Lightest 30.06 round
- Thread starter Doug.38PR
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mrmeval
Member
Varmint loads are in the 110gr to 125gr for .30-06
http://www.geocities.com/graymist44/Spring3006.html
A friend worked up Speer varminter 110gr .308dia bullets for .30-06 and some of their .22cal with sabots. The .308dia bullets did fine, low recoil and they did massive damage in wet newspaper. For the rifle he had to get good accuracy he had to reduce the powder a bit. Still made a mess of the test medium. He was strictly a bench rest geek, no animals were harmed in the development of this round.
He had a slight problem with the .22cal as they didn't register on the chronograph, it seems the rotational force caused the bullets to disintigrate. He eventually worked a load down to stop that but accuracy was horrid. He wanted to break 4,000fps with it. I think perhaps a slim shaft of tungsten would have worked.
http://www.geocities.com/graymist44/Spring3006.html
A friend worked up Speer varminter 110gr .308dia bullets for .30-06 and some of their .22cal with sabots. The .308dia bullets did fine, low recoil and they did massive damage in wet newspaper. For the rifle he had to get good accuracy he had to reduce the powder a bit. Still made a mess of the test medium. He was strictly a bench rest geek, no animals were harmed in the development of this round.
He had a slight problem with the .22cal as they didn't register on the chronograph, it seems the rotational force caused the bullets to disintigrate. He eventually worked a load down to stop that but accuracy was horrid. He wanted to break 4,000fps with it. I think perhaps a slim shaft of tungsten would have worked.
rangerruck
Member
that 55 grn sabot, if i remember right, also did about 4000 plus fps from the muzzle as well.
Jim Watson
Member
Effective for what?
Remington and I think Federal have "managed recoil" ammunition about as powerful as .30-30.
Remington and I think Federal have "managed recoil" ammunition about as powerful as .30-30.
If you know what you are doing with IMR 4895 or 700X powder, some dacron fibre, and a Speer .308 swaged roundball, you can make a load that isn't much more powerful than a .22LR and that is about as light as you can go with a .30/06 and still get the bullet, (uh, roundball), out of the barrel.
carterbeauford
member
Remington makes a reduced recoil 125 grain... truth is almost anywhere the lightest bullet you are going to find is 150 grain, I don't think this caliber lends itself well to extremely light bullets. Lightest bullet I've shot personally is a Talon 146 grain tracer, and those still boot me pretty good in my lighweight Mossberg.
Any idea where one would find those sabots? Would be fun to try.
Any idea where one would find those sabots? Would be fun to try.
Vern Humphrey
Member
The .30-06 will handle a wide range of bullets.
When deer hunting, I like to carry a Hammond Game Getter -- this is a .30-06 case with a steel base (you can get them for other calibers, too.) Instead of a primer pocket, the head is chambered off-center for a .22 nail-setting blank. With a buckshot in the mouth, it makes a fine small game load. Using #2 blanks (brown) and a swaged 00 buckshot, I get around 700 fps. It's a real cat-sneeze load, but groups inside an inch at 25 yards, just at the top of the lower thick crosshair with my scope set at 3X.
I like cast bullets -- my preferance is for a 160-grain cast Lee lubed with liquid Alox and driven by 22 grains of H4198. I also like Ed Harris' "The Load" -- 13.0 grains of Red Dot behind any cast bullet in any .30 caliber case of .308 capacity or greater.
If you're into "store-boughten" bullets, you can get 100 and 110 grain "plinkers" and load them from 1,000 to around 2600 FPS with fine accuracy (some people go even higher.)
There are now 125 grain bullets designed for "deer loads" (as opposed to bullets designed for varmits) which allow you to assemble reduced-recoil hunting loads (of course, you can buy "managed recoil" loads across the counter with the same bullet.)
The saboted .22 caliber, 50 and 55 grain bullets look intregueing, but I never met anyone who could get the accuracy necessary to make them really good varmit loads. I'd go with a 125-grain varmit bullet if I wanted to use my .30-06 for that purpose.
