Reloading 30-06......what works for you?

[jrebel]

Starting the next project, wondering what has worked for everyone else.  I've never loaded for 30-06 but thought it would be cool to break out the old mans rifle.  My son said he would love to hunt with it in honor of his grandfather that he never really got to know.  Gonna use what I have on hand and if I get MOA I would be plenty pleased..... .  It is a 40 year old rifle and I'm going with the old mans RP brass.  Nothing special, but good enough to kill within 300 yards and likely under 100.  Hoping the boy can whack a bear with it being his granddad never got that chance. 

I have 150 or 180 grain accubonds for bullets

What powders have worked well for you?  Do you prefer the lighter or heavier bullets in the 30-06? 

Thanks in advance and I'll update how it goes....especially if the boy whacks something with it. 

[packmule]

56 gr IMR 4350. 180 grain Accubond or Partition.

[Igor]

Both of my sons shoot .30-'06, and I have loaded their hunting ammo for many years.  I prefer the 180 gr. bullets.  We tried shooting the same ammo in both rifles, and the first load shot very well in one rifle, and not well in the other.  So, I kept experimenting until I came up with the 2nd load.  Here are the two loads:

Federal brass
CCI 200 large rifle primer
180 gr. Nosler Partition bullet
54 gr. IMR 4350 powder

RP brass
CCI 200 large rifle primer
180 gr. Nosler Fail Safe bullet
55 gr. IMR 4350 powder

We did lots of experimenting before we settled on these two loads.  We tried a couple of different powders, and quite a few different bullets, including 165 gr.

Have fun, and be safe !!

[NRA4LIFE]

Ironic.  I have my dad's old 30-06 that I used to load for him when he shot it.  It's an older Remington 742 I think.  I haven't shot it in a very long time.  My loads were 150 gr Hornady spire points (I know, old school), 57 gr IMR 4350.  H4350 would be good I imagine.

[Rat44]

Ive had good luck with 4064 and 180 gr Partitions myself.

[wheels1]

H4350 powder  use 165 interlock  but I would  use either bullets

[HooknoseHunter]

I have a 1968 FN Browning Safari my dad gave me when I was 13. The best load I’ve found for it uses RL22 and a 180gr Speer Hot Cor.

[Caseknife]

Stiff load of RL-19 behind a 165 TSX produces good results.

[deerhunter_98520]

I'm shooting 168gr berger classic hunters behind some reloder 22 and it shoots one hole groups out of my weatherby mark v ultralight

[C-Money]

Sounds like a fun project...We use IMR 4350 with a 150gr Hornanday interlock. I use the Nosler manual. I believe 58gr is the max load recommended using a 150gr Nosler. We use CCI 200 Large rifle primers, with zero signs of pressure issues. My family and I have filled countless freezers over the years using this recipe in the Nosler manual. IMR 4350 is at the very top of the list for loading 30-06 ammo. I just made a batch this winter for my boy who is transitioning from the Custom light ammo to full power ammo in his .06

[jrebel]

Thanks for the responses.  Sounds like IMR 4350 is the ticket for a few of you.   I don't have that powder, but I do have plenty of H4350 so will be working with that powder first.  Hopefully make it to the range tomorrow to get this project going.  Truth be told......I'm not sure I have ever shot this rifle.  I'm looking forward to pulling the trigger of my dad one and only rifle.  He was the guy that owned one rifle and one shotgun that would cover all his hunting needs. 

Not sure where I picked up my addiction,  definitely not from him.   


 

[C-Money]

I truly think you will have great results with H4350...Let us know how it goes

[Stein]

H4350 for me as well.  I shoot 168s as they seem to do better than 180s.  Either kill anything I want to.

[Rem14]

My  1946 Win. 70 loves , 180gr.  bullets, 49gr. IMR-4320

[Wanttohuntmore]

Ha, 55 gr of imr 4350 behind a 180 partition worked well.   I'm trying a new load with H4350 behind 178 ELDX to fly a little flatter.

[Zardoz]

Nice subject. My 30/06 put a lot of game down with the right factory loads. Good Luck..

[CaNINE]

56.5 grains H4350 pushing a 178 ELD-X @ 2800. 

[jasnt]

H4350

[lee]

Hi,

While I have only reloaded 30-06 for my Garand, to keep the chances of bending the Op Rod reduced, I stay with 150gr projoe's as the original M2 load was 150gr.

46grs 4895, LC case, #34 primer, 150gr M2, 3.3400 OAL.

Lee

[jrebel]

Well, that was pretty easy.....54.5 grains of H4350 with 180 grain accubonds, Fed210 primers and RP brass.  2680 FPS and currently shooting right at 1MOA out to 300 yards.  ES of 18 with SD of 8.8.  Gonna play with the seating depth a little but am plenty pleased with how it is shooting right now.  I actually shot the last three rounds at 440 yards and range the gong all three times......with a 10X scope non the less.  I would have no problems whacking a bear out to 300 with the current load. 

Rifle is a Winchester 670a.  I topped it with a new leupold VX3 HD 2.5-10x40 with 1/4 MOA / CDS turrets.  My understanding is this is basically a Winchester Model 70 that was made more affordable by having a hidden magazine....??  The barrel is not free floated on this rifle...so I would have been happy with 2MOA.  Much to my surprise.....1 MOA, I'll take it.   

