Newbie to reloading and shooting distance

[00juice]

I’m trying to start shooting out to 1000 yards, and trying to develop a load for my 25-06. It’s for a Remington 700 long range. It’s all factory, except trigger. 26” barrel. I plan to shoot Berger 115’s. I have h1000, retumbo, imr 7828 , imr 4350 and RE-22 available. I started by working up loads with h1000. I loaded 5 rounds each starting at 52.5grains up to 58.5, In one grain increments. I don’t have my exact data with me, but I loaded all rounds just off the lands. I had two different loads that made nice groups at 100yards. One load (I think 53.5grains) gave me a group of .312”, another load (I think 57.5, don’t have numbers in front of me) gave me a group of .45”. I want to try to develop those two loads further by changing the jump distance. Just curious if anyone has any suggestions for me. Should I continue to develop both charges? Should I focus on the hotter load that gave me group of .45”, or the slower .312” group? Should I keep playing with both? Should I look at try other powders that I have available or focus on what I’ve already started with h1000?
Thanks

 

[DownhillFromHere]

Welcome to SH. There is a gold mine of information here. I had a .25-06 for many years; here are my thoughts after a couple years' deep-diving into precision rifle.

• If you're getting consistent 5-shot groups at 0.3-0.5" at 100 yards, you're done. No need to "develop" more unless you just want to play. See Berger's seating depth advice here. (3-shot groups don't mean squat, don't post 'em here unless you're wearing thick layers of flame-proof armor.)
• The over-bore .25-06 is a barrel-burner. I sold mine a couple years ago; it was a sentimental rifle I'd had for a very long time. I had no idea how many rounds it had through it, but putting 50-55 grains of powder through a .257" bore, based on what I know now, I'm guessing a useful (for this discipline) barrel life of 1500 round plus or minus. There are plenty of threads here and elsewhere about barrel life.

You don't say what experience you have with rifles, but if you have that many powders and can shoot half-minute groups, I'm guessing you have a decent background. Read what you can here. I'm thinking you might acquire another rifle, or re-barrel your Remington, in a caliber a bit more suited to distance shooting. Not that a .25-06 is lacking much as a caliber; it's just that there is a much better selection of match-grade bullets for .243/6mm, .264/6.5mm, .284/7mm, and .308/7.62, and 50-55 grains of powder plus barrel wear gets expensive for the return on investment re accuracy.

Good luck.

 

[Steel head]

Take the load that groups decent and try it at 500-1000.
since you have no speeds I assume no chronograph so you need to test at distance for vertical spread.

 

[00juice]

Welcome to SH. There is a gold mine of information here. I had a .25-06 for many years; here are my thoughts after a couple years' deep-diving into precision rifle.

• If you're getting consistent 5-shot groups at 0.3-0.5" at 100 yards, you're done. No need to "develop" more unless you just want to play. See Berger's seating depth advice here. (3-shot groups don't mean squat, don't post 'em here unless you're wearing thick layers of flame-proof armor.)
• The over-bore .25-06 is a barrel-burner. I sold mine a couple years ago; it was a sentimental rifle I'd had for a very long time. I had no idea how many rounds it had through it, but putting 50-55 grains of powder through a .257" bore, based on what I know now, I'm guessing a useful (for this discipline) barrel life of 1500 round plus or minus. There are plenty of threads here and elsewhere about barrel life.

You don't say what experience you have with rifles, but if you have that many powders and can shoot half-minute groups, I'm guessing you have a decent background. Read what you can here. I'm thinking you might acquire another rifle, or re-barrel your Remington, in a caliber a bit more suited to distance shooting. Not that a .25-06 is lacking much as a caliber; it's just that there is a much better selection of match-grade bullets for .243/6mm, .264/6.5mm, .284/7mm, and .308/7.62, and 50-55 grains of powder plus barrel wear gets expensive for the return on investment re accuracy.

Good luck.

I’m definitely new to reloading and much shooting beyond minute of deer, though I’ve been interested for quite some time. I bought this rifle probably 7-8 years ago. I started getting interested in reloading and shooting around the same time. I started reading and gathering supplies at that time. A little here, a little there. I’ve just signed up for a shooting class, and want to get my rifle ready to start shooting after the class is finished. I’ll probably end up rebarreling a different caliber when the time comes, but for now it’ll have to do. I picked up the powders I have at an estate sale. I only bought the unopened containers. I just want to get the most I can out of this rifle with the limited funds and time I have.

 

[00juice]

Take the load that groups decent and try it at 500-1000.
since you have no speeds I assume no chronograph so you need to test at distance for vertical spread.

I don’t have a chrono yet, but hope to soon. I’m trying to decide between a $100 chronograph and $600 labradar.

 

[Steel head]

I don’t have a chrono yet, but hope to soon. I’m trying to decide between a $100 chronograph and $600 labradar.

The only cheap chrony I’d consider is a magnetospeed sporter.
Don’t waste you money on anything less.

 

[nn8734]

I don’t have a chrono yet, but hope to soon. I’m trying to decide between a $100 chronograph and $600 labradar.

Easy decision- LabRadar. Yea it’s expensive but imo, worth every penny.

 

[Steel head]

Easy decision- LabRadar. Yea it’s expensive but imo, worth every penny.

They are nice.