- Thread starter
- #21
10 / 10 / 15 Range day 3006
- Thread starter RAY
- Start date
DrMike
Ballistician
- Nov 8, 2006
- 37,312
- 5,978
wildgene":guqtlb65 said:
DrMike? Moi? You impugn my capacity to assist a fellow shooter? Gene! How sharper than a serpent's tooth is the help of a friend. And to think, I've been working with you to assist Scotty to get that 325 WSM. :? :lol:
My first rifle was a 30.06. I now have two of them.
I've been loading my own ammo for 20+ years. I've now got a bunch of rifles in a bunch of different calibers.
I would be happy with those results and willing to hunt with that without hesitation.
Good job and very encouraging results.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've been loading my own ammo for 20+ years. I've now got a bunch of rifles in a bunch of different calibers.
I would be happy with those results and willing to hunt with that without hesitation.
Good job and very encouraging results.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
- Thread starter
- #24
HeathSexton
Handloader
- May 12, 2006
- 1,205
- 34
Of those I would go 55.5grs of 4350
I would also retest 57grs and I would try 57.5grs, 58grs, and 58.5grs
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR .30-06
by John Barsness
TODAY THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE of most handloaders seems to be accuracy, with muzzle velocity closely behind, though we still run into guys who claim to get 100 or even 200 ft/sec more than most loading manuals suggest might be realistic. In my experience these experimenters are often into hot cars as well as hot handloads, but most of us recognize that if we want a .300 magnum we should buy one, rather than attempt to turn our .30-06 into a .300 WSM.
The majority of us want fine accuracy with as much velocity as is safely possible. Modern powders continue to improve performance, though sometimes not quite as much as we'd like to believe. While some new powders do provide higher muzzle velocities under "normal" conditions, they can lose considerable velocity at cooler temperatures. (And exactly why "normal" means about 70 degrees, the temperature of our climate-controlled living-rooms, I've never been able to quite figure out. Do we hunt deer in our living-rooms?)
Though I own rifles chambered for centerfire cartridges ranging in powder capacity from about 12 to 120 grains, and in calibers from .20 to .45, I am an unabashed admirer of the .30-06 Springfield. In fact 10% of my centerfires are chambered for the .30-06. This isn't because I don't like smaller and larger .30's; another 20% of my rifles are chambered for .30 caliber cartridges ranging from the .30-30 Winchester to the .300 Weatherby Magnum. (Obviously I haven't fallen for the modern suggestion that 7mm is the perfect all-around bullet diameter for big game hunting - though I own exactly as many 7mm rifles as .300 magnums.)
But the .30-06 always seemed just about right, even before my first game animal. This was because the gun writers of the early 1960's, including Jack O'Connor, told me so. I spent my paper route money not just on .22 ammo but a subscription to Outdoor Life and an annual copy of Gun Digest, and so knew an awful lot about big game rifles long before taking my first deer.
Since then I have actually used the .30-06, buying my first at age 20, a "sporterized" Model 1917 Enfield that I turned into a real sporter, partly by grinding the rear sight "ears" from the action and drilling and tapping it for scope bases. This rifle shot pretty well, but I soon acquired yet another .30-06, a used Remington 760 that the brother of a friend had to sell cheap.
Since then I've owned at least 20 more '06's, including several 1903 Springfields (one a Sedgely sporter), a couple of pre-'64 Model 70 Winchesters, several 98 Mausers, a T/C Encore, a Browning BAR and a Sauer drilling. Last fall I took the biggest bull elk of my life with a Benelli autoloader in .30-06, using 180-grain Federal Tipped Trophy Bonded ammunition, while filming a TV show, about as modern a rifle and load as can be found. In fact I've owned or hunted with a .30-06 in every type of rifle action except the lever, and might have to correct that.