When deer hunting, I like to carry a Hammond Game Getter -- this is a .30-06 case with a steel base (you can get them for other calibers, too.) Instead of a primer pocket, the head is chambered off-center for a .22 nail-setting blank. With a buckshot in the mouth, it makes a fine small game load. Using #2 blanks (brown) and a swaged 00 buckshot, I get around 700 fps. It's a real cat-sneeze load, but groups inside an inch at 25 yards, just at the top of the lower thick crosshair with my scope set at 3X.
I like cast bullets -- my preferance is for a 160-grain cast Lee lubed with liquid Alox and driven by 22 grains of H4198. I also like Ed Harris' "The Load" -- 13.0 grains of Red Dot behind any cast bullet in any .30 caliber case of .308 capacity or greater.
If you're into "store-boughten" bullets, you can get 100 and 110 grain "plinkers" and load them from 1,000 to around 2600 FPS with fine accuracy (some people go even higher.)
There are now 125 grain bullets designed for "deer loads" (as opposed to bullets designed for varmits) which allow you to assemble reduced-recoil hunting loads (of course, you can buy "managed recoil" loads across the counter with the same bullet.)
The saboted .22 caliber, 50 and 55 grain bullets look intregueing, but I never met anyone who could get the accuracy necessary to make them really good varmit loads. I'd go with a 125-grain varmit bullet if I wanted to use my .30-06 for that purpose.
BudthePrez
Member
You might try
The Remington 30-06 / 223 Sabot roud clocked 3560 over my cronograph. I dont think they are still in production.
I have loaded the 30 carbine 110 gr. plinker heads in the 30-06 and they were great for plinking @ 100 yds and had very light recoil [and were cheap].
These were strictly for fun & practice not for anything life threatining.
The Remington 30-06 / 223 Sabot roud clocked 3560 over my cronograph. I dont think they are still in production.
I have loaded the 30 carbine 110 gr. plinker heads in the 30-06 and they were great for plinking @ 100 yds and had very light recoil [and were cheap].
These were strictly for fun & practice not for anything life threatining.
Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
Another fun load is an 80-grain pistol bullet or .32-20 bullet (check diameters; swage as necessary) ahead of gobs of 3031 
to get a muzzle velocity Way Up There. Ruinacious on small animals at closer ranges. Impressive results on water-filled containers.
Art
to get a muzzle velocity Way Up There. Ruinacious on small animals at closer ranges. Impressive results on water-filled containers.Art
achildofthesky
Member
30-06...
Remington has a non reduced recoil as well in 125 grain. I bought 5 boxes a little while ago. Back in the 70's and I used my vz 24 based sporter '06 with speer 125 grain bullets for chucks and other varmints with not bad recoil and high velocity as I was into the "how fast can I make it go" thing then. Though not sold as a "big game/deer" bullet I'd have absolutely no problem using a 125 grain 30 caliber on deer sized animals. They aren't THAT tough or heavy hided, imho... Hell look at the little pills that get used in the 243 class and the like. I had a box of the half jacket 110 bullets back then but never tried them though. Like a damn fool I traded off the 06 in the 80's and would pay dearly to get that gun back...
Patty
Remington has a non reduced recoil as well in 125 grain. I bought 5 boxes a little while ago. Back in the 70's and I used my vz 24 based sporter '06 with speer 125 grain bullets for chucks and other varmints with not bad recoil and high velocity as I was into the "how fast can I make it go" thing then. Though not sold as a "big game/deer" bullet I'd have absolutely no problem using a 125 grain 30 caliber on deer sized animals. They aren't THAT tough or heavy hided, imho... Hell look at the little pills that get used in the 243 class and the like. I had a box of the half jacket 110 bullets back then but never tried them though. Like a damn fool I traded off the 06 in the 80's and would pay dearly to get that gun back...
Patty
carterbeauford
member
5000FPS?
seriously, got any real numbers on those loads?- Status
