30/06 reduced hunting load

[Johnny P]

Lost a good friend several years back, but his favorite hunting rifle and ammo for whitetail deer was his very early Model 70 Winchester in .30-06 with a cast bullet load. He never tried to take a shot at long ranges, and got his deer every year with one well placed shot.

[Matt Anthony]

Lost a good friend several years back, but his favorite hunting rifle and ammo for whitetail deer was his very early Model 70 Winchester in .30-06 with a cast bullet load. He never tried to take a shot at long ranges, and got his deer every year with one well placed shot.

Thanks for posting and the information on short to medium range cast bullet usage. I have been researching the different bullets offered on medium game and it appears Barnes X bullet series starts initial expansion at 1600 fps and full expansion over 1800 fps regardless of caliber or weight. Speer Hot Cor bullets in this range also.
I am awaiting an email back from Hornady and if the bullet I chose will not expand properly at 2055 I will switch to the Barnes triple shock.
I still hunt with cast bullets and have saved hundreds if not thousands of dollars by making my own bullets!
Matt

[13Echo]

If you want a nice, expanding, cast bullet weighing about 180 grs then NOE has a HP version of 311299. I have the mould and it is a nice bullet with a cavity big enough to insure expansion. It might be exactly what you are seeking.

Jerry Liles

[Tuna]

If your looking at the 2000 fps area for expansion then why not look at the 130 to 135 bullet range? These work very well from single shot handguns at the 1600 to 2000+fps.
A lot less recoil and good expansion at those velocities. These should be the key for your son in law and if he can't handle these recoil wise then you had better give him a BB gun and have him hunt mice.

[swede49]

High velocity/mild recoil? Maybe 6.5 Swede Varget 21.7?

[Matt Anthony]

If your looking at the 2000 fps area for expansion then why not look at the 130 to 135 bullet range? These work very well from single shot handguns at the 1600 to 2000+fps.
A lot less recoil and good expansion at those velocities. These should be the key for your son in law and if he can't handle these recoil wise then you had better give him a BB gun and have him hunt mice.

Tuna, I don't want him to use a 130 gr. or a 135, I wanted him to use a 180 gr.! I should back track a bit, before he married my daughter, he never shot a firearm. After they were married he decided he wanted to shoot pills with me on Sunday mornings so we built a Ruger 77/22 stainless laminated stocked 22 LR. I sent it out to Connecticutt Precision and they did the bolt work, new barrel, match chamber and bedded the action using alum. pillars. This rifle will shoot right along side my Custom 40X! So, now he's shooting and wants to go deer hunting. Well, I had a early 70's M70 Winchester that was bought from a suburban police dept. when they rekplaced their sniper rifles with new models. This Win. shoots, without any mods! However, it also does not have a recoil pad nor was he use to shooting a 30/06. After his initial 5 shots, he was not happy with the pounding he was taking, so I offered the lead sled, no he said, he must man up as he is a good sized person.....275 pounds! He did buy a PAST Magnum Recoil Pad which helped with the recoil, but he wanted to try the reduced loads. So, month's of messing around with powders and weights and bulllets, it all happened at 30 gr.s of IMR4198 using either a Speer 180 gr. HotCor round nose or the Hornady 180 gr. round nose. Out of his barrel it crono's out at 2055 fps 10 feet from the muzzle. Where he is hunting, large deer are taken often so after settling on the 180 gr. I thought I had it covered and I believe I do. Last year in the same area, a hunter shot a 260 lb. buck and my heaviest shot was 235 lb. Big bucks can tip the 400 lb. mark if the food source is abundant. So, we will see how it turns out is 3 weeks or so.....
Matt