Reduced .30/06 loads for Hunting

[ArkansasFatboy]

I am in the process of working up some/06 loads for an older friend.I was wondering if a reduced load in an 06 would still be acceptable for whitetails out to 150yds. The bullet will be 150gr. speer soft point and probly IMR4064 powder. And would accuracy suffer from a reduced load?

 

[ReloaderFred]

I believe Hodgdon's has data for reduced loads. If you load them down to .30-30 levels, he would still have plenty of power for whitetails. The sights will have to be adjusted for a different point of impact, but as far as accuracy goes, it won't suffer.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[rcmodel]

I had tried to find the Hodgdon Youth Loads page earlier for ArkansasFatBoy.

It appears to be gone now, or the link I had is a dead-end anyway.

Another way to reduce recoil is to go to a lighter 125 or 130 grain bullet.

They are mostly Varmint bullets in .30 caliber, but may work well on deer at reduced velocity.

At the other extreme in bullets, heavily constructed 150 hunting bullets may not open up well at reduced velocity.

You could always use 150 grain 30-30 FP bullets at 30-30 velocity, and make a very light kicking 30-30 out of your friends undoubtedly heavier 30-06.
Those bullets are pretty well dialed in, performance wise, after all these years of killing deer.

rcmodel

 

[jaysouth]

My father's favorite deer gun was a .300 Savage in a Remington pump. He lost his when a boat overturned in the White river bottoms of Arkansas.

He bought a Remington 760 in .30-06. After he fired a couple of rounds, he pronounced it 'too much gun' for these puny Arkansas whitetails.

I loaded up some rounds with a 150 gr. bullet (he looked the looks of the RN Hornady) over 44 grs. 0f 4895. If I remember, this load matched the published specs for a factory .300 Savage.

With that load, he killed a train load of White tails, a 400 pound black bear, a couple of Arizona Blacktails, a moose and a couple of caribou in Canada.

As I remember, I loaded up 200 rounds of this load and I swear he brought meat home every time he pulled the trigger. He said the secret of his success was 'get close enough to smell them'.

 

[shooting on a shoestring]

Backing a 30-06 off to lower velocity is a fine move. As rcmodel points out 30-30 bullets have killed many deer and it really doesn't matter what case/gun combo they are fired from. However, give up on 4064 for reduced loads. Move to a faster, easier to ignite powder, that'll be less position sensitive in that large case. I suggest about 35 grs of 3031, or about 30 gr of 4198 or perhaps about 28 grs of 2400, using a 150 gr jacketed bullet.

Remember also that the trajectory will be definitely more hook shaped, like a 30/30. Take that into account, shoot enough to understand where the go and how fast the bullets fall, I think 150 yds should be doable.

I shoot an 8mm'06, which is basically a .32-06, uses .323 bullets instead of .308. I shoot cast 175 grs with 16 gr of Herco, mv 1650 fps, I can keep 5 shot groups on a piece of standard copy paper at 300 yds bench rested. I am quiet sure it would completely penetrate a deer at that yardage, and the deer would die. Although I doubt it would be a dramatic Hollywood style kill knocking the deer backward through the air, but the deer would die a short, very short time later.

Remember, lots of people in the 1800s and 1900s ate deer that were taken with bullets running between 1000 and 2000 fps driven by black powder.