Several decades ago, when I was still an automotive apprentice, and was feeling the cruel pinch of "want",
I could not afford to purchase a dedicated varmint rifle, so I had to use what I had at the time, a M700
carbine [20" barrel] chambered in the venerable 30-06.
I developed a load which I can still remember well. 130 Speer HP, in a WW case, 55 grains of H4895, sparked
by a CCI 200 primer. It was very accurate, and flirted with 3200 fps. It turned Columbian ground squirrels
into a pink mist. We shot them where they were abundant, generally up higher in the hills, and sometimes
there was still snow in the low areas. The ground squirrels would sometimes venture out onto the snow.
If you shot one there, the results were dramatic!! A large red stain on the snow where the squirrel was, lol.
I am thinking that more than 3000 fps should be available for that 130 grain PPSP, Rhys. I have reached 3000
fps in many 30-06 rifles with the 150 grain bullet. 32-3300 would extend your range somewhat. Dave.
With such light bullets, the velocity difference that can be achieved over the 308Win by the 30-06 is not much.
I used to shoot a Rem 700 with a Hart Match Grade barrel, with a 1-15 twist, chambered for the 308Win, shooting Randy Robinette's excellent 115 and 130 grain FBHP bullets with "J cup" custom jackets. Nobbi Uno built that rifle. He had a special reamer, which he extolled and he wasn't stretching the truth. Great smith for building match rifles. He taught me a lot.
These bullets had very consistent thickness all the way around but very thin jackets. I could easily get between 3000fps and 3200fps out of the 24 inch barrel.
The powders I used were BLC-2 with CCI BR LR primers, during warmer weather and W748 with the same primers during colder weather. They both behaved extremely well in my rifle at the time and I had the necessary scope adjustments memorized for both loads, with both weights of bullets.
I sold that rifle but still have the Burris 6X scope, which I should get the fine crosshair and dot reticle replaced. Not sure if it's worth it on a 20+ year old scope.
I found that those same bullets were not happy when shot down barrels with 1-10 twist rates. The jackets had a bad habit of separating from the cores about 50 meters out. With the 1-15 twist rate in my custom barrel, the bullets held together, without issues. The farthest we shot them in Hunter Bench Rest was 300yds and the drop was easily dialed in, without any issues on standard bases, without any elevation built in, on a scope with a 1 inch tube.
My rifle would give about 3100fps with W748 and 130 grain bullets and easily get to 3200fps with BLC-2
I sold that rifle to another competitor, when I went through a bought of Cancer and sold off a lot of stuff to make my wife and myself debt free, in case things didn't work out well.
The fellow that bought it, hated the recoil and had the barrel set back and rechambered for 300BR.
After my life got back to normal, I needed a rifle that would double as a big game rifle and like eagleye, the rifle of choice was a lovely Steyr made 30-06. It was a great rifle.
It was very accurate with 150 to 180 grain bullets, so I thought I should give it a try with the lighter bullets.
Of course I figured a similar load as to that used in the 308Win would be a good place to start. It wasn't bad out to 100yds but just went bad right after. So, I increased the powder charges and things immediately got worse. I couldn't keep it on paper at 50 yds. The bullets would be keyholing or miss the paper completely, (8x11)
That's when a bud that was along told me he thought he could see a vapor trail, through the spotting scope.
He was right. Those bullets weren't made for the spin being induced on them at those velocities and were coming apart.
I had to cut the velocities back to around 2700fps to keep them together and then they shot as well as could be expected.
WhelanLad, I don't have any experience with the bullets you mentioned, so have no idea as to their construction. If they are intended for cartridges, such as the 7.62x39 capacity wise, they may not behave well at higher spin rates, generated by 1-10 twist rate bores.
Likely you have the more modern standard 1-12 twist rate bore in your rifle??? They might just work well.
Good luck.
recoil is awesome! im liking this so far.. this could be great lol
