Mauser 30-06

[ShadeTree]

Traded for this rifle a yr or so ago with a savage axis I had in 308 that I bought for $175 and never even shot. Gave $10 boot money if I remember right on the trade.

It shot like a pig in this B&C stock honestly. First time I shot it, it wasn't horrible. After that 3-4" groups were the norm with everything I tried. I felt like the stock had a lot of flex in it, and wasn't inletted properly. The action and barrel sat high and ran slightly uphill in the stock.

First thing I done was stiffen the stock. I used a piece of C channel aluminum that was an old TV wall mounting bracket that I cut into pieces to fit across the stock, then scoured everything up and poured it level with epoxy resin. The combination of those 2 things really stiffened up the stock big time.






That was probably 6 mo's ago. I finally got around to finishing the job by hogging out the stock and bedding it, and getting it back together.




Tried it again with 2 standby loads for the 06.

57 gr's IMR 4350 with 165's, and 52gr's IMR 4064 with 150's.

Major improvement. The 57 gr with 165 Speer BT was the clear winner in this rifle. 3 shot group was under 1/2" with a flier that put it right on an inch.

This gives me a bad weather rifle to beat around if need be. Should work out well in that role.

 

[HAWKEYESATX]

Holy cow!
That's a great job you did.
You're intuition was dead on.
That's amazing groups! Congratulations!



Hawk

Sent from my REVVLRY+ using Tapatalk

 

[DrMike]

Yes, I do believe your work has resulted in a fine rifle that will deliver the goods. Congratulations on your work.

 

[ShadeTree]

Holy cow!
That's a great job you did.
You're intuition was dead on.
That's amazing groups! Congratulations!



Hawk

Sent from my REVVLRY+ using Tapatalk

Thanks Hawk. The 52 gr 4064 load wasn't that impressive, but it might be a little hot for this particular rifle. I'll mess with it next spring, but for now this 165 load will for sure get it done.

That epoxy resin and the bedding added some weight I'm sure......I didn't weigh it before. But it's not bad at all, 8.25 lbs scoped up like you see it. Worth it for the much improved results.

 

[ShadeTree]

Thanks Dr Mike. I'm not afraid to use my rifles but I have a couple that you almost couldn't pay me to take out in an all day rain. This is the only deer rifle I have in synthetic, and it's rough around the edges in other areas.....original military bottom metal has some pitting, etc. Now that it's shooting it will work just dandy as a bad weather rifle.

 

[HAWKEYESATX]

Call me crazy...

But I'm one of the odds out that still likes to have a heavier than normal nowadays rifle.
I like my rifles to weigh in the 8 - 9 lb range. Maybe a little more if it balances well.
The rifles of today are very light in my opinion. I look at that as good and bad.
If you have a rifle that belts you, light doesn't help at all.
Heavier always slows down the forces of recoil.
Stiffening your stock certainly helped with it not flexing, and keeping the action from torquing, and throwing your barrel harmonics off.
I would say that your 165 gr loads are perfect. Your rifle loves it.
I would stick with the 165's.


Hawk

Sent from my REVVLRY+ using Tapatalk

 

[6mm Remington]

Nicely done! What's not to love about a 30-06 shooting 165 gr. bullets.............accurately!

 

[ShadeTree]

Call me crazy...

But I'm one of the odds out that still likes to have a heavier than normal nowadays rifle.
I like my rifles to weigh in the 8 - 9 lb range. Maybe a little more if it balances well.
The rifles of today are very light in my opinion. I look at that as good and bad.
If you have a rifle that belts you, light doesn't help at all.
Heavier always slows down the forces of recoil.
Stiffening your stock certainly helped with it not flexing, and keeping the action from torquing, and throwing your barrel harmonics off.
I would say that your 165 gr loads are perfect. Your rifle loves it.
I would stick with the 165's.


Hawk

Sent from my REVVLRY+ using Tapatalk

You're not the odd one out in my view. I'm the same way, particularly with the heavier recoiling rifles. Weight is one thing that runs 1 to 1. If a rifle weighs 25% less, it will recoil 25% more, all else being equal.

In smaller cartridges I don't mind less weight, but a lot of times one of the big contributing factors getting to that less weight is a lightweight thin barrel. I almost detest working with those barrels to come up with consistently good shooting loads.

My 1920 savage weighs just 6lbs. In that rifle I like it because A. in 250 savage with a 87 gr bullet and 39 gr of powder it barely bumps. And B. they got that light weight by hand selecting the right wood, and stock design. It does not have a thin barrel on it.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Nice work. There’s nothing not to like about that!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk