Loading 30-06 for 600m applications

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clegger

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I've got a Remington 700 CDL chambered in 30-06.

This rifle has been a love hate relationship, as when I first bought it and tried the first group at 100m she gave me a 6" group. After trying different bullet weights and manufactures I was able to shrink it down too about 3.5". I was about to get rid of it as a "factory dud" when I had a change of heart and put some TLC into it. I performed:

Glass bed the stock
Free float the barrel
Got rid of the stock Remington bases for the leopold one piece ring/base standard"s
Timmney trigger set to 2.5pounds
Lapped the lugs for 99% contact

I tried some new ammo and got it to group average .7" - .9" groups at 100m with the hornady 165g SST superformance. Now at 44$ a box and now that I have a reloading bench I'm going to try and reload my own.

Heres what I'm looking for out of a round

Whitetail size animals
Accurate out to 600m

I'm thinking
190g Sierra game king
IMR 4350
CCI BR2 primers
Hornady brass
Loaded to .01 of the lands


Opinions?
 
You might be guilty of over thinking here. If the rifle likes 165 SST, buy some. ...find a member with a chrony.....chrony the factory ammo.....try to work up accurate loads that are close to the factory chrony speed on your bench.

I have heard that the superformance powder available is not close to what is used in the factory ammo. Closely guarded secret of blends and weight, not available.
 
190g Sierra game king
IMR 4350
CCI BR2 primers
Hornady brass
Loaded to .01 of the lands

Everything looking good to try, like your powder choice etc and 01 off lands. I have never tried 190 gr but they could be good.

My best load in 30.06 is
WW Brass
Br 2 Primers
imr 4350
168 gr Berger Classic hunters.
.01 jump
Have shot sub 1/2" groups at 100 y, when nut behind bolt is tight
manitou
 
Your recipe sounds right except for the jump. I would do the load development at 20 thou off the rifling. (Your factory ammo was much more than that.)

Once you have a load that groups well, try it at 30, 20, 10 and touching.

I would not trust hunting bullets to be consistent enough to be loaded close to the rifling. Your magazine length might be an issue with long ammo, too.
 
190's are really .300 Mag bullets. Bit too heavy for 600 yards out of an '06. A 175 Matchking with IMR4064 will be better.
Forget hunting out to 600 with any bullet. At 600 yards, your 165 drops about 90.5" with just 1075 ft/lbs. of energy AND you'd have to be able to hit the fabled 9" pie plate every time at that distance.
2.5 pounds is too light for a hunting rifle as well.
 
clegger said:
I've got a Remington 700 CDL chambered in 30-06.




Here's what I'm looking for out of a round

Whitetail size animals
Accurate out to 600m

I'm thinking
190g Sierra game king
IMR 4350
CCI BR2 primers
Hornady brass
Loaded to .01 of the lands


Opinions?
Click to expand...

Accurate to 600M is easy. If it is accurate at 300 it will be accurate at 600, unless you use a dumb bullet.

When you say "600" I assume you mean you will be shooting on a rifle range. No problem. 600 is "middle range" for a 30-06 and easy to do. The cadets shoot 600 with 223 rifles. Off their elbows. With irons sights....

Your 190 gr bullet should work well back to 1000 yards. On a rifle range.

You did not suggest hunting back to 600 meters. Good thing.

First, range measurement would be critical at that distance. An error of 50 yards would be a clean miss, even if you got the wind right.

Second, bullet performance would be nil. I saw a moose hit twice in the lungs at 425 yards with a 180 gr soft point out of a 308. The recovered bullets were pristine. They could have been re-used.

A more reasonable "long range" hunting shot would be in the order of 300 yards, and I have not met very many hunters cabable of that kind of shooting.
 
If the SST's shot well, consider the 178gr Amax. A bit higher velocity, better BC, very nice expansion characteristics at lower impact velocity.

Calculate what the impact velocity will be at the various distance you want to hunt, then match to the expansion characteristics of the bullet. Bullets basically all expand the same way but at vastly different impact velocities.

With so many to choose from, you can match and mimic pretty much any type of on game result.

If 600m hunting is the goal, practise, practise, practise some more.... Choose a scope that will adjust reliably and repeatably (far fewer then many think) and has the optics to let you engage.

Lots of good info and gear out there. It is possible but not without a whole lot of investment in time, money and shooting.

YMMV.

Jerry
 
Ganderite said:
Second, bullet performance would be nil. I saw a moose hit twice in the lungs at 425 yards with a 180 gr soft point out of a 308. The recovered bullets were pristine. They could have been re-used.
Click to expand...

This. It is, for all practical purposes, impossible to develop the load you want with a .30-06. The SST is specifically designed to be a long range hunting bullet, intended to open reliably down to 2000 fps. To get that at 600 yds, it needs to leave the muzzle at something like 3100 fps. The .30-06 load that does that comes wrapped in a .300 Win Mag case. The SGK will have much the same performance as the SST in the same caliber and weight. You'll be very very hard pressed to find a bullet soft enough to open reliably at 600 yds with velocities reasonably achievable from .30-06, and not blow up at anything under a few hundred.
 
I think many will be surprised at how slow the SST's will expand well. That poly tip makes a big difference in initiating upset

The amax will expand well at slower velocities

But to be sure and part of any LR development... shoot some wet phone books at your furthest distance and see what happens.

First, if you can't hit the phone book under field conditions, well... that will tell you alot.

If you can reliably hit the target, you can graphically see what is likely to happen.

If you really need a fragile bullet, consider the Berger VLD's. I think you will be impressed at what these will do far away.

