30-06 & 25-06 again

Guy Miner

Master Loader
Apr 6, 2006
17,453
4,514
Mid-day trip to the range today with two favorites, the 25-06 & 30-06 Rem 700 CDL's. I'd recently put new mounts and rings on the 30-06 and wanted to make sure the 6x was properly zeroed. I like these cross-slot mounts and rings:
5soMwIvl.jpg


Also FINALLY got around to sending some 30-06/165 gr Ballistic Tips over the chronograph... Now these loads are over Nosler's recommended max with a 165, but under Hodgdon's, so...

I've been using 58 grains of H4350 and a 165 gr bullet for many years. From the 24" 700 CDL: 2909 fps

And two years ago I bumped it up to 59 grains for the heck of it, and noted good accuracy. Never got around to running it over a chronograph. Today I saw 2970 fps.

Hodgdon shows that charge moving a 165 Sierra SPBT at 2938 fps and 49,400 CUP, so mine isn't too far above that velocity, only 30 fps faster. Cases & primers look good. This is the load that took the elk, bear, mule deer & pronghorn in 2016.
Ny25irfl.jpg


I did my 200 yard shooting from the bench & bipod, then stood up and did my offhand/standing practice at 300 yards. Yee Haw! I need some more practice from standing. Then a few more shots from sitting/bipod just to check things at 300. I'm satisfied.
XkgTh32l.jpg


kUwI9JIl.jpg


The highest three impacts on the silhouette were fired from the 25-06 at 300 yards, from the bench/bipod. Aim point was the "neck" or junction between the head & shoulders. My usual "Blue Cyclone" load of 115's at about 3100 fps. The lower impacts were all from the 30-06, offhand, at 300 yards. Yes... I will admit to a couple of misses, off the silhouette...

The pock-marks on this AR-500 target are from 5.56 NATO ammo with the steel penetrator at 50 yards. Several years ago a buddy was shooting my target, and I didn't know he had that stuff. That's the ammo with the green tips. Pocked it up pretty good. Most other bullets just blast the paint off and don't even dent it. A Barnes X hollow point will often leave a slight indentation too, with copper color at the point of impact.

It was a good day, and I'm confident in the rifles, scopes and ammo. Not sure I'm going to keep loading the 30-06 quite that warm. I suspect my old load of 58 grains was just fine at 2900 fps. It always worked! Accuracy appears to be about the same, a bit better with the higher 59 grain charge of H4350.

It was a nice mid-day range trip. Weather was decent too, about 40 degrees and only a slight breeze.

Guy
 
Guy,
Out of your 30/06,
Your load of 59 grs of 4350 has my old standby of 52grs of 4064 trimed by almost 50fps, your getting into 300 H&H territory with 165's at 3k fps! That will flatten about anything in its path, good shooting. You wringing it out and showing the full potential and basically running 200 plus fps over factory fodder.
 
It was difficult today, to hold the crosshairs on the 300 yard silhouette from standing.

I need to practice that more.

Guy
 
Nice shooting Guy.
I'm chomping at the bit to get out and shoot.

JD338
 
Couple nice rifles there that you have dialed in there Guy. Nice Shooting. This got me to thinking.
.257
+.308
=.565 inches divide by 2 = .2825 Maybe you need a .280 Rem to fill that gap. (y)
 
Dang guy! Over 2900 with a 165! I never pushed either the 165 BT/Sie or 168 TTSX past 2800 and I thought it was a Death Ray, ha. No flies on that rifle!
 
Guy that looks to be a great load for your -06 and shooting that silhouette target a 300 yards off hand is nothing to sneeze at (y) good shooting.
Thank you for the post with photos.

Blessings,
Dan
 
I've got a few boxes of the 168 gr E-Tip bullets I'd like to try... Nosler claims a BC of .503, and if I could get them safely to 2800+ fps... That could be a very serious game-taking load for my 30-06 rifle.

Also have some 100 gr E-Tips for the 25-06, and am thinking they should get to 3300 fps.

Don't have any experience with the E-Tips yet, but am itching to give 'em a try. I have read that they need to be treated a little differently than the various "cup and core" jacketed bullets. Less powder, perhaps different seating depths.

But ya, for hunting this fall, if I didn't load anything different than what I've got with the 165 & 115 Ballistic Tips, I'd be fine. They're good loads, well proven.

The standing practice though. I think I'm going to get back into my routine of shooting the .22 a lot from standing. I've slipped on that of late, and it's showing on the target. Or, off the target! Ha!