For many years I'd taken more big game animals with the .30-06 than any other cartridge, though recently the .270 Winchester edged it out slightly. I still have taken a much wider variety of game with the .30-06 than any other round, ranging from American pronghorn and African springbok to elk and kudu, on three continents. It works.
Over the decades I've experimented constantly with various handloads, so know how to make a .30-06 shoot both accurately and with reasonable zip. The loads that follow have worked not just in one rifle but several. They may not work in your .30-06, and may have to be adjusted slightly due to differences in chambers and bores - but the odds are they will work pretty darn well.
Let me start by saying that if you have been loading your .30-06 with IMR4350 and any bullet weight from 150 to 220 grains for many years, then you might as well go ahead and keep using the same load. That powder still works for anything worth doing with a .30-06. What follows is for rifle loonies only.
150-grain bullets:
I am not crazy about using bullets under 150 grains in the .30-06. Yeah, some modern 130-grain bullets will penetrate elk reliably, but I was born and raised and live in the West, and have hunted too many other windy places to be impressed with high muzzle velocity that sacrifices wind-bucking ability. So the list starts at 150.
As noted, IMR4350 is a fine powder with 150-grain bullets, and a safe one too, since you just about can't pile too much into a .30-06 case to be dangerous. But in recent years Ramshot Big Game with 150's has proven itself a little better. Not only is Big Game less cold-sensitive than IMR4350 (not a bad thing when hunting in a typical Montana November) but accuracy and muzzle velocity tend to be just a bit better. It also meters a heck of lot easier than IMR4350, which really doesn't meter at all but ka-chunks its way through a powder measure.
Nosler's latest Reloading Guide 6 lists Big Game as the fastest powder for 150-155 grain bullets. I tend to trust Nosler's numbers a little more than those of some other manuals, because they actually report the muzzle velocities from their pressure barrels, rather than working up loads in a pressure barrel and then shooting them for velocity in a sporter barrel, or rounding them off to the nearest 100 ft/sec.
Nosler's muzzle velocity for their top charge of 58.0 grains is 3056 ft/sec, while Ramshot's own top load is 57.5 grains for a muzzle velocity of 2932 ft/sec. My own experience is that 3000 ft/sec is easily reachable in a 24" barrel, sometimes with less powder. A lot depends on the bullet. I first tried Big Game with 150's using Swift Sciroccos, a rather "sticky" bullet, and got 3059 ft/sec with 54.0 grains from the 24" barrel of my New Ultra Light Arms Model 24, with fine accuracy. With 56.0 grains ejector-hole marks appeared on the case heads.
This proved to be a deadly deer load, but also serves to remind us that today that various bullets create widely different pressures, so we can't blithely substitute one company's 150-grain data for use with another company's 150-grain bullet. Start with around 53 grains of Big Game, just to make sure, and watch the chronograph carefully. Often a magnum primer will help accuracy when using any Ramshot rifle powder.
165-grain bullets:
Here's where good old IMR4350 really shines. For decades my standard load with 165's was 58.5 grains. The extra half-grain may have been superfluous, but did seem to result in better accuracy in more than one rifle than "just" 58.0 grains. Muzzle velocity was around 2900 ft/sec, and this load killed a pile of big game, first with Sierra GameKings, and then with Nosler Solid Bases and Partitions, long before we had today's vast array of "premium" bullets to choose from. In fact, I would still be happy to hunt any game in Montana with a 165 Partition and 58.5 grains of IMR4350.
(By the way, you won't find this load in any manuals, because .30-06 data is kept to 60,000 psi instead of the slightly higher levels afforded more "modern" cartridges. But a few years ago I loaded up some 165 Partitions with 58.5 IMR4350 in Federal and had Ramshot's pressure lab run them through their piezo barrel. The average pressure for 10 rounds was 58,348 psi, with very low standard deviation, so the load was entirely safe even by SAAMI standards - and with the Federal 215 primer, which tends to raise pressures slightly over standard primers.)
