Deer Loads for 30-06

[Skunk Ape]

I'm looking for a starting point. I just finished reading my reloading manual, got my reloading bench set up, tools organized, and cases ready to deprime and check. The only thing I lack is a good "starting load." I'm shooting a new Remington 700 chambered in 30-06. I know that even among factory rifles each one will respond differently to different loads, but I'd like to hear from y'all about some loads that have produced tight groups for model 700s chambered in 30-06.

I'm shooting primarily deer, but I'd like to maintain long range consistency as well. Right now I'm thinking a bullet in the 160-65 range. I've heard good things about the Barnes x bullet. My reloading manual (Hornady) says that Varget powder was the best for their rifle, but they were shooting a Winchester model 70. I know that trial and error is the best method, but I'd like to avoid buying 50 different kinds of bullets and 2 dozen different powders if I can help it. Once I get a good load started, I can tweak it down.

Thanks,

[wncchester]

"The only thing I lack is a good "starting load."

If you get twenty responses you will have twenty different loads, all proving that any useful "pet load" is a hopeless dream. I could give you mine but it you used it you would only be loading for my rifle, not yours.

Pick a bullet, any game bullet of 150/165 gr. will work nicely on deer, and look in your manual for a powder that gives the highest velocity. Start with that.

[William T. Watts]

I've had very good groups with Nosler 165 gr bullets, 48.8 - 49.1 gr IMR4064 powder, R-P brass, FC or CCI LR primers (whichever is available) OAL 3.290". My rifle produces about 2700 FPS with this combination, it's accurate and lethal, this load has worked well in several 30/06 rifles. William

[Rifleman1776]

I don't usually post my favorite loads on forums. But, since the '06 is such a ubiquitous caliber and I consider my loads within very safe limits, I'll share what I like.
Basically, I have three 'favorite' loads. Two for deer hunting, and one for target competition.
I live in the Arkansas Ozarks, long range shots are quite rare. While I consider the 30-06 the end-all CF caliber for North American, I acknowledge it is more gun than is needed for whitetail deer. I dislike waste and cringe when I see bloodshot meat ruined with big-bang high velocity rounds like the 7mm mag.
So, for whitetail, I loaded down a little bit to save meat. Using either 150 gr. Nosler Partitions or Ballistic Tips (range results identical) I used to use 44.2 gr. of IMR4895 (talk about 'ubiquitous', this may be the most popular powder ever, except for BP). My notes show a rise of 1.5" at 100 yards. I zeroed for 200 yards. This eliminates all need to hold over/under in my environment. Never more than a silver dollar sized area of ruined meat. Great round.
However, when the bear season was combined with deer, I wanted more insurance in case I came across old bruin.
I changed my 'favorite' deer/bear round to same bullets but using 58 gr. of H414. IT IS HOT YOU NEED TO TEST IN YOUR OWN GUN BEFORE GOING AFIELD. According to the charts, it exceeds 3,000 fps.
It is accurate but will ruin more meat on a deer. For black bear at relatively short ranges, I don't believe (my untested opinion) a heavier bullet is needed especially when using a quality bullet like the Noslers or Barnes.

[Jim243]

The standard for 30-06 is 150 grains for about 300 yards (drop will depend on bullet weight and distance), but depending on the size of the deer you will be hunting, you could use a 180 grain bullet for deer up north (230 lb or heavier deer). Unless you are hunting in Southern CA., I do not understand why you want to use a lead free bullet like the Barnes. Depending on distance a soft point jacketed bullet in my opinion would work better on deer.

For powder H-4895 is about the world standard for 30-06 but other powders would work as well. As to how much that will depend on your individual rifle it's length and barrel type, whither it is beded or not and a number of other factors including twist rate, etc.... If you are using Hodgdon powder then you can find load data on their website.

If you want to use commercial ammo, I would recommend Remington Core-Lock cartrages, excelent for deer.

Good luck
Jim

[RWBlue01]

I think I will just +1 what wncchester said.

I like run of the mill JSP bullets. I don't see the need for Barnes for the deer I have killed.

Varget metered good for me and is flexible for many cartridges, do that sounds good to me.

So I think this gets you close to a working load for your gun.


As a second thought; I bought some 110gr projectiles in .308 a while back. They make great plinking round for the 30-06 and 308. They were much cheaper than the JSP in 150-180gr range. I think if you are new to reloading, it might be worth while to start playing with these. As far as powder goes, I think I started with Red dot and then moved on to trailboss for my plinking ammo.

[Brian Pfleuger]

I don't have a good starting load for you, but a suggestion for bullet....