Guy
 
RiverRider":2gmq2otu said:
In case you kinda take it for granted, you have a great place to shoot there, Guy!

Thanks. No, I don't take it for granted. That's the North Central Washington Gun Club, Douglas County, Washington. Only a few miles from my home. I've even been known to ride my bicycle over there for some .45 pistol practice! :grin: There's one heck of a hill to climb to get there...

Have been a member for 20+ years and am on the board of directors these days. I try to put a lot back into the club, and the community. We've been running some free handgun safety classes up there the past two years, my idea. Will be doing it again this year.

The club offers...

Indoor and outdoor archery

Indoor and outdoor smallbore - though our indoor range is now used for air rifles only.

Covered and open pistol ranges.

Rifle ranges to 600 yards (can be extended beyond 1,000 yards with permission from the neighboring land owner.

A "cowboy town" for Cowboy Action Shooting. Others can use it too. All steel targets. So danged fun!

Three regulation trap houses, weekly trap shooting spring and fall.

We stay real active. We host the biathletes in summer. They leave their rifles on the firing line and run or bicycle between firing stages. Our snow isn't consistent enough for good biathlon type shooting in the winter.

WDFW brings in their Hunter Safety programs

Wenatchee Sportsmen and RMEF work with WDFW to do an annual "youth day" which is an awful lot of fun

We run NRA "high power" rifle matches, particularly the 600 yard prone matches. The guy who runs it is on the USA F-Class team.

Monthly Cowboy Action shoots.

We host "PRS" matches for the precision rifle guys 'n gals.

Our youth smallbore program has produced a nationally ranked shooter!

We provide training facilities for the local law enforcement agencies.

Recently we've been hosting .22 "practical" matches styled like the PRS matches, and out to 300 yards.

And there are a whole bunch of guys 'n gals who just go up there to shoot their rifles, handguns and shotguns, or bows. Most of my "range photos" are from the NCW Gun Club. Our local shooters really don't understand what a treasure they've got. Membership is only $75/year.

Regards, Guy
 
Guy - you wouldn't happen to know where your club came upon the concrete benches? Or did the club pour them themselves? We could use some at our club. Looks like great fun- good shooting! CL
 
Ya, we pour them ourselves. We must have made at least a dozen now. They're "pretty steady" as you might imagine. :)

Guy
 
Guy Miner":2d09szyb said:
I've got a few boxes of the 168 gr E-Tip bullets I'd like to try... Nosler claims a BC of .503, and if I could get them safely to 2800+ fps... That could be a very serious game-taking load for my 30-06 rifle.

Also have some 100 gr E-Tips for the 25-06, and am thinking they should get to 3300 fps.

Don't have any experience with the E-Tips yet, but am itching to give 'em a try.

Guy
I have not tried the E-tips in my 30-06 or my .280 AI yet either Guy. I might have to do that as I've been wanting it to get a little nicer and start testing a few more loads in my .280 AI. I stopped after getting the 140 gr. Partitions to shoot so well and haven't messed with it yet.

As you know the E-tips in my son's 6mm Remington have worked wonderfully. He shot 3 antelope, one buck mule deer, and a cow elk with it and they all were one shot kills. Have not recovered one out of an animal yet either.

Now that I have a nice accurate .22 I'm going to have to get out and do some more range time. They have some small metal targets at 50 yards that would be fun shooting offhand and other positions. Nice shooting by the way.
 
Good shooting, Guy.

FWIW, I find that Nosler's load data is almost always more conservative than Hodgdon's. Sometimes significantly so. Makes you wonder...
 
flashhole":1pbxbtaa said:
Thanks for sharing. Did your 25-06 develop a complex after you did not include it in the pics?

Naw - it's been featured a lot. :wink:

Guy
 
While I have not tried the Etips, I have a long relationship with the Barnes, from the original till now. Just start low in powder loads and about .10 off the lands. Go closer if needed, doubtful you can get closer than .030 before it goes South. The monos ( and those ABLRs so far for me) like a big jump.
 
preacher":1y3ee4s7 said:
While I have not tried the Etips, I have a long relationship with the Barnes, from the original till now. Just start low in powder loads and about .10 off the lands. Go closer if needed, doubtful you can get closer than .030 before it goes South. The monos ( and those ABLRs so far for me) like a big jump.

Sounds good. I've used a few Barnes bullets, and am looking forward to trying the Nosler E-Tips.

Probably won't hunt with them this year though, I'm not planning to use my rifles on anything except mule deer & pronghorn. Unless a bear comes calling... :grin:

Guy
 
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