These days, however, I am far more likely to load 59.0 grains of Hodgdon's H4350SC, and for the same reasons I load Big Game instead of IMR4350 with 150-grain bullets: H4350SC meters a lot easier and is far less cold-sensitive. In fact in tests at around 0°F it didn't lose any velocity at all from 70-degree levels, while IMR4350 often loses 100 ft/sec or more. The loss of velocity isn't as important as the changes in point of impact that often occur. H4350SC also tends to be a little slower than IMR4350, though this isn't always true from lot to lot, so again watch that chronograph.
180-grain bullets:
For decades I bounced back and forth between IMR4350, Hodgdon H4831 and Alliant Reloder 19 when loading 180's in the .30-06. All worked pretty well, but none stood out so much across several rifles that I could pick one load and stick to it. Then, a few years ago, I tried Ramshot's new Hunter powder with 180's. The first experiments took place in my old NULA with Barnes then-new Triple Shock X-Bullets. Eventually I worked up to 58.0 grains. Accuracy was very fine and muzzle velocity was right around 2800 ft/sec.
I have since tried this load with different 180's in several .30-06's, including my Sauer drilling. Accuracy has been universally very good, and in 24" barrels velocity around 2800 or even higher. Ramshot's own data goes up to 60 grains (with Hornady BTSP Interlocks) but I have never found any reason to go beyond 58.0 grains. The load has worked not only in the NULA and Sauer but in the .30-06 barrel for my T/C Encore and a fine pre-'64 Model 70 Winchester. In the Model 70 (with no changes other than adjusting the trigger and making sure all the screws were tight, including the forend screw) the load grouped around .5" with Sierra GameKings and .8" with Nosler Partitions at 100 yards.
In fact, when I went to New Zealand in early 2007 to test Berger VLD's on wild goats and big red stags, I immediately loaded up 58.0 grains of Hunter behind some 185 VLD's, and got 100-yard groups of .4" at 100 yards, with a muzzle velocity of 2862 ft/sec. Combined with the very high ballistic coefficient of the VLD's, this made shooting at long range very easy in the New Zealand mountains. So now I do have a 180-grain .30-06 load that works in several rifles.
200-grain bullets:
Today I don't think there's a real need for anything bigger than a 180-grain bullet in the .30-06, but when I started using one in the 1970's I often hunted elk and mule deer in the steep, thickly-timbered Montana mountains near the Idaho Panhandle. Shots could come at any angle, but a lot of range or velocity wasn't required. I tried some of the old "semi-spitzer" 200-grain Nosler Partitions (the ones with the relief groove around the middle) in my first Springfield sporter and found that 58.0 grains of the original military-surplus H4831 shot acceptably (especially for an ancient rifle with a 3x Weaver) at just over 2600 ft/sec.
This load worked very well, so even when I "modernized" with a Ruger 77, a Bushnell 4x and Nosler's extruded-jacket 200-grain spitzer Partition, I tried H4831 again, this time the newly-manufactured version, eventually working up to 59.0 grains for about 2650 ft/sec. The new powder was a little hotter, but the load worked just as well as the old one. Eventually this load was used in a bunch of .30-06's, anytime the game was relatively large and the ranges relatively modest - though with the spitzer bullet it shoots as flat as a factory 180-grain load.
For a few years I used the Ruger 77 for all my big game hunting, using either a "deer" load with the 165-grain Nosler Solid base or an "elk" load with the 200 Partition. They shot to the same place at 100 yards, and the only difference in appearance between the rounds was that the 165's were loaded in Remington brass and the 200's in Winchesters, just so I could tell them apart.
However, that didn't always work. Once while pronghorn hunting I ended up with the 200's. I didn't realize it, though, until after shooting an antelope at about 250 yards - and the 200 worked just fine. In fact this load is still so reliable that I occasionally use it again on some wild and tasty beast. And why not? One of its virtues is that it doesn't shoot up a lot of meat.