Deer are not hard to kill. You don't need a big, heavy bullet for penetration. They are thin-skinned, bags of water, more or less.

I would (do) use the lightest bullet, driven at the fastest speed that will maintain accuracy and hold together on impact.

Speed creates hydro-static shock. QuickLoad says that a 120gr Barnes TTSX bullet can be driven 3250 fps in a 24" barrel 30-06. That's over 3,000 ft/lbs of energy. Personally, I'd even try the 110gr version. QuickLoad thinks that the 110gr TTSX can exceed 3500 fps.

The Hornady GMX line would probably also do well but I don't know how light they go. Most conventional bullets would simply explode on impact at those speeds so you want something "monolithic" that will expand and hold together with that enormous energy.

Others will no doubt disagree with my "light and fast" for deer but it's all you need.

[sserdlihc]

Don't spend time looking for lightning in a bottle(perfect load someone else has developed), the whole fun of reloading is perfecting a load to your rifle. Pick a bullet with a ballistic coefficient that suits your needs, pick a powder and work you up some loads.

[NWPilgrim]

+1 on comments that deer do require anything special to put down. Millions have been taken cleanly with standard softpoint ammo from Winchester (Powerpoint), Remington (Core-Lokt), Federal, etc.

For bullet you can use any softpoint from Hornady, Sierra, Speer. If you want to upgrade the Nosler Partition is a proven performer at a wide range of velocities/ranges and is not nearly as expensive as the bonded or all copper bullets like Barnes. If you do use Barnes copper bullets remember they are longer than softpoints of the same weight so the powder should be reduced, or just get the Barnes manual to be sure.

The .30-06 case works well with a variety of powders. H4895 is about as fast as I would go, Varget and IMR4064, RL15 are about in the middle (and my favorite), and heavier bullets like 180 gr will do better with 4350 and RL19 at the slower end.

Varget seems to perform best when it is loaded near max. It seems to burn better when it is compressed. work up from the starting load in the manual but don't be surprised isf you see best accuracy with the near highest safe weight in powder.

[rwilson452]

IMR 4895 was the original 30-06 powder and still works well. That said, in my winchester mod 70, RL15 works best with a 150gr pill. I load Sierra bullets the combination gives me sub MOA performance.

Of course YMMV.

[GAR700]

I have a 700 ADL in 30-06 that shoots sub 1" with 165 gr. Nosler Partitions, H-4350, Federal Primers, and Remington Cases. All components are readily available and may be very helpfull with other calibers. Pretty usefull stuff to stock up on if you are just starting...
GAR

[BruceM]

In my Model 70 I use the following which shoots sub 1" five shot groups on the 100 meter range and chrono's an honest 2825 fps out of my 22" barrel. This is a maximum load in my gun so be sure to follow good loading practice and work up in order to develope a safe load for your gun. I seat bullets out so that they are JUST short of touching the rifling and this will cause the COAL to vary from gun to gun.

data:

WW case
Sierra 165 grain SBT #2145
CCI Magnum primer (cleaned up fliers in my gun, you may be ok with Std)
57.0 grains IMR 4350

This load kills deer very, very dead. It expands less than the Nosler BT which is also accurate but causes more meat damage if you make an oops. While this may not be THE LOAD, I've found that this bullet with 56-57 grains of IMR 4350 is extremely accurate in any bolt action .30-06 I've tried it in.

Remember to work up and not treat anybody else's data like a cookbook recipe.



Bruce

[longranger]

IMR 4895 was the original 30-06 powder and still works well.

IMR 4895 was the original powder for the 30-06 in the Garand. Many better powders available now. Varget for anything < 150gr bullet weight is outstanding in all but the most finicky rifles. > 150 gr bullet weight, med> slow powders. As others have said you will need to have to reload for your rifle. 150 + gr bullets 2700-2900fps should give good starting points.

[DAVID NANCARROW]

A 165 gr weight is a pretty good compromise for decent distances on an 06. I stopped buying the really pricey bullets for deer because they just arent all that hard to stop. A box of soft point hornadys is half the price of the premium bullets and you get twice the count. Accuracy is very good with them too and I just opened the freezer to ask bambi if he could tell the difference....nope

[GeauxTide]

My best loads in '06 are with 150 Sierra or Hornady standards, WW or RP cases, CCI 200 primers, and 4064. Most of the books list 52gr as maximum, so start at 50gr. In my 24" Mark X, I got 2950fps, 9.9SD, and 26fps ES with 52gr. at the chrony. 7/8" groups all day long. Deer fall like electrocuted. If you're starting out reloading, look at the excellent thead here.