[Igor]

Well, that was pretty easy.....54.5 grains of H4350 with 180 grain accubonds, Fed210 primers and RP brass.  2680 FPS and currently shooting right at 1MOA out to 300 yards.  ES of 18 with SD of 8.8.  Gonna play with the seating depth a little but am plenty pleased with how it is shooting right now.  I actually shot the last three rounds at 440 yards and range the gong all three times......with a 10X scope non the less.  I would have no problems whacking a bear out to 300 with the current load. 

Rifle is a Winchester 670a.  I topped it with a new leupold VX3 HD 2.5-10x40 with 1/4 MOA / CDS turrets.  My understanding is this is basically a Winchester Model 70 that was made more affordable by having a hidden magazine....??  The barrel is not free floated on this rifle...so I would have been happy with 2MOA.  Much to my surprise.....1 MOA, I'll take it.   

Perfect !!  This forum is a gold mine of good information.

[bearpaw]

We ended up loading 150 grain projectiles with 4350, shoots well in three guns that we tried and we are able to swap between various 150 gr bullets and still great results. Under 1 inch most of the time with inexpensive rifles.

[wooltie]

Using winchester brass, CCI 200 primers and either IMR 4350 or H4350.

My gun doesn't shoot accubonds well at all.  I did the Barnes thing for a little bit, but they were finnicky. 

But I've had great luck with partitions, interlocks and especially sierra game kings.  Shoots either of these bullets in 150, 165, 180g well.

H4350 55.3g, .020" 180g SGK gives me 2750 fps.  Shoots MOA all day.  I shot this load through an avg WA black bear at 230 yards.  Load broke a vertebrate, and passed through the opposite shoulder blade leaving a 1" hole.  Then the bear tumbled 100' down a rock face to its death. 

I'm a fan of the game kings for my gun.  Load up at .020", get desired velocity (I think my gun shoots fast because I can get good velocity without reaching max) can put 10 rounds MOA all day.  It's just easy and fewer range trips.  I'll keep using them until they fail.

[Wanttohuntmore]

Last night at 200 yards,  group #6, 57gr H4350 win brass, cci 200 primers, 178 ELD-X.  Other 5 groups were around 3 ".  I can work with this one 😁

[Platensek-po]

I shoot 165gn Barnes TSX with 55gn h4350 and get sub moa. I use cci primers and a light crimp. My savage loves this load.

[bearpaw]

We ended up loading 150 grain projectiles with 4350, shoots well in three guns that we tried and we are able to swap between various 150 gr bullets and still great results. Under 1 inch most of the time with inexpensive rifles.

Powder & Primer
58.0 gr of IMR 4350 and WLR Primers

Brass & Bullets
Reminton, Federal, and Norma
150 Hornady Interlocks, 150 Barnes TTSX, and 150 FMJ bullets

Guns
Reminton Model 700
Savage Axis II
Remington 742

That load shot 1" or smaller groups in all three guns with any of the bullets or brass listed that we tried. We didn't crimp.

[zwickeyman]

56.0 gr of IMR4350 with a 180gr Partition

Out of an old Model 721 of my dads, shooting right at 3/4". Havnt crono'd yet

[BigGoonTuna]

Big ramshot hunter fan here, with 165s/180s.

Doing some load development with my new m70 extreme weather, 165gr nosler partitions and 165gr Speer hot cors shoot to the same poi, with the same velocity(about 2900) and same powder charge. Gives me a great hunting load with the partitions and an economical practice load with the speers, though I wouldn’t hesitate to hunt anything in this state with either.

[str8meat]

56 gr IMR 4350. 180 grain Accubond or Partition.

Spot on advice right here, same load wife uses in her 06. Partitions shoot the best, she going after a juvi ram this year with this very load.

[wooltie]

I messed around with RL22 and 180g projectiles briefly...so so results.  It's a compressed load I think to get decent volume.  I think RL22 is more for like 300 winnie.

[elkaholic33]

I will add that I loaded for 3 different 06's and found that some like standard primers and some like magnum primers.  My pre64 only likes the magnum primers.  I usually shoot accubonds with IMR 4350.

[MeatMissile]

I’ve used H4895, RL17, RL19, H4350, Big Game, Hunter, H4831. The slow powders were only used on 180gr and 200gr bullets. 

My favorite loads: 
150gr Barnes TTSX, 51gr H4895, Winchester brass, CCI 200 primer, 2930 fps avg
180gr Nosler Partition, 57.5gr H4350, Winchester brass, CCI 200 primer, 2780 fps avg

[birddogdad]

so this is for a hunting Win 70FW -

43gr 3031 WLR  150g SBT 3.30 coal@2650fps  accurate and consistent

38gr 3031 WLR 220 N (H)  3.34 coal @2100 is my other load..

dont mess much with this gun any longer.. lots of others to keep me active

[grundy53]

Thanks for the thread. It reminded me I have an inherited 30-06 I need to work up a load for. I would like to take it out hunting.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[Hovel Downs]

200 gr. eld-x, 55 grains H4831
My M77 Ruger doesn't like anything under 200 grains.  220 gr Partition with same powder is very accurate, but only to 200 yds.