I have shot some 220- and even 240-grain bullets from the .30-06, the last Woodleighs, usually with H4831. They have grouped fine, but I am not real sure about what they're good for, since I have never had any problems with .30-06 bullets penetrating big game with lighter spitzers. Maybe if I were using a .30-06 when guiding brown bear clients, as Phil Shoemaker has done, I might pick one of the real heavyweights - though Phil mostly used 200 Partitions, as I recall.
The newest spitzers will work both near and far, and on the biggest game. I have shot enough 165-grain Barnes TSX's and 180-grain Nosler E-Tips into big game now to know that they work very well on game larger than deer, and that if they don't seem quite big enough I should probably be carrying something like a .375 or maybe even a .416. Heck, even at the modern muzzle velocity of 2800 ft/sec a 180 Sierra GameKing works just fine for most hunting, including elk. That's still one of the virtues of the .30-06. Though modern powders and bullets allow it to compete with far more modern rounds, it still works quite well with standard lead-core bullets, a real virtue if you're traveling and get separated from your cutting-edge handloads.
I would also retest 57grs and I would try 57.5grs, 58grs, and 58.5grs
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR .30-06
by John Barsness
TODAY THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE of most handloaders seems to be accuracy, with muzzle velocity closely behind, though we still run into guys who claim to get 100 or even 200 ft/sec more than most loading manuals suggest might be realistic. In my experience these experimenters are often into hot cars as well as hot handloads, but most of us recognize that if we want a .300 magnum we should buy one, rather than attempt to turn our .30-06 into a .300 WSM.
The majority of us want fine accuracy with as much velocity as is safely possible. Modern powders continue to improve performance, though sometimes not quite as much as we'd like to believe. While some new powders do provide higher muzzle velocities under "normal" conditions, they can lose considerable velocity at cooler temperatures. (And exactly why "normal" means about 70 degrees, the temperature of our climate-controlled living-rooms, I've never been able to quite figure out. Do we hunt deer in our living-rooms?)
Though I own rifles chambered for centerfire cartridges ranging in powder capacity from about 12 to 120 grains, and in calibers from .20 to .45, I am an unabashed admirer of the .30-06 Springfield. In fact 10% of my centerfires are chambered for the .30-06. This isn't because I don't like smaller and larger .30's; another 20% of my rifles are chambered for .30 caliber cartridges ranging from the .30-30 Winchester to the .300 Weatherby Magnum. (Obviously I haven't fallen for the modern suggestion that 7mm is the perfect all-around bullet diameter for big game hunting - though I own exactly as many 7mm rifles as .300 magnums.)
But the .30-06 always seemed just about right, even before my first game animal. This was because the gun writers of the early 1960's, including Jack O'Connor, told me so. I spent my paper route money not just on .22 ammo but a subscription to Outdoor Life and an annual copy of Gun Digest, and so knew an awful lot about big game rifles long before taking my first deer.
Since then I have actually used the .30-06, buying my first at age 20, a "sporterized" Model 1917 Enfield that I turned into a real sporter, partly by grinding the rear sight "ears" from the action and drilling and tapping it for scope bases. This rifle shot pretty well, but I soon acquired yet another .30-06, a used Remington 760 that the brother of a friend had to sell cheap.
Since then I've owned at least 20 more '06's, including several 1903 Springfields (one a Sedgely sporter), a couple of pre-'64 Model 70 Winchesters, several 98 Mausers, a T/C Encore, a Browning BAR and a Sauer drilling. Last fall I took the biggest bull elk of my life with a Benelli autoloader in .30-06, using 180-grain Federal Tipped Trophy Bonded ammunition, while filming a TV show, about as modern a rifle and load as can be found. In fact I've owned or hunted with a .30-06 in every type of rifle action except the lever, and might have to correct that.
