.30-06 bullets and loads

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lineofsight

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Hi:

Couple minutes on the sites and a little overwhelmed at the array of bullets and powders out there.

Am looking for an economical load to take to the range and learn reloading with. Thinking 110 grain for lower loads for wife to get comfortable with and 150/165 grain to simulate hunting weight.

So... any issue with simple FMJBT for range/loading experiment?

Recommendations (with reasons) for barnes/speer/hornady bullets?

Recommendations for powder?

Cheers.

PS - good abbreviations list
cheaperthandirt.com/Articles.asp?a=Ammo/Bullet-Glossary&Meida_id=17
 
Grab whatever the cheapest 30 cal bullets you can lay hands on are, about 14 grains of Red Dot, and whatever primers you can get the cheapest. Run you less than $0.25 a round (a lot less if you can lay hands on a bunch of 110 grain 30-carbine pulls for cheap).

More info here (among other places):

http://www.castbulletassoc.org/forum/view_topic.php?id=1387&forum_id=22


I do this all the time in my 308 - 110 grain 30-carbine bullets, 13 grains of red dot, makes about 1950FPS, and shoots within a whisker of being as accurate as my best hand loads in the same rifle. Costs me about $0.18 per round.
 
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I shoot a Sierra 155 Palma match bullet for practice and a Hornady 165 gr SST for hunting in my 30-06 (the 165 is very accurate out of my rifle). I cannot comment on using lighter bullets as I have never tried.
For the 165 SST 46 Gr H4895
155 Palma 50 Gr of H4895
CCI LR primers
You can load up reduced recoil loads for you wife with these bullets. Load data is on the net and I am sure other members here will help. One other word of advice is put a quality recoil pad on the rifle, a good pad will make a world of difference. Good shooting.
 
You want inexpensive try casting Lyman 311291 bullets. Over 20 gr of 2400 my HUsquavarna shoots .1/2" groups off the bench. Recoil is virtually non-existant. I use a soft homemade lube.

For the 30-06 110 gr bullets probably aren't the best shooters. Try 150 grain jacketed with any light load listed in your reloading manual.
Take Care

Bob
 
Thanks for the input.

M77 - good call on the pad.

Brother Jack - I understand that with the Red Dot fewer grains are needed for the same loads as faster burning powder and builds pressure more quickly (and usually medium powders used for .30-06 because large case), that a reasonable summary?

Canuck 44 - Do they still have the King of the Mountain run in Terrace & the Kitimat 10m? Was good summers up there. 150 or 165 may be the way to go then so can use the same bullet and use load to control recoil. What do you do for case lube.

Cheers.
 
lineofsight

Case lube or bullet lube. Case lube I just use RCBS Case Lube. For bullet lube I use Felix Lube a home made lube the formula for which can be obtained on this forum:


http://castboolits.gunloads.com

I think you will find the 165 bullets wll likely perform the best in the '06. Caliber performs well with all types of bullets but generally speaking the '06 handles the heavier bullets beter. This is due to the twist rate of the '06 rifling.

No not to my knowledge on the King of the Mountain run. I am not the best one to ask. Running or walking up any the local mountains would not be one of my life choices.:D

Take Care

Bob
 
lineofsight said:
Brother Jack - I understand that with the Red Dot fewer grains are needed for the same loads as faster burning powder and builds pressure more quickly (and usually medium powders used for .30-06 because large case), that a reasonable summary?
Click to expand...

Yes, very few grains of Red Dot because of the powder burn rate. Fewer grains is a "Good Thing" (tm), because it means you can load 500 rounds for the cost of a pound of powder vs about 130 rounds per pound of powder with regular 30-06 loads. That saves you quite a bit on powder cost. There are a variety of other powders out there you can make reduced loads like this with, but Red Dot is an exceptionally good choice for such a reduced load in 30-06/308/etc size cases, because the powder is "bulky", meaning that about 13 or 14 grains will fill up about half the case. This is good for two reasons:

1. It will keep you from double-charging a case, because if you do, it will be obvious upon visual inspection.

2. There is something called Secondary Explosive Effect (SEE). It can become a problem (a very big, dangerous, gun destroying, life threatening problem) if a particular load does not have enough powder to fill up a reasonable portion of the case (50% is a very reasonable portion). The Red Dot powder takes up enough space in the case to keep you well in the safe zone.


Read the article I posted the link to originally - it has way more good info on this kind of load that I could ever remember to tell you about. :)

Cheers!
 
"...Thinking 110 grain..." Those are made for the .30 Carbine. Look into a 125 or 130 grain bullet for light loads and work up a load with any 165 grain hunting bullet using IMR4064 and regular large rifle primers. The .30-06 loves 'em with that powder and you'll have a load that will kill any game you care to hunt. IMR4064 will do nicely for 125 and 130 grain bullets too.
Who made the bullet isn't terribly important. Barnes are expensive though.
If you're both using the same rifle, it's not a good idea. The length of the stock matters. A stock that is too long or too short for either of you will hurt one or the other. You'll both need different sight settings too.
When you get that far do this.
Beginning with the starting load given in your manual, load 5 rounds only. Go up by half a grain of powder, loading 5 of each keeping them separate until you get to the max load in your manual.
Then go shooting. Shoot at 100 yards, for group only, slowly and deliberately off a bench.
Change targets between strings of 5 and allow time for the barrel to cool.
When you find the best group, sight in 4" high at 100. That'll put you on target out to about 300 yards with no hold over.
 
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M.T. Chambers makes all kinds of cast bullets for reduced loads or otherwise in .309", .310",.312",.314", they can be very accurate and soft recoiling, also easier on the barrel. For reduced loads in the '06 or 308 I recommend a 185gr. cast gas check bullet with around 20grs. of 4759, a powder meant for reduced loads.
 
I haven't had much luck with 110's in the '06 but perhaps I didn't give them a fair go. When I didn't get them to shoot I never went back to them. I did get good accuracy with 125 gr Sierras and 130 gr Speers, so those were the lightest bullets I would choose, and there is nothing that can be accomplished with the 110 than could not be accomplished with either of these.

I think when one searches for a balance between accuracy and cost; cast bullets are pretty hard to beat. When it comes to bullet choice, a gas checked bullet with lots of bearing surface and a nose that rides the lands seems to produce the best accuracy. This usually means a heavy bullet, and I like those that weigh between 190 and 210 grs, although one often hears of 150-170 gr cast bullets shooting very well. Unique and SR 4759 are my go to powders when shooting cast in any bottle neck rifle cartridge, although I use more SR 4759 in the .30/06 and more Unique in the .375. I seldom use it, but 2400 also makes a good cast bullet powder in medium capacity bottle neck cartridges, and it burns cleaner than Unique.

When I am loading practice ammo for the .30/06 I load bulk 180 gr Remington Corelokts to about 2400-2500 fps with what ever medium burn rate powder I have. Most often it can be with 4064 or 4895, but it could also be with 3031. The purpose of these loads is for running drills and practicing position shooting with a little less recoil as quite a bit of ammo can be consumed during each outing.

When loading full powered loads for serious business I depend on 180 gr TSX's loaded to 2750 and 240 gr Woodleighs loaded to 2400. I use H-4350 and H-4831 with equal enthusiasm, and will use 760 when I have a good supply of it. Hodgdon has a newer powder out called Hybrid 100V which I am hoping to acquire shortly. If this stuff works out it may become my go to powder for most of my full power centerfire rifle cartridges, supplanting H-4350.
 
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