Need some suggestions. 30-06 reloads

[NinjaVanish]

Long story short, I want to use my 30-06 on coyotes. I have a friend that’s offered to reload for me. I have some 110 grain Nosler varmageddons on the way and some 125 Speer TNTs to test. Am I screwing up with the 110s moving at 3400 fps per Nosler’s chart?

Is there a lightweight bullet that could pull double duty for both coyotes and be suuitable for a kid to shoot?

Any guidance is appreciated as I’m fully aware of my ignorance having predominantly bow hunting my whole life and never played with reloading.

 

[Zerk]

Just curious, how far are you shooting?

 

[NinjaVanish]

Just curious, how far are you shooting?

I’ve got a BDX scope so I’ll be stretching it at time on yotes. 400 max in all likelihood. Obviously, there’ll be opportunities much closer too.

 

[SconnieRaised]

I don't think you can screw it up if you find an accurate load. There's tons of options available to be able to kill a coyote with an '06 at 400 yards.

The lighter bullets will generally generate less recoil, but I'd be hesitant to start a 10 year old on a full power '06 round if they hadn't had time behind smaller calibers. Consider talking with your friend about making up some reduced loads for youth shooting. H4895 powder is a good option if he's able to get his hands on it.

 

[menhaden_man]

Hodgdon Reloading Data Center – The Brand Thats True

hodgdonreloading.com

 

[A382DWDZQ]

I don't think you can screw it up if you find an accurate load. There's tons of options available to be able to kill a coyote with an '06 at 400 yards.

The lighter bullets will generally generate less recoil, but I'd be hesitant to start a 10 year old on a full power '06 round if they hadn't had time behind smaller calibers. Consider talking with your friend about making up some reduced loads for youth shooting. H4895 powder is a good option if he's able to get his hands on it.

Agree on the not starting with full power. IMR-4895 is another good one for reduced loads, and its been available recently. With both of them, you can just reduce to 60% of the max published load, a 40% reduction, to get your reduced load. So for 110 GR. HDY SP, max for IMR-4895 is 59.8, x 0.6 = 35.9. So that 35.9 would be your starting point. For Nosler's Varmageddon, max for IMR-4895 is 58.5, x 0.6 = 35.1. I would probably start with the higher of the two on those to be safe, so 35.9, or maybe just go with 36. In a 24" barrel that should be around 2,080 fps and you can work up from there.

You can use recoil calculators here to kind of figure out what the recoil is and compare that to what is comfortable:

ShootersCalculator.com | Recoil Calculator

An online calculator that calculates the recoil energy, impulse, and velocity of a firearm according to the firearm's weight, powder charge, bullet weight, and bullet muzzle velocity.

shooterscalculator.com

and here:

Firearms Recoil Calculator

Calculate the recoil for a rifle based on its weight and ammunition

bisonballistics.com

and here:

JBM - Calculations - Recoil

www.jbmballistics.com

So on the low end, it looks like 7-8 ftlbs of recoil for the 110, a bit more than a 223, but a bit less than 7.62x39.

*edit:
ps: this is a good article on reduced loads: https://www.handloadermagazine.com/reduced-rifle-loads
and Hodgdon also has a page on it for H4895 here: https://hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/h4895-reduced-rifle-loads.pdf.
Also might be worth reading this section for yourself, just to level up your baseline of knowledge on it: https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/reloading-beginners.

 

[NinjaVanish]

Agree on the not starting with full power. IMR-4895 is another good one for reduced loads, and its been available recently. With both of them, you can just reduce to 60% of the max published load, a 40% reduction, to get your reduced load. So for 110 GR. HDY SP, max for IMR-4895 is 59.8, x 0.6 = 35.9. So that 35.9 would be your starting point. For Nosler's Varmageddon, max for IMR-4895 is 58.5, x 0.6 = 35.1. I would probably start with the higher of the two on those to be safe, so 35.9, or maybe just go with 36. In a 24" barrel that should be around 2,080 fps and you can work up from there.

You can use recoil calculators here to kind of figure out what the recoil is and compare that to what is comfortable:

ShootersCalculator.com | Recoil Calculator

An online calculator that calculates the recoil energy, impulse, and velocity of a firearm according to the firearm's weight, powder charge, bullet weight, and bullet muzzle velocity.

shooterscalculator.com

and here:

Firearms Recoil Calculator

Calculate the recoil for a rifle based on its weight and ammunition

bisonballistics.com

and here:

JBM - Calculations - Recoil

www.jbmballistics.com

So on the low end, it looks like 7-8 ftlbs of recoil for the 110, a bit more than a 223, but a bit less than 7.62x39.

*edit:
ps: this is a good article on reduced loads: https://www.handloadermagazine.com/reduced-rifle-loads
and Hodgdon also has a page on it for H4895 here: https://hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/h4895-reduced-rifle-loads.pdf.
Also might be worth reading this section for yourself, just to level up your baseline of knowledge on it: https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/reloading-beginners.