For many years I'd taken more big game animals with the .30-06 than any other cartridge, though recently the .270 Winchester edged it out slightly. I still have taken a much wider variety of game with the .30-06 than any other round, ranging from American pronghorn and African springbok to elk and kudu, on three continents. It works.
Over the decades I've experimented constantly with various handloads, so know how to make a .30-06 shoot both accurately and with reasonable zip. The loads that follow have worked not just in one rifle but several. They may not work in your .30-06, and may have to be adjusted slightly due to differences in chambers and bores - but the odds are they will work pretty darn well.
Let me start by saying that if you have been loading your .30-06 with IMR4350 and any bullet weight from 150 to 220 grains for many years, then you might as well go ahead and keep using the same load. That powder still works for anything worth doing with a .30-06. What follows is for rifle loonies only.
150-grain bullets:
I am not crazy about using bullets under 150 grains in the .30-06. Yeah, some modern 130-grain bullets will penetrate elk reliably, but I was born and raised and live in the West, and have hunted too many other windy places to be impressed with high muzzle velocity that sacrifices wind-bucking ability. So the list starts at 150.
As noted, IMR4350 is a fine powder with 150-grain bullets, and a safe one too, since you just about can't pile too much into a .30-06 case to be dangerous. But in recent years Ramshot Big Game with 150's has proven itself a little better. Not only is Big Game less cold-sensitive than IMR4350 (not a bad thing when hunting in a typical Montana November) but accuracy and muzzle velocity tend to be just a bit better. It also meters a heck of lot easier than IMR4350, which really doesn't meter at all but ka-chunks its way through a powder measure.
Nosler's latest Reloading Guide 6 lists Big Game as the fastest powder for 150-155 grain bullets. I tend to trust Nosler's numbers a little more than those of some other manuals, because they actually report the muzzle velocities from their pressure barrels, rather than working up loads in a pressure barrel and then shooting them for velocity in a sporter barrel, or rounding them off to the nearest 100 ft/sec.
Nosler's muzzle velocity for their top charge of 58.0 grains is 3056 ft/sec, while Ramshot's own top load is 57.5 grains for a muzzle velocity of 2932 ft/sec. My own experience is that 3000 ft/sec is easily reachable in a 24" barrel, sometimes with less powder. A lot depends on the bullet. I first tried Big Game with 150's using Swift Sciroccos, a rather "sticky" bullet, and got 3059 ft/sec with 54.0 grains from the 24" barrel of my New Ultra Light Arms Model 24, with fine accuracy. With 56.0 grains ejector-hole marks appeared on the case heads.
This proved to be a deadly deer load, but also serves to remind us that today that various bullets create widely different pressures, so we can't blithely substitute one company's 150-grain data for use with another company's 150-grain bullet. Start with around 53 grains of Big Game, just to make sure, and watch the chronograph carefully. Often a magnum primer will help accuracy when using any Ramshot rifle powder.
165-grain bullets:
Here's where good old IMR4350 really shines. For decades my standard load with 165's was 58.5 grains. The extra half-grain may have been superfluous, but did seem to result in better accuracy in more than one rifle than "just" 58.0 grains. Muzzle velocity was around 2900 ft/sec, and this load killed a pile of big game, first with Sierra GameKings, and then with Nosler Solid Bases and Partitions, long before we had today's vast array of "premium" bullets to choose from. In fact, I would still be happy to hunt any game in Montana with a 165 Partition and 58.5 grains of IMR4350.
(By the way, you won't find this load in any manuals, because .30-06 data is kept to 60,000 psi instead of the slightly higher levels afforded more "modern" cartridges. But a few years ago I loaded up some 165 Partitions with 58.5 IMR4350 in Federal and had Ramshot's pressure lab run them through their piezo barrel. The average pressure for 10 rounds was 58,348 psi, with very low standard deviation, so the load was entirely safe even by SAAMI standards - and with the Federal 215 primer, which tends to raise pressures slightly over standard primers.)
