favorite .30-06 moose loads

Slow burning powders were hard on the M1 Garand system, as it was designed around a specific pressure at the gas port. As far as I know, other systems, including the Browning, have no such limitations.
 
As anyone tried supreme 780 powder for 30/06

I will be reloading for 3006, 300 winchester mag and 7mm rem mag, I was trying to find a common powder for these and the supreme 780 seemed to be the most efficient one.
 
Tak said:
As anyone tried supreme 780 powder for 30/06

I will be reloading for 3006, 300 winchester mag and 7mm rem mag, I was trying to find a common powder for these and the supreme 780 seemed to be the most efficient one.
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I bought some Supreme 780 for 180 Nosler Partition based on recent magazine article featuring 30.06 loads. Copied the data - 180 Partition with 57.7grains of Supreme 780. 3.320 OAL. Good group all centered 2 to 2.5 inches high at 100. I need to buy a chrono to confirm speed. Didn't get a chance to shoot 200 yrds that day.
 
SuperCub said:
Wouldn't a 200gr Speer be a good start for a 3o/o6 moose load as well? Anyone use them up your way?


Yes, the 200 grain soft point would be a god moose load.
Just doubtful if it would be "gooder" than a good 180 grain bullet in the 30-06.
I think the old Dominion CPE (copper point expanding) was better than the soft point loads in the 30-06. I was shooting moose with the CPE, my favourite bullet, in the very early 1950s and to this day I think they were actually better than the Nosler partition. They opened up, but seemed to retain more of their weight than does Nosler.
In those far back glorious days of hunting, one needed nothing more than his standard $7. BC licence to shoot any game animal in BC, including any grizzly bear he wanted to shoot. Some people who lived in good grizzly country shot a lot of grizzly.
One fellow who may have shot more grizzly than anyone else, later wrote about it in a published book. He said his only rifle was a 30-06 and he always used CIL Dominion factory loads of 180 grain CPE. He made special note of how good the 180 grain CPE bullets were.
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Had great accuracy and velocity with 55.5 grains of H414, 180 grain Nosler Accubond, Remington nickel cases and Win L Rifle primers. 2810 FPS and under 3/4".
 
H4831 said:
SuperCub said:
Wouldn't a 200gr Speer be a good start for a 3o/o6 moose load as well? Anyone use them up your way?


Yes, the 200 grain soft point would be a god moose load.
Just doubtful if it would be "gooder" than a good 180 grain bullet in the 30-06.
I think the old Dominion CPE (copper point expanding) was better than the soft point loads in the 30-06. I was shooting moose with the CPE, my favourite bullet, in the very early 1950s and to this day I think they were actually better than the Nosler partition. They opened up, but seemed to retain more of their weight than does Nosler.
In those far back glorious days of hunting, one needed nothing more than his standard $7. BC licence to shoot any game animal in BC, including any grizzly bear he wanted to shoot. Some people who lived in good grizzly country shot a lot of grizzly.
One fellow who may have shot more grizzly than anyone else, later wrote about it in a published book. He said his only rifle was a 30-06 and he always used CIL Dominion factory loads of 180 grain CPE. He made special note of how good the 180 grain CPE bullets were.
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Hi Bruce.
I don't doubt that those Dominion bullets were first class ones but they are long, long gone.
For 3006 moose hunt with affordable bullets I trust 180gr Speer Mag Tip.
Just two weeks ago I made penetration test at 25m and they busted 5 one galon milk jugs and two 3/4" plywood boards retaining 88% of their original weight!
Happily I still have close to 200 of them left b/c I don't see them for sale anymore (?)
My 180gr Rem CL bullet will do almost as good (four milk containers and two 3/4" plywood boards) but will retain only 75% of their original weight.
I am sure that 180gr NP would do as good or better under very severe trial like hitting very heavy moose bone but I never aim at those places....
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H4350, BR2, 180 Nosler partitions. Sub 1" groups with the odd flier caused by the loose nut behind the rifle.

W760, BR2, 180 Nosler Accubonds. approx 3/4" groups same odd flier once in a while like the partitions.


So far these are my two fave hunting loads, recently developed with a beautiful JC Higgins acquired from a certain generous and wise fellow CGN'er.


Thanks again Ted, the rifle shoots like a dream!! Had the safety workin slick the first ten minutes in the shop, tore it down, cleaned her up, reassembled it and have been playing with it the last week. Still have to repair a few cracks in the stock, will probably install a cross bolt and bed it when I do.
 
Glad it is working out for you, Cleftwynd

They really are fine old rifles. Have had quite a few of them over the years, and everyone shot well.

Can you imagine what it would cost to manufacture one of them today?

Ted
 
Any BAR, regardless of age or condition, if it shoots like you say, 1.25", thats as good as it gets - STOP right there you have a gem load!!!!!

my older BAR '06, and my bud's new BAR 300WSM, after over a dozen different bullet/load combo's, the best we ever got was 3" at 100, but more like 4" average - I am not counting the one 3-shot group of 1" (out of what seemed like 100 tries) that was never repeatable. I suspect our poor luck was shooting with a cold, then warm, then a hot barrel - as previous posters mentioned, and I can vouch for, the shots wander pretty quick with a hot barrel.
Bot definately MOA of Moose at moose distances!
 