Dude. Thanks you. That’s incredibly helpful.

I love this place. Wish I had started an account sooner. Everyone is super helpful. It’s very much appreciated.

I’ll be sure to report back once we’ve messed with a few of the combinations.

 

[A382DWDZQ]

Here are a couple more good reduced load articles:

The Load:

The Load

Rocky Raab’s Universal .30 Load:

Page Title

A website comprised of the published articles, loading data, tips, techniques and more from freelance writer Rocky Raab.

web.archive.org

 

[49ereric]

rifle twist rate? 1-10 might not work with the 110’s.
125’s should work well with 1-10

 

[SconnieRaised]

rifle twist rate? 1-10 might not work with the 110’s.
125’s should work well with 1-10

This is new to me and interesting. Why would a 110 not work well with a 1-10 twist, but a longer bullet at 125 grains work well? I thought stabilization issues were associated with bullets being too long and the barrel twist rate not being fast enough to fully stabilize. I haven't issues that exist on the other end of the spectrum (outside of a twist being so fast for a given barrel diameter that it rips the bullet apart).

 

[NinjaVanish]

rifle twist rate? 1-10 might not work with the 110’s.
125’s should work well with 1-10

It’s a 1-10.

All this being said, I may abandon using the 06 for predators. I have some 120 grain Nosler BTs coming for my 6.5x55 SE as well.

 

[49ereric]

110’s might work you’ll have to try em. I just don’t go under 125’s
I shot Sierra 125 PH in my old 308 and they shot great.
i shoot Speer 125 TNT blue dot reduced loads and they shoot great.
haven‘t shot them in the M1917 yet (soon) or the savage 06.

 

[Lone Hunter 1]

Faster twist will shoot the light bullets just fine. I have shot Speer 110 gr SP out of a .300 WM and 30/06 . Was shooting groundhogs and the worked great. A bit explosive but that is what I was after. The faster twist 1-10 is designed for heavier bullets 180-up but it will shoot the lighter bullets also. There are better options than the 30/06 but if that’s all you have then you have to use it. I would look at 6.5,6mm cartridges for coyotes. They work well for deer too.

 

[NinjaVanish]

Faster twist will shoot the light bullets just fine. I have shot Speer 110 gr SP out of a .300 WM and 30/06 . Was shooting groundhogs and the worked great. A bit explosive but that is what I was after. The faster twist 1-10 is designed for heavier bullets 180-up but it will shoot the lighter bullets also. There are better options than the 30/06 but if that’s all you have then you have to use it. I would look at 6.5,6mm cartridges for coyotes. They work well for deer too.

Funny you mention that. I’m considering abandoning this and working up some loads for my Swede.

 

[1badDart]

Many, many years ago I killed a bunch of groundhogs with a 110 grain bullet in a 30-06. I don't remember the load though, too many years have passed.

 

[Lone Hunter 1]

Funny you mention that. I’m considering abandoning this and working up some loads for my Swede.

The Swede is highly misunderstood. People don’t realize it’s potential and when they do they are really happy with it. The powders and bullets now really make it shine. The 30 caliber with 110-130 grain bullets will really surprise you on varmints.

 

[NinjaVanish]

Update bump.

This rifle does not like the lighter rounds. Below are 100 yd five shot groups from the 125 TNT 48.3 grains of H4895 and factory Norma 180 bond strike. Weatherby Weatherguard 1–10. One caveat is that I had 15-20 mph winds during the session.

 

[Bomberodevil]

Update bump.

This rifle does not like the lighter rounds. Below are 100 yd five shot groups from the 125 TNT 48.3 grains of H4895 and factory Norma 180 bond strike. Weatherby Weatherguard 1–10. One caveat is that I had 15-20 mph winds during the session.
View attachment 508474
View attachment 508475

How many different powder charges did you try? Was this the one and only recipe you tried for this bullet? It’s possible that your rifle won’t shoot this bullet well, but I find that if a particular cartridge has grouped well out of other shooters’ rifles in the same cartridge, it will likely shoot well out of mine with the right powder weight.

 

[NinjaVanish]

I only tried the one charge. Not really wanting to spend/waste much time with it as I’m really going to focus on getting my Swede dialed in. The 06 may get revisited down the road though. Fwiw this was a very light load. Getting around 2700 fps out of it. Max charge would be around 3200.

 

[49ereric]

Have to play with the powder charges and seating depths especially and it does take time and can be rewarding unless your barrel doesn’t like the TNT.
windy day not a good pick though. I know you have to shoot when time allows.
I usually load up several different charges 3 of each and choose which is best then switch to seating depths starting from what the manual says and extending .003 until it has little room (.015)in the case to hold the bullet. 3 of each again.
still takes time letting the barrel cool between groups.