[BruceM]

"IMR 4895 was the original powder for the 30-06 in the Garand. Many better powders available now."

Yep. It provides superb accuracy along with favorable pressure curve when used with 147 and 150 grain bullets in the Garand. What it does not provide is maximum velocities with great accuracy, especially with 165 grain and heavier bullets. For paper punching ammo in the Garand or any 06 or that matter, it's the classic powder. For hunting ammo, not so much.



Bruce

[.284]

Here is a thread I started a while ago. This is the ticket if you want to hunt deer with a Barnes bullet. I find the Barnes bullets to be quality deer projectile. I have absolutley crushed Mr. Whitetail with 120 gr Barnes TTSX in a 280 Rem. The .308 diameter with 10 extra grains of bullet weight, with the same velocities is going to be bad medicine. I lean towards Peetzakiller's side of the fence.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=412429

[Skunk Ape]

Thanks everybody. Tons of good info. I'm completely new to reloading so the more advice I can get the better. It looks like I just need to start experimenting. I'll take everything with a gain of salt (that being that my rifle is going to shoot different from y'alls rifles). After enough trial and error I'm bound to stumble upon a good load. At least now I have a "starting point."

Appreciate the responses,

[longranger]

I find that once you find a load that starts to look promising with all bullets seated to their Max O.A.L. Then I will figure out at what length will get me .002-.003 off the lands in the barrel.That is my new O.A.L for that bullet in that rifle,accuracy will usually improve when the bullet seated to it's liking in that particular chamber.This can be as important as the right powder and bullet combination
Prepping the brass to be uniform is important as well for accuracy.
This is the fun part of reloading it allows you to taylor your loads to individual guns.
Be "anal retentive" when reloading do everything as perfectly as you can,you will be rewarded with a rifle that shoots where you point it.Record everything you do.

[Rifleman1776]

Maybe it is because my main shooting passion is traditional style muzzle loaders, but, I really do not understand the obsession with high velocities for something like deer hunting. Higher velocities mean more ruined meat. Some claim high velocities are better for long range shooting. I'll grant that, but to use light bullets to attain that speed is a trade off for accuracy. Those light bullets do not retain energy or buck the winds like heavier bullets. If you wound or miss, what is gained? A heavier bullet with a couple inches higher trajectory has a greater percentage chance of hitting and killing the deer.

[Mike Irwin]

I always used Hornady 165-gr. BTSPs. My .30-06 loved them.

[Ifishsum]

I've found a good load that has proved to be accurate and effective in several different .30-06 bolt rifles (including a couple of 700s)using 57 gr of H-4350 and a Hornady 165 gr bullet (Interlock or SST). It's not a max load but I still work it up for each rifle, starting at 55 gr and moving up .5 gr at a time. The 57gr level has turned out to be the best as far as accuracy every time so far.

Typically I start with the BTSP bullet, but if I don't get results I like I'll try a flat base version - with some rifles it's a night and day difference in accuracy. I recently worked over an older Savage rifle for my brother, and could not get under 3 MOA with the boat tail bullet. The same bullets with a flat base shrunk the groups to 1.25". I had similar results with a sporterized Enfield my buddy owns.

[Stumper]

Rather than talk about powder charges which any manual can guide you to good results I'll mention bullets. I selected 165 grain Corelokts as the "do everything" bullet in my 30-06 long ago...........but I still couldn't resist tinkering. The 165s work fine on deer. So did a 150 grain Nosler Ballistic tip as well as some 150 gr Hornady Interlocks However, about 20 years ago I read an article wherein the author touted the Speer 130 grain HP as the ultimate deer bullet in 30-06. I had to try it. It is like a lightening bolt. That "Varmint Bullet" goes all the way through broadside deer........but it makes fist size exits(staying behind the shoulder is a good idea). While long experience has made the whole 'stopping power" idea somewhat dubious for me since chest hit deer usually make a jump or 20 before collapsing the 130 gr HP made things like "shocking power" and "energy transfer" a bit more real. It put down deer in a cloud of dust.

[rude robert]

since you really dont have a lot of time to work up a good deer load get the 150 gr remington coe loks they are great deer stoppers

[brantwalton1]

I loaded some 30/06 with 46 grains of powder and was shooting Sierra Gamekings 165g. They shot really well out of my sportarized Mauser K98. I was impressed because it was the third round of loads. Started at 44 and worked my way up. My reloading book says Max is 50.5g of Powder.