These days, however, I am far more likely to load 59.0 grains of Hodgdon's H4350SC, and for the same reasons I load Big Game instead of IMR4350 with 150-grain bullets: H4350SC meters a lot easier and is far less cold-sensitive. In fact in tests at around 0°F it didn't lose any velocity at all from 70-degree levels, while IMR4350 often loses 100 ft/sec or more. The loss of velocity isn't as important as the changes in point of impact that often occur. H4350SC also tends to be a little slower than IMR4350, though this isn't always true from lot to lot, so again watch that chronograph.
180-grain bullets:
For decades I bounced back and forth between IMR4350, Hodgdon H4831 and Alliant Reloder 19 when loading 180's in the .30-06. All worked pretty well, but none stood out so much across several rifles that I could pick one load and stick to it. Then, a few years ago, I tried Ramshot's new Hunter powder with 180's. The first experiments took place in my old NULA with Barnes then-new Triple Shock X-Bullets. Eventually I worked up to 58.0 grains. Accuracy was very fine and muzzle velocity was right around 2800 ft/sec.
I have since tried this load with different 180's in several .30-06's, including my Sauer drilling. Accuracy has been universally very good, and in 24" barrels velocity around 2800 or even higher. Ramshot's own data goes up to 60 grains (with Hornady BTSP Interlocks) but I have never found any reason to go beyond 58.0 grains. The load has worked not only in the NULA and Sauer but in the .30-06 barrel for my T/C Encore and a fine pre-'64 Model 70 Winchester. In the Model 70 (with no changes other than adjusting the trigger and making sure all the screws were tight, including the forend screw) the load grouped around .5" with Sierra GameKings and .8" with Nosler Partitions at 100 yards.
In fact, when I went to New Zealand in early 2007 to test Berger VLD's on wild goats and big red stags, I immediately loaded up 58.0 grains of Hunter behind some 185 VLD's, and got 100-yard groups of .4" at 100 yards, with a muzzle velocity of 2862 ft/sec. Combined with the very high ballistic coefficient of the VLD's, this made shooting at long range very easy in the New Zealand mountains. So now I do have a 180-grain .30-06 load that works in several rifles.
200-grain bullets:
Today I don't think there's a real need for anything bigger than a 180-grain bullet in the .30-06, but when I started using one in the 1970's I often hunted elk and mule deer in the steep, thickly-timbered Montana mountains near the Idaho Panhandle. Shots could come at any angle, but a lot of range or velocity wasn't required. I tried some of the old "semi-spitzer" 200-grain Nosler Partitions (the ones with the relief groove around the middle) in my first Springfield sporter and found that 58.0 grains of the original military-surplus H4831 shot acceptably (especially for an ancient rifle with a 3x Weaver) at just over 2600 ft/sec.
This load worked very well, so even when I "modernized" with a Ruger 77, a Bushnell 4x and Nosler's extruded-jacket 200-grain spitzer Partition, I tried H4831 again, this time the newly-manufactured version, eventually working up to 59.0 grains for about 2650 ft/sec. The new powder was a little hotter, but the load worked just as well as the old one. Eventually this load was used in a bunch of .30-06's, anytime the game was relatively large and the ranges relatively modest - though with the spitzer bullet it shoots as flat as a factory 180-grain load.
For a few years I used the Ruger 77 for all my big game hunting, using either a "deer" load with the 165-grain Nosler Solid base or an "elk" load with the 200 Partition. They shot to the same place at 100 yards, and the only difference in appearance between the rounds was that the 165's were loaded in Remington brass and the 200's in Winchesters, just so I could tell them apart.
However, that didn't always work. Once while pronghorn hunting I ended up with the 200's. I didn't realize it, though, until after shooting an antelope at about 250 yards - and the 200 worked just fine. In fact this load is still so reliable that I occasionally use it again on some wild and tasty beast. And why not? One of its virtues is that it doesn't shoot up a lot of meat.
