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Top go-to powder for 30-06 with 168-172s

Lenny Foffa said:
Today, I shot my friends Bolt action Hunting Rifle, an Sig I think, with new Leupold 2X to 10X scope which I mounted for him, in 30-06. I made up some loads for him using H 4831 SC, and 165 Grn Horn Bullets. At the 50 yard Sight In they shot one hole, then at 100 yds. they shot very close together. The interesting thing was I did not touch the elevation dial. The 50-yard shots were only about 1/2 inch to 5/8th lower than the 100-yard shots. For this rifle, used on his farm, with most of his deer taken between 35 and 50 yards of his Elevated Blind and 100 yards would be max for him, that load with that H 4831 SC powder works just fine. The factory Federal Fusions 06 ammo , also 165 grain bullets , Which I also tested for him , shot slightly higher that my moderate velocity loads at both ranges. Still room in the 06 cases, so I can make my hand loads a bit faster and match the velocity of the factory ammo. That may change the POI at 100 yards making it even closer to the Federal Fusion. Absolutely nothing wrong with H 4831SC, ignited by a Win LR Primer, in my .270 Win, or his 30 -06 White Tail Deer rifles.
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I use H4831 with 150 BT. Excellent accuracy, never missed a deer. It's what my daughter shoots.
 
Looking back at my load data, looks like I've been running 48gr of IMR 4064 under a 165gr Trophy Bond for about 2750 fps. I haven't ever chased speed, so I didn't push the envelope on this. It produced great accuracy, but certainly slower than max velocity.
 
Cookie114 said:
I haven't loaded much for the 30-06 but obviously there's guys on here with years and years of experience loading for the 30-06 before the "cool" calibers took over.
I've got a 22in proof savage ultralite on the way and planning to shoot the 172 speer impact with the 168 berger classic hunter being a backup. I've got access to quite a selection of powder.

What would be the top 2 go-to powders for my setup?
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Back in the day, IMR3031 was the holy grail for .30 cal loads. In the early 70's when I got started I developed a load that my factory Rem700 in 30-06 just loved. 47.4gr with 165gr Nosler Partitions .020 off the rifling, When Accubonds came along I found that load worked great as well. It's not a barn burner but it is accurate 1/2moa at 200yds, and has put down a lot of deer over many years, and still is. I do limit my shots to 400 yds max.
 
emp1953 said:
Back in the day, IMR3031 was the holy grail for .30 cal loads. In the early 70's when I got started I developed a load that my factory Rem700 in 30-06 just loved. 47.4gr with 165gr Nosler Partitions .020 off the rifling, When Accubonds came along I found that load worked great as well. It's not a barn burner but it is accurate 1/2moa at 200yds, and has put down a lot of deer over many years, and still is. I do limit my shots to 400 yds max.
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I have a few spare pounds of 3031… I may have to revisit that one
 
Cookie114 said:
I haven't loaded much for the 30-06 but obviously there's guys on here with years and years of experience loading for the 30-06 before the "cool" calibers took over.
I've got a 22in proof savage ultralite on the way and planning to shoot the 172 speer impact with the 168 berger classic hunter being a backup. I've got access to quite a selection of powder.

What would be the top 2 go-to powders for my setup?
Click to expand...
Had some time today for doing preliminary load work with 172 Speer Impact in 30-06.
I didn't push too hard and found a very good load that made a tiny cluster with 56.5 gr of H4350 with CCI200 primers and 2865 fps velocity. I went to 57 and had slightly more primer flattening but no other signs.
This was in a factory Rem 700 with 24" barrel with a very long throat.

I did very little seating depth test with the better group being 115 thou off the lands (which is by luck when I seated the shank almost at n/s junction to start).
I ran a group @ 30 k off and grouped about 1" but there was under .3" of the shank in the neck and I didn't care for that.
Speer recommends 3.340" COAL but I didn't go that short yet. I may try it for S&G's before I settle my final load but they'll be jumping a country mile!

I'll finalize soon and report back.

I'm hoping to pop a doe with one to check terminal performance!

Let us know how your development is coming along.
 
Last edited:
Roughrice said:
Had some time today for doing preliminary load work with 172 Speer Impact in 30-06.
I didn't push too hard and found a very good load that made a tiny cluster with 56.5 gr of H4350 with CCI200 primers and 2865 fps velocity. I went to 57 and had slightly more primer flattening but no other signs.
This was in a factory Rem 700 with 24" barrel with a very long throat.

I did very little seating depth test with the better group being 115 thou off the lands (which is by luck when I seated the shank almost at n/s junction to start).
I ran a group @ 30 k off and grouped about 1" but there was under .3 of the shank in the neck and I didn't care for that.
Speer recommends 3.340" COAL but I didn't go that short yet. I may try it for S&G's before I settle my final load but they'll be jumping a country mile!

I'll finalize soon and report back.

I'm hoping to pop a doe with one to check terminal performance!

Let us know how your development is coming along.
Click to expand...
I've been eyeballing these as my new bullet for all my .30 cal rifles pending Terminal performance. I'm interested to hear your results
 
Friend is still using the same recipe from1975, 52.2. IMR 4064. Getting 2900 in CZ 550. 168 ELDM. Only seen him miss twice in 38 years. Once on big 9 point that wasn't dead from 520 yard shot on 1st firing, he admitted he was a little excited on 2nd shot. Other shot he forgot to set the set trigger and was expecting a 6oz trigger instead of three pounds. Said, I have no idea where that went. But deer stuck around long enough for him to get his act together.
 
Cookie114 said:
I haven't loaded much for the 30-06 but obviously there's guys on here with years and years of experience loading for the 30-06 before the "cool" calibers took over.
I've got a 22in proof savage ultralite on the way and planning to shoot the 172 speer impact with the 168 berger classic hunter being a backup. I've got access to quite a selection of powder.

What would be the top 2 go-to powders for my setup?
Click to expand...
I have had great results with H414 for my 30-06. I load 180 Accubonds and use use Federal 210M primers and Nosler brass. I believe you can substitute Winchester 760 for H414 as well as they have the same burn rate.
 

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