30-06 light recoil recommendation

[Catpop]

Update

Youz guys is great!
I had already pulled the rifle down after I bought it to check, clean, and lube it.
I had scraped enough loose, no i mean scattered parts in the shop the other night to get an old Simmons 3x9 settled in a old pair of weaver rings. I never throw anything away! Then I bore sighted it.
This pm I loaded up 11 30-06 with 150 grain Sierra over 31 grains of H4895. Of course, as usual, this involved the full gamet of case preping.
This was going to be not only a test of the reduced load on my shoulder, but also the first firing test of the 1973 M70. I took it out to my pistol range to see if it would shoot, shoot straight, and hopefully group.
And shoot it did, with one ragged hole of 3 shots at 25 yards. The recoil was fantastically mild with me suffering no pain at all with a hard plastic butt plate and only a tee shirt.
Youz guys put me right on the load------Thank you!
Catpop

 

[41 Mag]

Glad to hear that. It's hard to predict how things will go not knowing just how much it might hurt in a situation like this. I did know though that the loads I have used with that little light weight .308 did well for my grandson, but when your only about 40# dripping wet just about anything seems like a cannon.

He didn't back off though and was determined to get him a hog with it. He will be 14 this coming Thanksgiving and his next younger brother will be 8, then the other one at 7 this Wednesday, so i have a few more years of burning up the jug I have.

Good shooting and glad things worked out.

 

[ku4hx]

No offense but 30.06 & soft loads don't usually go together.

Sure they do. My favorite 30-06 plinking load for years has been a 173 grain cast GC bullet originally designed for the 30-30. 15 grains of Unique give about 1,600 fps out of my old Remington 700. It's no tack driver, but 2"-2 1/2" at 100 yards is all I need for this load.

And then of course there are 110 grain bullets at the lower end of the published loads that yield 2,700 fps or so with Reloader 7 and are quite pleasant to shoot.

 

[PJSprog]

I'll throw my hat in with the H4895 crowd. I don't use the 60% loads, but 43gr under a 150gr bullet has been working great out of my '03. It's still definitely a .30-'06, but not nearly as punishing as what I was getting even from starting loads with H4350. Accuracy is fine out to 100 yards. Never tried it any farther than that, though.

 

[Catpop]

I like what Clare said to July Johnson in Lonesome Dove, which by the way is the greatest movie of all times. When questioned about giving up sheriffing to work on a horse ranch, she said. " Well you aren't stupid, are you? You can learn, can't you?"
I'm never too set in my ways to learn something new! Now you just might have to bean me between the eyes with a piece of stove wood to get my attention, but then I'm all ears!
Catpop

 

[PapaG]

Mr. Haviland also had a 30-06 light recoiling load in the March, 2015 Outdoor Life:
155 Hornady Amax, 44.5 IMR 4064 for 2422 fps, 2000 ft lb, and 12.6 ft lb recoil. Factory 180s have 20.4 ft lb.

 

[TLARbb]

I use some 125 Sierra or 125 gr Nosler BTs for lighter loads and just start with the starting load for the powder I'm using. Generally, the stick powders seem to tolerate the starting loads better. Starting loads for these still produce 2800-3000 FPS, but don't thump as hard.


EJ

 

[TimSr]

I think your powder selection was a wise choice in that it will be easy to increase iit f the desire and need arise, without having to start over with a new powder and load.