I have shot some 220- and even 240-grain bullets from the .30-06, the last Woodleighs, usually with H4831. They have grouped fine, but I am not real sure about what they're good for, since I have never had any problems with .30-06 bullets penetrating big game with lighter spitzers. Maybe if I were using a .30-06 when guiding brown bear clients, as Phil Shoemaker has done, I might pick one of the real heavyweights - though Phil mostly used 200 Partitions, as I recall.
The newest spitzers will work both near and far, and on the biggest game. I have shot enough 165-grain Barnes TSX's and 180-grain Nosler E-Tips into big game now to know that they work very well on game larger than deer, and that if they don't seem quite big enough I should probably be carrying something like a .375 or maybe even a .416. Heck, even at the modern muzzle velocity of 2800 ft/sec a 180 Sierra GameKing works just fine for most hunting, including elk. That's still one of the virtues of the .30-06. Though modern powders and bullets allow it to compete with far more modern rounds, it still works quite well with standard lead-core bullets, a real virtue if you're traveling and get separated from your cutting-edge handloads.
Ray, those are some outstanding targets. Well done. I'm partial to IMR4350. Most of your groups from 53-57 gr look great. You could reshoot 55-57 gr to verify and pick one that was consistent both times and use that for hunting. Really, any of those are usable for deer hunting.
I'd have a hard time not retrying 53-55 though and using one of those. Sure, you'll leave some fps on the table, but do you need those extra 100-200fps on deer at under 300 yards. They are slightly easier on the shoulder and really confidence inspiring. Again, nice job with your initial reloads.
I'd have a hard time not retrying 53-55 though and using one of those. Sure, you'll leave some fps on the table, but do you need those extra 100-200fps on deer at under 300 yards. They are slightly easier on the shoulder and really confidence inspiring. Again, nice job with your initial reloads.
filmjunkie4ever
Handloader
- May 4, 2011
- 1,926
- 1,208
I would personally go with the 56-57 grains of IMR 4350 there. Those seem to be holding really tight - basically shooting inside of the W760 groups.
Still any of those would get the job done.
Good luck Ray, I like what you've got going here.
Good to see there are still plenty of ".30-06 slingers" out there.
Dale
Still any of those would get the job done.
Good luck Ray, I like what you've got going here.
Good to see there are still plenty of ".30-06 slingers" out there.
Dale
gerry
Ammo Smith
- Mar 1, 2007
- 6,849
- 1,633
I would be inclined to shoot 55-56 gr IMR 4350 for sure and would go up to 57 gr again just to make sure.
- Thread starter
- #29
DrMike
Ballistician
- Nov 8, 2006
- 37,312
- 5,978
I can't imagine a problem, Ray. I've taken deer with my .280 charged with IMR 4831 (and with Winchester WXR) at temperatures ranging from -25C (-13F) to +25C (+78F). Deer have been dropped from 20 yards to over 300 yards. Your 30-06 will do just fine.
- Thread starter
- #31
longrangehunter
Handloader
- Jun 19, 2011
- 1,479
- 7
Ray, the 53.0 IMR 4350 load looks really good, with 56.0 a close second. If you have the equipment to find the distance from the bullets Ogive to the lands, this will help you as a starting point to work from in 0.010"-0.015' increments. It's very hard to know the exact distance and why I tend to just use variances in this number from the lands, all bullets have slight differences and the why in which we measure that distance has a build in flaw to a single number.
The chronograph will also help as noted by Dr. Mike, as well as the previous article by John Barsness about loading for the '06. The 165 gr. bullets are very versatile, great speed and good SD, sectional density. The combination of the right powder, charge weight and the right bullet from the lands will ultimately get you the groups you're after.
