Reloading 180gr 30.06

fiddler

fiddler

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Anyone have any success stories they'd like to share concerning Reloading 180gr 30.06? I haven't reloaded for my 30.06 since 1990, which at the time I made several hundred hunting loads. After that I picked up 400 rounds of 180gr soft points from a store that was going out of business, and now I'm getting low.


I think I'm going to stick with the 180gr but I'm undecided which bullet to go with. Any suggestions or recipes work well for you guys?
 
My load is 46gr of H4895, 3.355"oal, CCI LR primers. For hunting it is Nosler 180gr Accubonds. I have used many other bullet types but have come back to the Accubond. Chances are your 180's will be plenty suitable (and accurate). High BC's with the 180 bullet give excellent accuracy.
 
55 gr. of IMR 4350, give or take a grain depending on your brass & primer.

My basic "go-to" load is a 180 Nosler Partition; 55.5 gr. of IMR 4350, Win. brass & CCI 200 primers. If any .30-06 won't do reasonably well with that load, it's a sick rifle.

Minor tuning for each rifle is often necessary, but that's always the first load I try.

.30-06s and 180 grain bullets is like apple pie and ice cream.
 
for moose hunting i use the 180 gr nosler partition over 55.5 gr of h4350. oal of 3.297" excellent accuracy and deadly bullet. i have about 3 hundred sst's i loaded up and turned out not to bad but the nosler is my hunting choice.
 
Tumbleweed said:
55 gr. of IMR 4350, give or take a grain depending on your brass & primer.

My basic "go-to" load is a 180 Nosler Partition; 55.5 gr. of IMR 4350, Win. brass & CCI 200 primers. If any .30-06 won't do reasonably well with that load, it's a sick rifle.
Click to expand...


Thats not very far off from what I was loading my 165s with. I've still got several cans of 4350 and a few thousand primers. Maybe I'll step into town this week and pick up some 180gr partitions.

How do they hit for you? I stopped using 165 ballistic tips cuz there were too many clean in and outs. I stopped that with 180 soft points, but they were commercial and not my loads.
 
Remington Cases, WLR primers, 180gn Remington PSP (bulk) bullets, 45.2gns WC735. Lee FCD.

2662fps Avg 10-shot string. High being 2671, Low being 2658.

5-shot group, 3/4" (just over)

Mauser Gewehr 98. Bushnell Banner 3-9X 40mm scope.

I find this to be a little heavy for my likes so I don't usually shoot more than 165gn and that has done all I have asked of it. Currently use 150's for deer in my 100 ATR, Mauser still set up for 165's for moose and Elk.
However, when I took that particular rifle bear hunting, I loaded 220gn Sierra Pro Hunters. I do not use premium bullets on a regular basis.
 
Me too! In varying lengths for different rifles:54.0gr. IMR 4350 ,WLR Primer(Fed. 210 also), Most any brand case, 180 gr. Bullet (succesfully used:partition, Accubond, Ballistic Tip, Sierra Pro hunter/game king/Hornady Interlock/Win. Power Point, Rem. Core Lokt).

Works great in Every .30-06 I've ever tried it in. My CZ Does honest M.O.A accuracy with this load. This is virtually the only load I use in .30-06. Sure I've tried others, but I've always come back to this combo.

I use a Partition for hunting, Sierra for plinking. POI was the same. So it's cheaper for more practice.
 
I'm using 52.3gr H4350 to get 2650fps with Hornady 180SP Interlocks or 2525fps with Sierra 180SPBT. CCI LR primers. Federal Brass.
 
the 2 deer i shot this year i recovered one.i shot it in the neck at 350 yards, and the bullet was just stuck in the skin on the other side. the other deer i shot a few secs before that was at 300 yards and blew his neck right out so no recovered bullet.the recovered bullet seperated and the lead kept going and the copper jacket was caught in the skin. excelent expansion they drop where the stood. if i can find the bullet i'll post what it looks like tommorow for you.
 
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M77 said:
My load is 46gr of H4895, 3.355"oal, CCI LR primers. For hunting it is Nosler 180gr Accubonds. I have used many other bullet types but have come back to the Accubond. Chances are your 180's will be plenty suitable (and accurate). High BC's with the 180 bullet give excellent accuracy.
Click to expand...

I used to use H4895 in my .30-06, but I find H4350 works better.
 
i've used nothing but ww748 and 180 grain bulk remmy psps for years on everything except big bears and long distance elk- i find 7828 too slow - keep that for the 338 win mag
 
What did you chrony the ww748 at? The IMR 7828 was 2499 fps out of my Ruger,a little slower than your 748 . Richard Lees book says your ww748
should be 2530 fps. The 7828 was very accurate, although I didn't try the ww748. I have also tried H-4831, AA 4350 ,H-870, Reloader 22.
 
when it comes to reloading richard lee is a JOKE- his velocities are ALWAYS on the high side, and he makes assumptions that only he can justify- as for my loads, i found that 45 grains gave 2540 fps- just about EXACTLY what a 308 will do- actually, it was 10fps SLOWER- 48K PRESSURE
 
The 30-06 with 180gr bullets is about as easy to reload as you can get. Anything from BL-C2 to RL-22 will work well generally.

Saying that however, I've switched to RL-17 exclusively, as I get crazy fast velocity out of it with bullets weighing 180gr or more.
 
Tumbleweed said:
55 gr. of IMR 4350, give or take a grain depending on your brass & primer.

My basic "go-to" load is a 180 Nosler Partition; 55.5 gr. of IMR 4350, Win. brass & CCI 200 primers. If any .30-06 won't do reasonably well with that load, it's a sick rifle.

Minor tuning for each rifle is often necessary, but that's always the first load I try.

.30-06s and 180 grain bullets is like apple pie and ice cream.
Click to expand...

X2 what Tumbleweed said
I have been using 55 gr 4350 behind 180 gr bullets in my -06 for many years. Good accuracy if I do my part. This load has accounted for at least 6 moose and a bunch of deer.
You will have to experiment a bit and determine if your rifle likes flat base or boat tail bullets. Mine likes flat based bullets in Federal brass, with a winchester large rifle primer.
Good luck.
 
Tumbleweed said:
55 gr. of IMR 4350, give or take a grain depending on your brass & primer.

My basic "go-to" load is a 180 Nosler Partition; 55.5 gr. of IMR 4350, Win. brass & CCI 200 primers. If any .30-06 won't do reasonably well with that load, it's a sick rifle.

Minor tuning for each rifle is often necessary, but that's always the first load I try.

.30-06s and 180 grain bullets is like apple pie and ice cream.
Click to expand...

Well I could'nt say it better. I am going to try a run of tests again for my 30-06. Starting at 53.0gr of IMR4350, mostly Win brass & CCI 200 primers and going to 56.0gr. From doing this task before twice in many years apart I found any load between 55.0 and 56.0 gr works ideal. It is more just to get shooting practice in at the range than anything else. I have dropped many elk, bear, deer and moose with the 180gr Nosler Partition Protected Pt. I will never change from that bullet in my 30-06, too trustworthy of a bullet to change. One bull moose at 400 yds had 2 bullets recovered from the animal and had retention weights of 94% and 97% of original bullet weight. As far I as I can see if the animal drops with minimal meat damage on a consistant basis why change. I also use the 165gr Nosler Partition in my .308 with great success. Nosler Partitions are my answer to everything.
Just my 2 cents worth.
 
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