30-06 deep curl loads?

[tahunua001]

hello all,
my little brother drew his first controlled elk hunt tag this year but he only has a 243 and a heavy one at that so I'm lending him my M77 MKII 30-06 as it's the only thing I can spare that can do him much good since I drew the same hunt and I need my 300 WBY. we generally have to make long range shots between 300 and 600 yards for elk out here so something that's flat shooting and accurate is necessary.

my weatherby does pretty good with 180gr deep curls and I can even load down to win mag velocity and still get the same ballistics as factory weatherby ammo(easier on my shoulder). does anyone have some accurate 30-06 data for the deep curl that can graze the lower end of the magnum velocity spectrum?

main powders at my disposal are IMR 4064, 3031 and varget though we have lots of different misc stuff laying around, mostly IMR, hodgon or alliant.

[Jimro]

180 GR. SIE SPBT IMR IMR 4064 .308" 3.300" 45.5 2550 48,900 PSI 48.7 2700 58,200 PSI

If you have H4350 it looks like a winner
180 GR. SIE SPBT Hodgdon H4350 .308" 3.300" 52.0 2543 37,800 CUP 57.5 2798 49,300 CUP

Obviously a Speer Deep Curl is different than a Sierra soft point boat tail, but it should be enough to get started.

If you have any superformance hanging around, it tops the velocity chart for Hodgdon.

180 GR. SIE SPBT Hodgdon Suprform .308" 3.300" 54.0 2628 46,200 PSI 59.7 2840 57,600 PSI

However, that extra 140 fps from 4064 to Superformance is what, maybe 80 yards of difference?

Sorry for the crappy table, it's just a 180gr Deep Curl at 2700 fps muzzle, standard atmospheric conditions. Doesn't drop below 1000 ft/lbs of energy until past 650 yards. Generally speaking it is recommended that 1000 ft/lbs of energy is necessary for an ethical kill.

Calculated Table
Range Drop Drop Windage Windage Velocity Mach Energy Time Lead Lead
(yd) (in) (MOA) (in) (MOA) (ft/s) (none) (ft•lbs) (s) (in) (MOA)
0 -1.5 *** 0.0 *** 2706.5 2.424 2927.2 0.000 0.0 ***
50 0.9 1.7 0.2 0.3 2610.1 2.338 2722.5 0.056 9.9 19.0
100 2.0 1.9 0.7 0.7 2515.8 2.253 2529.3 0.115 20.2 19.3
150 1.7 1.1 1.7 1.1 2423.5 2.171 2347.0 0.176 30.9 19.7
200 -0.0 -0.0 3.0 1.4 2333.1 2.090 2175.2 0.239 42.0 20.1
250 -3.3 -1.3 4.8 1.8 2244.5 2.010 2013.2 0.304 53.6 20.5
300 -8.4 -2.7 7.0 2.2 2157.9 1.933 1860.7 0.373 65.6 20.9
350 -15.3 -4.2 9.8 2.7 2073.1 1.857 1717.4 0.443 78.0 21.3
400 -24.3 -5.8 13.0 3.1 1990.3 1.783 1583.0 0.517 91.0 21.7
450 -35.4 -7.5 16.8 3.6 1909.5 1.710 1457.1 0.594 104.6 22.2
500 -49.0 -9.4 21.2 4.0 1830.9 1.640 1339.6 0.674 118.7 22.7
550 -65.1 -11.3 26.1 4.5 1754.5 1.572 1230.1 0.758 133.4 23.2
600 -84.0 -13.4 31.8 5.1 1680.5 1.505 1128.6 0.846 148.8 23.7
650 -106.1 -15.6 38.1 5.6 1609.1 1.441 1034.7 0.937 164.9 24.2
700 -131.4 -17.9 45.1 6.1 1540.4 1.380 948.2 1.032 181.6 24.8

[tahunua001]

we do have some superformance but it kindof belongs to someone else, my two brother in laws and my older brother all share a reloading bench and though most of us just pool our resources the one that bought the superformance is kind of unpredictable with stuff like that. he did load up some 180gr interbonds over superformance for my sisters 30-06 and we tested them in this particular rifle since hers was several hours away and it did great with the superformance, at least as far as accuracy goes but again... an interbond is not the same as a deep curl.

[Jimro]

Generally speaking, if your rifle is good with one weight of bullet, another bullet of the same style isn't going to shoot too differently, maybe a few fractions of an inch.

Anyways, 4064 will give you a load that does what you ask, lethal shots out to 600 yards. IMR4064 would be what I reached for because I have it on hand, and work up towards that max load and velocity of 2700. Unless I had H4350 on hand, then I'd use that because of better case fill.

But it seems you have enough to start load development. Don't get hung up on velocity, that 180gr pill has good sectional density and will provide good penetration across the velocity range. The question becomes expansion, but that is the least important aspect of lethality.

Jimro

[tahunua001]

I think I agree with you on just about everything you've said. 40-64 is my go to powder for heavier weight bullets in 6.5 jap and it groups marvelously. in lighter bullet weights 3031 tends to do a lot better so if I were to go with a lighter bullet that would probably be my go to.

[bfoosh006]

Important Reloading Data
DeepCurl's unique construction process joins the jacket to the core at the molecular level for excellent performance and consistency. For this reason, conventional reloading data developed for standard jacketed bullets should not be used to load DeepCurl® rifle bullets. Only DeepCurl specific reloading data should be used. It can be found here at reloading data pages in the reloading data pages or by contacting Speer Technical Services at 866-286-7436. DeepCurl handgun bullets can use data from the Speer Reloading Manual #14.

http://www.speer-bullets.com/product...l/default.aspx

Same answer

[Jimro]

Comparing Speer data to Hodgdon data; same starting data for 760/H414, a grain more for H4831, grain less for IMR4831, two grains less for IMR4350.

Nothing too shocking there. Generally speaking bullet manufacturer data is more conservative than powder company data. Doesn't surprist me that the powders that give best performance are owned by the parent company of Speer (ATK), although I wouldn't go so far to say it is a conspiracy, both Re17 and 19 have been known to produce top velocities (unfortunately without much temp stability) in a number of cases.

Jimro