Dad's 30-06

wisconsinteacher

wisconsinteacher

Handloader
Dec 2, 2010
1,976
290
After hunting season last year, my dad left his Rem 700 Mnt Rifle with me to clean. (I think it was his way of saying here is my rifle, I want you to have it). After I got it cleaned, I wanted to see if I could find a load for it. Up to this point he used Federal Fusion ammo with good success. I found some 178 Eldx bullets and tried a few powder with no luck. I then tired some 180 Btips and 165 hot cors, 180 AccuBonds. From there I bedded the rifle and tried a different scope. No matter what I tried, everything was the same. 2-3" 5 shot groups. After talking to Scotty and thinking hard about turning it into a 338-06, he suggested that I try the Tubbs bullets and give it one more chance. I figured, it is not my gun so I'll try the Tubbs and if it still doesn't shoot, I'll give it back to my dad. After the 50 rounds and cleaning, I headed back with the best load I had with the 180 Accubonds. The first 5 shot group measured in at 1.25". I had 3 shots touching and two that were just out of the group. I then seated them deeper and tried again. Boom 1" 5 shot group with a light weight 30-06!!! I ended up using RL22 as my powder and the charge is Nosler max. The Tubbs were the savior for dad's gun. He doesn't know it yet but I'm keeping it and using it this fall!!

I think I might try the Tubbs in my 270 and see if it can improve the accuracy of that rifle next.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just love classic firearms in classic calibers. Glad you got it to shoot well. Enjoy it!
 
My 30-06 isn't a classic - a Tikka from 2009.
With my handloads I stopped below moa, because that's all I need for hunting.
The barrel approaches the end of it's life and I am still unsure if I go for another cartridge.
It did all it was supposed to do and more.

I'd like to add a classic - bit as a south-paw, options are limited.
Happy to see that you made it work again!
 
wisconsinteacher said:
After hunting season last year, my dad left his Rem 700 Mnt Rifle with me to clean. (I think it was his way of saying here is my rifle, I want you to have it). After I got it cleaned, I wanted to see if I could find a load for it. Up to this point he used Federal Fushion ammo with good success. I found some 178 Eldx bullets and tried a few powder with no luck. I then tired some 180 Btips and 165 hot cors, 180 AccuBonds. From there I bedded the rifle and tried a different scope. No matter what I tried, everything was the same. 2-3" 5 shot groups. After talking to Scotty and thinking hard about turning it into a 338-06, he suggested that I try the Tubbs bullets and give it one more chance. I figured, it is not my gun so I'll try the Tubbs and if it still doesn't shoot, I'll give it back to my dad. After the 50 rounds and cleaning, I headed back with the best load I had with the 180 Accubonds. The first 5 shot group measured in at 1.25". I had 3 shots touching and two that were just out of the group. I then seated them deeper and tried again. Boom 1" 5 shot group with a light weight 30-06!!! I ended up using RL22 as my powder and the charge is Nosler max. The Tubbs were the savior for dad's gun. He doesn't know it yet but I'm keeping it and using it this fall!!

I think I might try the Tubbs in my 270 and see if it can improve the accuracy of that rifle next.
Click to expand...
That's awesome.
It might have had hard carbon in the first couple of inches. I'm sure the Tubbs got it mostly out.
I wonder how many "shot out barrels" could have been saved by having one of these $75 little Teslong Borescopes. They tell you things a clean white patch won't.
 
I have Dad's 30-06, but even new it wasn't really accurate. It's a Rem 740 woodsmaster and about the best its ever done is 1.5" with factory ammo. But for a 100 yard deer rifle, it worked perfectly the 45 years he carried it. I'd wager it's round count is less than 300. He might shoot it once a year to verify zero then maybe 2x a year for deer. I know the 740-742 has a rep for jamming, but his never did. I suspect that's because all he ever shot was 180 gr RN bullets.
 
hunter24605 said:
I have Dad's 30-06, but even new it wasn't really accurate. It's a Rem 740 woodsmaster and about the best its ever done is 1.5" with factory ammo. But for a 100 yard deer rifle, it worked perfectly the 45 years he carried it. I'd wager it's round count is less than 300. He might shoot it once a year to verify zero then maybe 2x a year for deer. I know the 740-742 has a rep for jamming, but his never did. I suspect that's because all he ever shot was 180 gr RN bullets.
Click to expand...
I have my dads 742 30.06. My dream to harvest a whitetail with it one day. I can get .75" for 4/5 shots but one out of the five will be 4" out! Lol, you just cant ever tell which shot will be thrown.
With my luck it'll be the first one.
 
Always nice to read of a success story. :)

And yes, the 30-06 remains capable of great things!

Regards, Guy
 
Well, not a 30-06 but aesM70 Featherweight in 7x57 Mauser. I saw it at a gun show and fell in love with it. as the seller was a gentleman I knew quite well I wasn't worried when he said the rifle was accurate.

I loaded up a box of ammo plus had a box of Winchester 145 gr. Power Point ammo to get the scope sighted in. Groups at first were decent with factory ammo and not bad with my reloads. However as the day wore on groups got bad and then worse. When I got home I could hardly see the rifling as the copper fouling was that bad. I won't go into how long it took to remove all that copper but it is was more than one day.

After I got it clean I took it back to the range and sure enough that barrel fouled up again. Another long cleaning session. Funny thing is when cleaned the barrel looked perfectly normal; nice and smooth as shiny as a new dime. What to do? I really liked the rifle. I decided to try fire lapping. I didn't buy the Tubbs though as none of the shops in town had any in stock. One shop had a cheaper kit that only used three grits so I said what the hell and bought the kit.

Instead of using ten jacketed bullets I went with five cast bullets. I figure doing half the bullets and using lead bullets would just fine. It did. After the shooting and cleaning between each set of bullet I cave the rifle barrel a thorough cleaning, then using alcohol as a drying agent.

I then proceeded to shoot four five shot groups to first foul the barrel and see if it fouled up as bad as before. The fist groups were nothing to brag about but by the time I shot the last group the rifle was at or close to shooting MOA. On inspection, I saw some copper fouling but no way like before. Clean up didn't take long. I've often thought trying another session of fire lapping but then I think it's working good now, leave it be.
Kind of a , "If it ain't Broke, don't fix it attitude toward this particular rifle
Paul B.
 
30-06 will do for any hunting in the US. My granddad shot prairie dogs using mil surp just after WW2 when he couldn't afford another rifle. Many elk, a bison, and a grizzly too with hunting loads later.
 
noslerpartition said:
My 30-06 isn't a classic - a Tikka from 2009.
With my handloads I stopped below moa, because that's all I need for hunting.
The barrel approaches the end of it's life and I am still unsure if I go for another cartridge.
It did all it was supposed to do and more.

I'd like to add a classic - bit as a south-paw, options are limited.
Happy to see that you made it work again!
Click to expand...
I think what you meant to say was you were going to have it recut for 35 Whelen;)
 
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