.30-06 load decisions

[Guy Miner]

I'll have to give the new rifle a try, to determine if there's a load it just flat doesn't like, but I'm sort of torn between choices. The great thing is though, that most of these choices appear to be real good. On hand I've got:

165 gr Ballistic Tips & Partitions. Can likely drive them up into the 2800 - 2900 fps level. I know from experience that these bullets work GREAT on game and can be very accurate.

180 gr Nosler Partitions. Hard to imagine them not working. 2700 - 2800 fps level. First used a 180 gr .30 cal Nosler Partition on game back in the 1980's sometime. Hole in, hole out, carcass on the ground. I suspect nothing has changed.

200 gr Nosler Partitions. Have a surprisingly good stash of these big boys! 2600 ish I'm thinking? Can't remember shooting any game with the 200's or 220's yet. Dad used to use factory loaded 220 gr Winchester Silvertips while hunting with his .30-06 Springfield.

220 gr Nosler Partitions. Just thinking about these puts a grin on my face. Am thinking 2500-2600 fps isn't out of the question.

Also have a good bunch of H4350, Ramshot Hunter, RL-22 and a couple of other suitable powders avail. Should be fun.

Now to scope the doggone thing and get going! :grin: The only problem is that the new .30-06 is a bit of a distraction to the .375, but maybe they will compliment each other nicely. Trajectories are remarkably similar.

Guy

 

[Antelope_Sniper]

I see you have the vanilla ice cream and apple pie combination covered:
165gr BT and (x)4350.

You could stick some 180gr BT's in front of some 760, or any of the other powders you mention....Of course with that big .375 of your you many never need the 180's in this '06.

 

[Guy Miner]

You're right about the 165's & H4350 - terrific combination that has served me well.

Not sure I really need anything else for this rifle - but I do have all those heavier bullets just sort of sitting there on the loading bench, begging to be used for something...

Guy

 

[barthowes]

if you 're up for something different. try some RL-17. It's works great with my savage 116 and 168gr Barnes TTSX. 2825fps. I'm sure you can push a non monolithic bullet faster. I only stopped there cause i was getting 1/2MOA accuracy.

 

[Antelope_Sniper]

Proshop has the 180 BT's seconds in stock:

http://shootersproshop.com/index.php?ro ... uct_id=685

 

[JD338]

Guy

Tough to beat the 165 gr BT and H4350 combo.

JD338

 

[gerry]

You have some good components to try, it will be fun. Put a Leupold 6x36 on it and you will be good to go Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

[joelkdouglas]

Guy,

I'm liking the 180 PT & Hunter combo. FWIW my batch of Hunter is a touch slow, needs 59 grains to get to 2700 fps. I'm going up to 60.5 grains this weekend, trying to get to 2750 fps.

v/r
Joel

 

[longrangehunter]

Hey Guy,

So what's it going to be used for? The 165's are great on light pray deer sized game, 180's medium/heavy pray mixed game (deer, elk and black bear), or the 200 NP behind 57.0 grains of Reloader 22 should work wonders on the tough stuff found all over Alaska and Africa at those ranges, mixed in with some 220's to act as solids if it were me.

 

[FOTIS]

Guy

Tough to beat the 165 gr BT and H4350 combo.

JD338

I agree with Jim.

A 180 PT with H4350 as a back up load for the really big stuff.

 

[Guy Miner]

Guy

Tough to beat the 165 gr BT and H4350 combo.

JD338

Yes, that's been my "standard" combo for a long time now. Good accuracy, decent velocity from the old rifle with the well-worn 21" military barrel. It will be the first load I try from the new 24" Remington. After seeing how well that Ballistic Tip handles deer, and how thick that jacket is, I have no reservations about using it for mule deer, black bear, and even elk.

Hoping that particular combo shoots well in the new rifle.

Guy

 

[SJB358]

Guy I know you love that 165 in the 30 and probably wouldn't ever be left wanting but I would be amped totry some 200's out of the new 30-06. Pretty good BC and the trajectory should just about mirror your 260 grain load out of your 375. Good luck. You can't hardly make a bad choice.

 

[Guy Miner]

And Hemmingway rolled a cape buff or a rhino or some such with a 220 gr .30-06...

I'm not sure there's a wrong answer with the .30-06!

 

[SJB358]

And Hemmingway rolled a cape buff or a rhino or some such with a 220 gr .30-06...

I'm not sure there's a wrong answer with the .30-06!

You aren't kidding Guy... As much as I don't need a 30-06, I think everyone should have at least one of them..

 

[longrangehunter]

And Hemmingway rolled a cape buff or a rhino or some such with a 220 gr .30-06...

