Favorite 30.06 load?

Even though I have several reloading manuals and access to internet data I was wondering what is your favorite 30.06 load. Experience of individuals is often worth much more than numbers on paper.

165gr bullet(almost any of them) and IMR4350

I loaded some 165gr HPBT's a while back, haven't got around to shooting it so take this for what its worth. To paraphrase, "...if your '06 doesn't shoot 165's with 4350, you need an exorcist, not a gunsmith" from Jack O'conner.

My Chicopee Falls Savage 110 seem to like whatever flavor of cheap factory 150gr is available. I have an early 60's Browning BAR 30-06 I need to shoot one of these days, bought it to mount my Photon on but been pretty happy with the 300Blk it is sitting on. I shoot about 1.5" groups with Federal 165gr Premium running through a sporterized Eddystone, no kick pad and honed 2 stage trigger. Its a beast, can handle about 10 rounds before I get the bad flinch.

Don't really like shooting the 30-06 and sold traded the ones I had, somehow ended up with 4 of them again. Funny how that works.

I realize this is mostly useless info pertaining to your question, but I don't think it takes a lot to get a 30-06 to work.

Here is two of my best. 58 gr of RL19 and 165 Accubonds. My Browning prefers 150 Hornady SPs with 54 gr of RL17. These are not hot loads but I like the accuracy over speed.

This. I use SGK's.

I just use 30-06 for match shooting at this time so my load is 175gr MKT with either Reloder 16 which is a great powder for 30-06 by the way or I use N150.

M1 Garand
168gr SMK
48gr. IMR 4064

Rem 700
49.7gr Varget
175gr A-max

Lots of favorites that shoot really small groups in my rifle and have been used on game in hot and cold weather.

110 grain TTSX 53 grains RL10X

150 grain scirocco, hornady, speer, sierra 58 grains RL16, RL17, 4451

165 grain hornady, nosler 57 grains IMR4350, RL16, 4451

180 grain hornady, nosler, sierra, 61 grains RL22, 56 grains 4451, RL16
180 grain a-frame 56.5 grains H4350

200 grain partition 58 grains RL22, 56 grains RL19

240 grain woodleigh 53 grains H4831, 54 grains RL22

180gr SGK with around 55gr of your favorite 4350. Been quite effective for me over the years. Cheap enough to plink, accurate enough to stretch your legs a bit, and performs fantastic on game.

85gr Sierra RN pistol bullet with Trailboss is a fun little rabbit round or for plinking with the kids.

-ww

Thanks ya'll. I will need to experiment with some of them. This will be a good excuse to add to my collection of supplies, and then shoot more too

Timely post, I just got back from the range testing my final spin on a new load. I am loading the Hornady 180 SST's, and pushing it with 55.8 grains of IMR4350. I chrono'd 2800 FPS StdDev of 5. I am shooting an X-bolt with a 26 inch barrel so that no doubt is giving me extra velocity.

What I most happy about is I shot a .25 inch clover leaf "I know I did not believe either" that is probably the exception and not the rule, but I do expect to get sub MOA groups with this load, and I am still .7 grains below max. I worked this load up for an upcoming Gemsbok/Oryx hunt here in New Mexico. I am going to use the same load on my mule deer hunt also.

A side note I am trimming to 2.48 inches and C.O.L is 3.25. Winchester primers, match grade brass.

Core-Lokt 150 gr. shoot very accurate in my 700 BDL. If it ain't broke don't fix it..

Thanks, NMGW and Wilhunt. I appreciate the wisdom from both posts. I hope you do well on your Gemsbok hunt

My favorite load is a 165 grain Sierra GameKing ignited by 58 grains of H4350. Its proven accurate in more than one rifle and will put the smack down on deer.

I tried out some 165 grain remingtons yesterday with 52g of H414 with great results at 100 yards. This isn't a heavy load but seemed to be very stable and accurate from my rifle.

Just got back from an aoudad hunt. Used the 30-06 with trimmed Winchester cases, CCI200 primers, 56 grains RL16, 180 grain Swift Scirocco. 316 yards. DRT.

jmm, please tell us what rifle you're using to get great groups over such a wide variety of bullets! My 06's always seem to prefer one bullet to give me tight groups, and with any other bullet the groups vary from "so-so" to downright terrible. What are you shooting? Barrel length? Twist? Manufacturer? Inquiring minds want to know!!

Pacnor, 24", 5 groove, 1/10 twist. It shoots everything well. Rifle was built by Todd Ramirez.

That's really outstanding performance for a '06! Do you have a pacnor barrel on a standard, stock action of some sort, or is it a custom rig all the way? Regardless, congratulations!!

It is a custom rig. Granite Mountain M98 action.

Thanks, jmm; that's one sweet rig!

Wow, now I got gun envy. Beautiful rifle.

Beautiful, jmm! But it looks like the custom gun maker installed the bolt handle on the wrong side! Have you pointed this out to him?

Yes I pointed this out to him. Lucky for me I am left handed so everything worked out. The stock has a cast on bend to it to fit me better. He did a good job building it. It has worked flawlessly on several Africa and South America adventures.

Golden oldie load - 52 grains IMR4064 with any 150 grain bullet.

Looks like perfection to me---in spite of that minor error regarding the bolt.

Don't you just love it when things work out right?