Thread: "Karhu" A.K.A "Finnish Bear" 30-06 load developement

Got to take the Finnbear to the range today and whilst no particularly stunning groups were shot, I have a really good starting point to tune a load and some very useful and interesting data.
Sadly I didn't get my lowest charge weight group on paper due to me being incredibly crap at bore sighting. I did however capture all of the chronograph data so all was not in vein.
My first 3 steps in my ladder showed average SD's of 35-20 fps over 3 rounds each.
The next 2 steps up the SD's dropped to 14fps and I started to think we could be coming into a velocity node,
Then with my final load my SD dropped to 2.6fps over 3 rounds
So 6 different charge weights shot all seated 10thou off my jam measurement and very very good velocity achieved. No signs of excessive pressure at all on the brass or with the rifle. I could probably go higher but i don't really think it's really needed.
Unfortunately my highest charge weight I only got 2 shots on paper as I failed to adjust the scope down as my velocity increased and the first shot sailed above my target into the backstop so I used a different point of aim for the last 2 shots of that charge weight.
Very happy with the results so far, tomorrow I will load up 6 more at 56.5gn to double check the velocity node and hopefully get 2x 3 shot groups on paper, then if the grouping is not acceptable but the velocity is still stable I will tutu with a seating depth ladder to try and tighten the groups up.
All in all I'm pretty pleased with todays results, interestingly the best group shot today was 55gn with an SD of 19fps. Hopefully I can tune the 56.5gn load to sub moa with its much tighter SD of 2.6fps I have some high hopes pinned on it. Obviously as I seat the projectile deeper I may have to back off the charge weight if the SD starts to open up.

Load ladder data
Velocities x3 then A: (average velocity) and SD



Best 3 shot SD and velocity data




On a side note even with the 178gn eldx at good pace the finnbear is a pussy cat too shoot