Loading 30-06 for 600m applications

Horse96 said:
Or jump up to the 208 grain amax. The drop is more, but wind drift is less; also uses less powder. If you can accurately range your target, then drop is something that is easy to remedy. Wind drift is tougher. The retained energy of the heavier bullet is higher. My son nailed an elk at 400 yards out of a .308 with the 208 amax. So I am sure that an '06 will do just fine out to 600m.
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a good heavy high bc bullet will out perform a good light bullet at distance every time. 800 meters is about max effective range for the aut6. Having said that I would never attempt that shot on game. That's why they call it hunting. The close in stalk is for me what the hunt is all about.
 
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geologist said:
My problem is finding a +300 yard spot to shoot safely that isn't 3 hours away.
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That's a common problem, and is part of the point I'm getting at. The other items on my little shopping list are common problems for other people. Combined they exclude a lot of people. Maybe even most people. That results in people with a good location and no ammo money, and people with long range rifles and no good place to shoot them. The two combine to hold back the learning curve on loading, trajectory and wind. That leads to people with a few 100 yard groups, a program and stars in their eyes.

If you supply a location, decent equipment, proven ammo and give the drop and wind-dope as needed and a bit of coaching on a bipod and rear bag and you can get practically anyone hitting steel at 600 in a few minutes. Pulling a trigger just isn't that hard. I routinely take kids and basically inexperienced shooters out to 1/2 mile. Quit coaching and most will fall on their butt. Quit supplying the location, and equipment and few would get there on their own.
 
I'm stuck I'm ontario for the next two weeks, can't wait to get back and start ringing steel again.

I'm lucky enough to have a spot to practice, at the ranges I need.

I do agree that with a good coach and mentoring I could acheive my goal faster, but half the fun is in failing, learning, adjusting, and achieving what one wants to do.

Just in case anyone is wondering, I'm using a Caldwell bipod and Jean pant leg rear bag.
 
If anyone can quickload this for me it would be much appreciated.

I'm using a .30-06 Springfield, Norma brass(more case capacity), WLR Primers, H1000, Berger 230gr OTM out of a 24" barrel. Water capacity 69.38 to the top.

3.440" OAL, .010" off the lands.

I was previously using H4350 but I'm getting impressive results with a compressed load of H1000.

I believe what Hornady is doing with their Superformance line is simply compressing slow burning powder to generate more velocity.
 
Please be a responsible hunter and don't go strafing away at deer @ 600 yds. You will wind up with gutshot and poorly hit animals which will mostly go away and die a lingering death. Save the 600 yd shots for the range. It's fun to work up long range loads for the .30-06 and other rounds for target shooting.

I've hunted deer a lot in the open farm and parklands of AB, SK, and MB where you can see them at extended distances. That said, I've shot the majority of my deer at less than 100 yds by hunting them rather than just going out and shooting at them. Hunting means scouting to locate bedding and feeding areas, use of cover and concealment, selection of good shooting locations where deer are active and hunting the wind.
 
Not everyone has access to close cover, bedding areas and areas with high deer numbers. If the land you have to hunt on doesn't offer much in the line of short range opportunities should you stay home or adapt? Should open feeding fields be off limits?


Most people can spot effective cover from a truck driving 80 mph, esp in an area where cover is at a premium. It doesn't do any good if the land has been posted for 3 generations.
 
To the OP. I note that you are from Gibbons, AB, a nice friendly place that I used to know quite well. I did a lot of gopher shooting in the area 16-20 yrs ago and made a lot of contacts with the local farmers in the process. They were very appreciative to have someone thin then little boogers out, to the point where I had them offering to buy ammo and delivering cold beer to us during an evening shoot. Although I did my deer hunting elsewhere, there were a lot of deer around and there was ample cover as well. I didn't think that there would have been a need to try extraordinarily long distance shots to get a deer and I don't think that getting landowner permission for deer hunting would have been a problem, especially if the farmers were approached a few months before hunting season rather than in the heat of the moment.

Deer are smart to the truck hunters and long distance strafers so they will stay in cover and only emerge to feed after last light. They will be on their feet before that time and start moving to the edge of cover where they will hold until the road warriors are gone and legal light is past. You can beat them at this by getting into cover and intercepting them on the way to the edges. This means learning their movement patterns, hunting the wind, sitting still and watching the heavily used trails to the feeding areas. There are many short range shot opportunities within and around cover while there is still legal light.