I'm not sure there's a wrong answer with the .30-06!

You aren't kidding Guy... As much as I don't need a 30-06, I think everyone should have at least one of them..

Speaking of which...... I would never boast, and/or try this every time, but yours truly did just that on a old Dagga Boy for camp meat with a well placed 220 Woodleigh Solid from my Ruger Express 30-06! I might add Scotty that at that time I was looking for something smaller to feed my camp staff, and left my Lon Paul Brno 602 458 Lott in the Unimog. That rifle is my preferred choice for a big bovine, but the 30-06 did the trick for me that day when I got charged. Which is why I always carried FMJ mixed in with my 200 gr. soft point Oryx bullets.

 

[SJB358]

Speaking of which...... I would never boast, and/or try this every time, but yours truly did just that on a old Dagga Boy for camp meat with a well placed 220 Woodleigh Solid from my Ruger Express 30-06! I might add Scotty that at that time I was looking for something smaller to feed my camp staff, and left my Lon Paul Brno 602 458 Lott in the Unimog. That rifle is my preferred choice for a big bovine, but the 30-06 did the trick for me that day when I got charged. Which is why I always carried FMJ mixed in with my 200 gr. soft point Oryx bullets.

Very cool stuff. I would imagine the 30-06 has saved more American's bacon than any other round in the world, both Marine/solider and in the hunting fields.

What did you think of the Oryx bullets? Seem pretty good and there are a few around here that really like them.

 

[Antelope_Sniper]

And Hemmingway rolled a cape buff or a rhino or some such with a 220 gr .30-06...

I'm not sure there's a wrong answer with the .30-06!

You aren't kidding Guy... As much as I don't need a 30-06, I think everyone should have at least one of them..

Speaking of which...... I would never boast, and/or try this every time, but yours truly did just that on a old Dagga Boy for camp meat with a well placed 220 Woodleigh Solid from my Ruger Express 30-06! I might add Scotty that at that time I was looking for something smaller to feed my camp staff, and left my Lon Paul Brno 602 458 Lott in the Unimog. That rifle is my preferred choice for a big bovine, but the 30-06 did the trick for me that day when I got charged. Which is why I always carried FMJ mixed in with my 200 gr. soft point Oryx bullets.

Very nice LHR....but I always figured you for a guy who would get the job done when the chips were down...

 

[longrangehunter]

Scotty,

I had another 30-06 built on a Mauser Action for Africa, pretty gun but it won't shoot, well it would, then go to hell. The local gun smith who built it swapped out the barrel, but I still had no luck with it. So I bought the Ruger M77 II Express online and the last loads I tested in the Mauser was with the Norma Oryx bullets.

I first tried the Norma Oryx 180 gr. bullets with RL19, and it shot well. I then tried the 200 gr. bullets w/ RL22 and right off the bat I had another load developed, and found that the Woodleigh 220 Solids would shoot to the same POI with 2 grains less powder. They preformed very well over there, but so would have the Nosler Partitions, which I had hoped to use since I had 5 boxes of them. It just so happened the two different bullets shot to the same POI, and that was all that mattered.

The Buff had gone down hard on that head shot. Others have not been so Lucky! Niki Atcheson had been hunting in the concession right next to me with HHK Safaris. She had two Buffalo tags there and was to come over to our camp after her hunt with HHK. Long story short she wounded a Buff, and the next day got charged while tracking it. The PH saw the buffalo charge and got off a shot, but the buffalo went right past the PH, her husband, and went right for her! The Buff drilled her in the abdomen with its head and she went down like a sack of beans. Lucky for her she had her Swarovki Binos in a chest harness covering her stomach, or the buff would have gutted her! The buff swung around and went to gore her on the ground with its horn, her husband's Custom Shop Winchester 458 was having a safety issue? The PH ran up and pulled the trigger with the barrel placed against its head, and the bull fell over her.

Well they moved the Buff off her, got her back to camp and MARS flew in to pick her up and fly her to a hospital in RSA. The Buff had ran its horn up her back leg to her ass, opening it up like a can opener! I heard she had five skin graphs and months in the hospital to recover.

She did go back to Chewore and shoot another Buff the next year? She's lucky, and so are the three other gentlemen I know, all outfitters and had been mauled by Lions! Not pretty I'm sure! I used to hear a Lion roar before the sun came up in the morning, I'd have to walk down a long path to the diesel generators every morning to fire one up for power. In the beginning I did it armed, then with a sward, then nothing...... later I just felt not to fear death, and I survived well knowing God was on my side!

 

[ScreaminEagle]

Guy,
My '06 shoots 180gr DeepCurls over IMR4350 well under 1/2 MOA
Steve