched to a mild kicker.

[Friends call me Pac]

I've used dacron for several years and never had any problems.

[yeahbub]

Long ago, when WC860 was dirt cheap, I was using it in 7.62x54R with 180gr Speer Hot Cores. (Yeah, they were .308, but they were flat-based and had plenty of bearing length to align in my Mosin's throat, producing good accuracy.) Knowing that 860 was waaay slow, I got up to 100% load density and still got the predictable scattering of half the load on the grass in front of the bench. Mag primers didn't change anything. I replaced a grain or two of 860 with 4759, keeping the 4759 on the primer and the 860 up to the base of the bullet seated hard on the charge to keep them from mixing and shifting position. I slowly increased the 4759/reducing the 860 until the barrel no longer had unburned powder in it and the bullet was at the same POI as the mil-surp 181gr lead core. The primers were generously rounded indicating mild pressures. Case head expansion compared favorably with commercial once-fired. I had no chronograph at that time but POI which agreed with the sights and commercial ammo at 100 yards told me velocities were comparable. Recoil was slightly but noticeably less than commercial. All that said, I don't recall how much 4759 I worked up to when I arrived at the clean barrel stopping point. Turns out 4759 isn't made anymore, so it's a moot point. The mentioned 4198 will accomplish the same thing, but load development will be needed to arrive at the clean barrel/no unburned powder stopping point, a point I chose out of caution because I had no method of measuring direct real-time chamber pressure other than reading the available indicators and inferring that pressures were still within reasonable limits.

My 2 cents-worth.