Jerry
 
More food for thought; I dimly recalled a paper on the AB site I thought may have been of relevance. Mr Litz did one of his WEZ analyses on the .300 WM, and the results are of interest here I think. In the medium certainty environment (trained shooter, 1 MOA rifle, wind call within 2.5 mph, range within 10m, and 15 fps SD ammo) the 100% hit probability range on an IPSC target is 500m. I think some of those parameters are generous for field hunting conditions, especially the most important one. The hit zone is a bit generous for a deer too. In the low certainty environment of untrained shooter, wind within 4 mph, range within 50m, 1.5 MOA rifle and SD of 20, the max 100% hit range is an astounding 300m.

Ventilating paper or people? 100% hit probability not required and the max range goes up dramatically when you accept 90% hits. Is it ethical to go hunting accepting a 90% chance of hitting your target properly? No way. The challenge of recovering poorly hit game also skyrockets if you add in a km or so (you surely aren't walking as straight as the bullet flew cross country) hike to get to the impact site. Litz's work tells us it seems even the 300 WM is marginal unless in very skilled and experienced hands for 600 yard shots on game. Clearly the .30-06 will perform worse. It's stretching everything - rifle, cartridge, shooter and equipment - to it's limits and beyond. Cool on the target range, totally uncool on the hunting field.
 
Ganderite said:
I would not trust hunting bullets to be consistent enough to be loaded close to the rifling. Your magazine length might be an issue with long ammo, too.
Click to expand...

FWIW, the Hornady SST is just as consistent as any match bullet in my experience. In fact, it IS a match bullet, basically just an A Max with a thicker jacket and cannalure. But in base to ogive length they are as consistent as can be; I seat my .30-06 loads with a Wilson die and they all come out within +/- .0005"
Same with the SGK, they're match bullets in terms of quality and consistency, and hunting bullets in terminal performance.

They seem VERY jump tolerant however; these were seated to cannalure length and crimped, like 50 thou off the lands - all kinds of wrong- and they still shoot fine.

IMAG0763.jpg
 
Last edited:
To the OP.

I really like your idea for target for sure. If you load to your rifles potential you will likely amaze some people at what it is capable of doing.
 
Thanks for all the great tips,

I thought id update everyone with my load development as this seems to be a popular thread.

My first trip to the range i tried to find the OCW (optimum charge weight) that my rifle likes. I loaded 5 groups of 4 rounds each, as i shoot 3 round groups and use the fourth rounds as warm up/fouling shots. I find that shooting the fourth round of each group in the top left of each target gives me a idea of where the groups going to land on the target as well.
My charge weights looked like this:
51.1
52.2
53.3
54.4
55.5
56.6

Out of that i found the 55.5 gave the best group, so my next batch on the press looked like this:
55.1
55.3
55.5
55.7
55.9

Out of that batch the 55.7 gave me a group of .8" at 100m. Now im pretty excited as this is sub MOA without even playing with seating depth or trying neck tension adjustments. I was very impressed to get this out of a factory barrel, as i didnt have high hopes for it and was looking for an excuse to buy a Krieger.

my load right now looks like this

IMR 4350
55.7g
SMK 190g
CCI BR2 primers
case length 2.485"
COAL 3.426" (.01 off lands)

after i try a few more test batches to dial this sucker in, ill post results at 200, 300, 400, 500, 600
 
So I just got back from the range,

Turns out that the rifle likes .03 jump. Best group came in at a very impressive .29"

Now to make 200 and start practicing out to 600m

I have to admit to all the ethic nuts on this forum, that if I can reliably hit a 12 target at 600m and I'm hunting whitetail I would take the shot.

Now I'm not saying I'm some crazy kid with a gun that shoots everything he see's, I'm saying if you can hit that far and you have the opportunity, why not?

That's what what practice is for, maybe I can't hit reliably that far, maybe I can. That's what I'm here to find out.
 
You proved that rifle can shoot. (Good chamber/barrel)

You found the correct jump.

But you have not found a load for longer range. A 100 load seldom translates to the real world. I test at 300 if 500 is not available. No shorter.
 
clegger said:
can reliably hit
Click to expand...

Fair enough; I'd suggest though the standard isn't "reliably," though, it's "unfailingly." From a cold bore and a field position.

I had always gone with 8" as the vital zone size for a deer as well. 12" is more like bull moose or elk. So you're talking a 1.5 moa target at 600. A few mph error in your wind call will put you entirely off target. It's a very tough goal you're setting yourself, but it'll be a fun one to work to.

I don't see anyone here saying that if you can do it unfailingly (with the right bullet with the right energy) there's any issue, just a bunch of people pointing out how very hard a standard that will be to achieve with your cartridge and setup and while under field conditions.

If you can, just skip 100 and 200 entirely, and ladder or OCW test at 300m. Without chrono data, you're almost wasting powder at 100 - for example, your most accurate load at 100 could well have higher SD and ES than a slightly less accurate load, which won't show up at short range but sure will at 300 plus. It would SUCK to work up and fine tune a load close in only to find out it doesn't shoot "out there."
 
sunray said:
190's are really .300 Mag bullets. Bit too heavy for 600 yards out of an '06. A 175 Matchking with IMR4064 will be better.
Forget hunting out to 600 with any bullet. At 600 yards, your 165 drops about 90.5" with just 1075 ft/lbs. of energy AND you'd have to be able to hit the fabled 9" pie plate every time at that distance.
2.5 pounds is too light for a hunting rifle as well.
Click to expand...

My #### you're a stooge!

To the OP, the 190 Gameking or a 180 Scirocco would be a fine bullet for the job, if your rifle likes it and you can put it where it needs to be. 600 yards is a long poke, but it is doable and not really in the same vein as some of the really long range stuff. And as Jerry said, lots of practice.
 
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