I'm not a fan of testing everything under the sun when something works for the expect accuracy of a given rifle. Choose a good bullet, if the rifle likes it run with it until you're know long satisfied with the load. Good shooting starts with knowing how well you use what you have, when you're confident it's the equipment holding you back, fix it with a better load or a better rifle. If what you're using works, why fix it in the first place, right.
Great work and like anything the more you work with something the better the outcome. You're on the right track with what you're using from the looks of things. The obvious question is what speed your barrel is producing? Some are very slow from my past experience, and the differences in what a manual says for a given powder charge.
Good luck and nice work Ray!
The chronograph will also help as noted by Dr. Mike, as well as the previous article by John Barsness about loading for the '06. The 165 gr. bullets are very versatile, great speed and good SD, sectional density. The combination of the right powder, charge weight and the right bullet from the lands will ultimately get you the groups you're after.
I'm not a fan of testing everything under the sun when something works for the expect accuracy of a given rifle. Choose a good bullet, if the rifle likes it run with it until you're know long satisfied with the load. Good shooting starts with knowing how well you use what you have, when you're confident it's the equipment holding you back, fix it with a better load or a better rifle. If what you're using works, why fix it in the first place, right.
Great work and like anything the more you work with something the better the outcome. You're on the right track with what you're using from the looks of things. The obvious question is what speed your barrel is producing? Some are very slow from my past experience, and the differences in what a manual says for a given powder charge.
Good luck and nice work Ray!
- Thread starter
- #33
Thank you LRH , I'm happy that this rifle can shoot these bullets , the primers and the powders.
I took a fired case , split the neck and chose one of the nosler BT bullets that actually measured the right length that is printed by nosler.
I have Hornadys bullet and shoulder comparators , but their not exactly what they say they are in the sizes.
I put the bullet in the split case neck and closed the bolt on it , it gave me 3.342" and then just made a dummy round of 3.320".
I do have the ogive measurements as well.
When I shoot it again I may just see how many jugs of water I can penetrate with the low end loads.
I'll have to look in the back of Noslers #7 and see what the bottom line is with that velocity and the minimum of 1600 fps for the BTs.
Ray
I took a fired case , split the neck and chose one of the nosler BT bullets that actually measured the right length that is printed by nosler.
I have Hornadys bullet and shoulder comparators , but their not exactly what they say they are in the sizes.
I put the bullet in the split case neck and closed the bolt on it , it gave me 3.342" and then just made a dummy round of 3.320".
I do have the ogive measurements as well.
When I shoot it again I may just see how many jugs of water I can penetrate with the low end loads.
I'll have to look in the back of Noslers #7 and see what the bottom line is with that velocity and the minimum of 1600 fps for the BTs.
Ray
- Thread starter
- #34
nosler06
Handloader
- Nov 13, 2012
- 253
- 35
Hi Ray
nosler06
Handloader
- Nov 13, 2012
- 253
- 35
Hi Ray
nosler06
Handloader
- Nov 13, 2012
- 253
- 35
Hi Ray
nosler06
Handloader
- Nov 13, 2012
- 253
- 35
Hi Ray
nosler06
Handloader
- Nov 13, 2012
- 253
- 35
Hi Ray
Those are some great looking groups that you have there. I have used IMR 4350 powder in an older Mod 70 30-06 for almost 30 years with 55.5grs and it is just about identical to the tight groups you show there. I have also found that H4350 and 55.0grs shoots just as nice through my 30-06. All of my powders have been pushing a 180gr NP bullet. Just my 2 cents.
Cheers
Those are some great looking groups that you have there. I have used IMR 4350 powder in an older Mod 70 30-06 for almost 30 years with 55.5grs and it is just about identical to the tight groups you show there. I have also found that H4350 and 55.0grs shoots just as nice through my 30-06. All of my powders have been pushing a 180gr NP bullet. Just my 2 cents.
Cheers
nosler06
Handloader
- Nov 13, 2012
- 253
- 35
Appologies for the multi posting not sure what happened there. Trying to figure out how to delete.
