Loadmaster and 30-06

[Steve]

Yep, your not seeing things. Those are 30-06 dies on the loadmaster.
I do the full length sizeing of rifle cases on a single stage press.
The Loadmaster would FL size 30-06 but I don't want to put a heavy strain on it if I don't have to.

For 30-06 I setup the turret as follows:
Station 1. Any die for shell plate contact.
Station 2. Empty.
Station 3. Lee "Dead Length" seating die.
Station 4. Standard seating die, not screwed in far enough to crimp. Seating plug is upside down.
(Reason for upside down plug stated below.)
Station 5. Lee Factory Crimp Die.

Reason for upside down seating plug in station 4: The ogave on the old GI bullets I have are not very true,
so the dead length seating die in station 3 does not have a true surface to push on. I set the GI bullets a 16th inch long coming out of station 3. Station 4 is set to push on the nose of the bullet to seat it to the
correct length. (These rounds are used in my M1 Garand)

For hunting rounds with good bullets The Dead length seater in station 3 is set for the correct OAL. Station 4 is set for no contact with bullet.

Crimp is used on my M1 rounds. On some of my bolt rifle rounds I don't use the crimp.

I batch weigh the powder charges before going to the press and set them on at station 3. If I start shooting more 30-06 I will probably start using a drum type measure setup in station 2.

30-06_1.jpg

[Maximumbob54]

If you aren't loading for the Garand then a good ball powder like 748 works really well in the Pro Auto Disk. I too size off the press and trim, but once that's all done I load on the Classic Turret. With the Pro Auto and the Double Disk kit you get a very precise powder drop over and over again. Now if I switch to Varget then I don't use that setup and instead go back to the scale for each one. That powder measure does not care for stick powders. But 748 and 760 flow like water.

[Steve]

10-4 on the ball powder maximumbob. But if I try speeding up the 06 loading I will use a variance of the setup shown in the link below with that same measure. I was having trouble with acurate charges with some powder on the 223 so I put the measure shown to work with some case activated linkage. It throws accurate charges with several extruded powders I have tried.

http://www.lee-loader.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=381

[Steve]

Loaded a few 30-06 on the Loadmaster today. I was having some troubles with the Lyman DPS staying calibrated. Went to radio shack, got a "Anti-Static Kit" with ground strap. Plugged the scale into a good quality suppressor. Now it works well.

I'm trying the IMR 8208 XBR with 2 loads 165 grain PSP and 150 grain GI surplus bullets. Found a little info about these bullet weights with the 8208 powder being used with the M1 Garand. I'm going to give it a try starting with light loads so I won't harm the op-rod.

My goal is to come up with one good load that will shoot fairly well for plinking with my M1 or the model 53 Ted Williams.

It was pretty nice to punch in the weight on the scale, push the enter key and let it fill the pan plus do the trickle to finish. I had the turret setup on LM1, but moved the operation to LM2 because the scale is setup next to it in the computer room. Just put in the turret, and shell plate, started normal loading, didn't have to make adjustments because of the press change.

The way I operated the loadmaster with the 30-06 is: Set a charged case on at station 3, put a bullet on the case, pull the handle. Repeat the previous. Loads as fast as I feel like going.

Did I mention I like Lee Loadmasters?

[Maximumbob54]

Guys like you eventually cost me good money. I don't have a Load Master yet. YET...

[Steve]

Guys like you eventually cost me good money. I don't have a Load Master yet. YET...

Better get one Maximumbob. Both of mine are pretty much stock. As you have read, I am a satisfied user, I just don't prime on them. And I enjoy my off press priming time. All of it is just my way of trying to make good ammo without a lot of work/time used.

[Steve]

Got to test fire rounds loaded with the IMR 8208 XBR powder, 150 gr and 165 gr in the M1 and the bolt gun. Only 5 rounds of each load in each rifle, both show a lot of promise in both rifles. My main worry is too much pressure on the op-rod of the M1. The direction the fired rounds eject from the M1 indicate pressure is ok. Now to do a complete work up of the loads for each rifle.

If these loads pan out good for the M1 I will post the load data. By the way it was sure nice to press the trigger on 30-06 loads again. I have quite a few rounds loaded with 4831, I fired a bunch of those in the bolt action before I came home.