Mauser M03 - Good Accuracy with 30-06

The parcel with my new Wilson reloading dies for 30-06 Springfield arrived on Monday. During the week I prepared a few cases to use in my Mauser M03 30-06 barrel, to work up some new loads on Sunday morning. I had success right from the start, with a moderate load of 55gn of AR 2209 pushing my favourite 30 caliber bullet - the 180gn Nosler Ballistic Tip. The mid-morning mirage was making the cross-hair wobble more than the separation of these two shots, so I was quite pleased. Clearly, my M03 was happy with the Ballistic Tips.



When I'm developing new loads I fire two shot groups, to quickly check if the combination of powder type, powder load, bullet style, bullet weight and seating depth are going to work. After these first two shots I adjusted my powder thrower to increase the load to 56.5gn of 2209 and made up three more rounds, at close to maximum pressure. The barrel oscillations with this load flipped the first projectile four centimetres higher than where the 55gn group had landed; I wasn't thinking this was going to be a great group. However, the second shot overlapped the first. The pressure was now on me for the third shot. I mucked that up and pulled it slightly to the right; I could tell by the sight picture when the rifle jumped. Even so, the three shots are just under a 14mm group. I wonder what this Mauser M03 could do with better sandbags and better technique? Fact is, I'm far from being good at shooting straight when the target is a piece of white cardboard and a 30-06 is about to erupt right next to me. The set trigger definitely helps, but that cross hair is never perfectly still.

I think 180gn Nosler Ballistic Tips pushed by 56.5gn of 2209 and seated 20 thousandths of an inch from the lands will be a good load to use in this Mauser M03 barrel.