If you are interested I have a shooting friend in Gibbons who has done more hunting, shooting, gunsmithing, wildcat cartridge development and reloading in his time than half of the people on this forum put together. He also has a pretty good idea of just what the deer hunting possibilities are in the Gibbons/Sturgeon Valley areas. If he is still active I'm sure that he would be happy to give you the benefit of his experience. Feel free to PM me on this if you like. The "bull" on a deer, even a mature Whitetail buck, is only about 10 inches wide and 14 inches high. That's a mighty small target to hope to hit reliably @ 600 yds in a hunting situation given the variables of uncertain distance, wind, improvised shooting positions, moving or stationary target, and the excitement of the moment.
 
Thank you to everyone for all the posting feedback.

Now I didn't start this thread as a "should i", but more of a "could i". I know all about the morales and ethics of proper shot placement and have stalked quite a few deer myself into less then 150m.

I wouldn't call myself a veteran hunter but I have lots of experience. I just though I load development thread, along with range results over a period of time showing fine tuning and shooter skills growing would be interesting. All of this done with a pretty much stock rem 700 CDL to show what can be done with a legit hunting rifle would be cool.

I just feel people are going g to read this thread and come off with the idea that I'm going to go out and specifically look for a 500/600m shot. I need practice and to fine tune my skills, along with discover my and the rifles extreme limitations in order to responsibly not exceed them.

All my findings and defeats and victories will be shown on this thread, but please don't turn this into a "don't do it" bash fest.
 
Why bash him at all? All I'm seeing is a guy who is trying to better his gear, loads and abilities at distance. I'd 1000 times rather see someone shooting at distance and learning his limits than hear someone with a 100 yard wallet group (iphone group?) and a fantasy, or someone with their grandfather's rifle and whatever ammo was on sale 3 years arguing that since they can't even see 200 yards nobody else should shoot that far.

If the OP continues his search the targets will teach him more than a forum ever will. Targets aren't that smart but they're honest.
 
Dogleg said:
Why bash him at all? All I'm seeing is a guy who is trying to better his gear, loads and abilities at distance. I'd 1000 times rather see someone shooting at distance and learning his limits than hear someone with a 100 yard wallet group (iphone group?) and a fantasy, or someone with their grandfather's rifle and whatever ammo was on sale 3 years arguing that since they can't even see 200 yards nobody else should shoot that far.

If the OP continues his search the targets will teach him more than a forum ever will. Targets aren't that smart but they're honest.
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Very well said, and I couldn't agree more!!

I wish everyone on this forum took this approach, and posted the good with bad honestly.

I for one have not had the time/money/place to practice enough to reliably shoot game beyond 250-300 yards. Each shot on game is unique and I use my own limitations to determine if the present shot on an animal is a guaranteed hit or not. Sometimes that could be 300 yards, I have also passed on shots at 100 because I wasn't confident in my ability to take it cleanly.

Ever been out of breath, nowhere to lean, poor footing (like bog or marsh, or shale on a slope) looking into the sun, tired and shaky looking at your intended game 75-100 yards away uphill? I have, and passed on an otherwise very easy shot.
 
Dogleg said:
Why bash him at all? All I'm seeing is a guy who is trying to better his gear, loads and abilities at distance. I'd 1000 times rather see someone shooting at distance and learning his limits than hear someone with a 100 yard wallet group (iphone group?) and a fantasy, or someone with their grandfather's rifle and whatever ammo was on sale 3 years arguing that since they can't even see 200 yards nobody else should shoot that far.

If the OP continues his search the targets will teach him more than a forum ever will. Targets aren't that smart but they're honest.
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Excellent!

Preconceived ideas only limit our potential, but real trigger time, under a wide range of conditions, provides the knowledge we need to progress. The bullet doesn't lie.
 
My 30-06 longish load is 210 grain Berger VLD's over 4350 for 2645 fps from a sporterized Enfield Model 1917.

My rifle shoots this into about 1.75" at 200 yards and the Bergers perform exactly as advertised.

Out past about 350 yards, this load carries more energy than most factory 300 win mag/180 grain loadings...
 
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