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gunrunner8 said:
H4831 said:
Hi Bruce.
I don't doubt that those Dominion bullets were first class ones but they are long, long gone.
For 3006 moose hunt with affordable bullets I trust 180gr Speer Mag Tip.
Just two weeks ago I made penetration test at 25m and they busted 5 one galon milk jugs and two 3/4" plywood boards retaining 88% of their original weight!
Happily I still have close to 200 of them left b/c I don't see them for sale anymore (?)
My 180gr Rem CL bullet will do almost as good (four milk containers and two 3/4" plywood boards) but will retain only 75% of their original weight.
I am sure that 180gr NP would do as good or better under very severe trial like hitting very heavy moose bone but I never aim at those places....
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Hi Roman,
Yes, there are a million, well more or less, good brands of bullets out there.
I just have to sing the praises of some of the good old bullets, because there are so many here on CGN who think a bullet has to have been designed within the last three years and have a sophisticated sounding name, to be capable of killing a moose.
I actually have at least one box of the old CIL CPE bullets, in .308 calibre and 180 grains.
I had thought of contacting some northern moose hunter to see if they would use a load of these CPE bullets in their 30-06, if I sent them some, to shoot a moose with them, just as a comparison. But have likely waited too long for this year.
If there is some northern moose hunter up there who would be interested in trying this, send me a PM.
Bruce
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Curt said:
Had great accuracy and velocity with 55.5 grains of H414, 180 grain Nosler Accubond, Remington nickel cases and Win L Rifle primers. 2810 FPS and under 3/4".
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That's a whole bunch of fps from 30-06 and 180gr bullet.
What lenght of barrel are you are using?
Any pressure signs?
My BSA 30-06 with 22" barrel max out at 54gr of Win 760 (same as H414) and 2650fps or so with 180gr Rem CL.
 
Anybody try RL22 in their 30-06? Nosler claims it as the most accurate and fastest powder out of their test gun with 180 grain bullets. IMR4350 as the most accurate and one of the fastest with 165 grain bullets.
 
I use Norma MRP [some say it is the same as RL22. Even if it is not, it is very, very close.]

I usually end up with 60/61 grains of MRP behind the 180 for around 2830 in a 24" barrel.

This powder also is the bee's knees with the 200 grain Partition, delivering 2700+ and sub-moa.

I have used IMR4350 with great success behind the 165, but have a smoking load with a
Higginson surplus powder, [AMS 47SB Lot #10] a slow lot of W760 and totally sperical.
Meters so nicely, and at 59/60 grains, delivers 2900+ with the 165 Partition. Accuracy in my 30-06 rifles is great!!

Regards, Eagleye.
 
Oh, those good old Norma powders!
I'm looking at my notes, when I was using an Oehler chronograph.
30-06, 180 grain Norma bullets, 59 grains of Norma 204, velocity av. 2810, with an es of 11!

200 grain Nosler partition, 61 grains of Norma 205, the forerunner of Norma MRP, velocity av 2715.
This load was virtually right out of the old Norma loading charts. They showed 60.5 grains, 205, 200 grain bullet, 2700 fps.
I was using a 30-06 which needed a tad more powder to bring it up to other rifles, with any load. Thus, I loaded .5 grain more, and achieved the figures in the Norma book.
 
The 30-06 is a great cartridge alright! I look forward to put my 30-06 long range build to the test!
I am going to stick with the 180-190 grain weight ranges at first.
A cartridge design doesnt have to be new to perform well!
Most shooters seem to forget about the 30-06.
 
I have had 2 browning BAR, grade II's.
The harder I pushed it with slower powders, the less dependable it cycled.
IMR/H 4895 is the burn rate range that gives me the best results.
1-1/2" at 100, thats just right! Any better than that is just bonus!
 
I also have a 3006 BAR of about the same vintage. I settled on 47.5 grs of 4064 behind a Hornady 165 gr SP as my hunting load. Not the hottest load that could be put together but always good accuracy. I can't remember ever doing much better than your inch and a quarter groups. I think that is excellant shooting from a semi auto hunting rifle.
My rifle's barrel also gets very hot quickly. Groups start to string vertically.
I don't know whether slow burning powders are a concern in gas operated sporting rifles or not? I assume commercial hunting ammo is loaded with relatively slow powder but I've always stuck to medium burners in my BAR the same as my M1 and Norinco M14.

NOTE -as always check a couple reliable data sources before trying" internet" loads.
 
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"...gets dam hot quick..." Quit shooting fast. A 165 will kill any game you care to hunt. Think IMR4064.
"...anybody else load for a gun like mine..." Won't matter. You have to work up the load for your rifle. No two, even two identical consecutively numbers rifles will shoot the same ammo the same way.
 
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