Good to know. I'm going to try some of them from my 30-30 Glenfield and see how they do.

I tend to load my 30-06 pretty warm. Book loads, but max. My 165 gr Noslers are doing 2940 fps with excellent accuracy. They kill really well, but it's a full power load. I've used it on Elk, black bear, mule deer & pronghorn.

Regards, Guy

 

Good to know. I'm going to try some of them from my 30-30 Glenfield and see how they do.

I tend to load my 30-06 pretty warm. Book loads, but max. My 165 gr Noslers are doing 2940 fps with excellent accuracy. They kill really well, but it's a full power load. I've used it on Elk, black bear, mule deer & pronghorn.

Regards, Guy

yeah, I don’t know if I would be using my reduced loads if my woods had elk and Black bear. In my woods a big old hog is about our limit. I have a couple full house loads I have used for years. Max load of Imr 4064 with a 150 SST. It is a “Weatherby” concept load. Normally no exit and the insides look like a bomb went off. It works real well on hogs as long as you keep it to broadside shots and try to keep it in the “Golden Triangle” (just front of shoulder and the eye and ear.).

My hit ‘em anywhere as long as it eventually leads to the heart / Lungs is 51.7 grains of H4350 and a 220 grain Hornady RN. It does really well in the expansion and penetration department.

 

I use a stiff load of ADI AR2209 (Australian powder equivalent to H4350 / IMR4350), under a 168gn Sierra Gameking. It hits like the hammer of Thor.

 

I'm the same with AR2209 in my 30/06AI except it's 61.5gns and a 165gn Game King SP haven't lost anything to that load and no goats, pigs, feral horses, donkeys or wild dogs have survived the 2nd follow up shot.
In regards to the original OP why not fit a slip on kick pad to the 30/06 till the young bloke gets used to the rifle and recoil. I did that with my son when he was around 13 with my CMC Mountaineer .270 and full power loads and he went on to shooting pigs,deer and goats with it.

 

In 1895 the original 30 WCF loadings were a 160 grain softpoint or 'full patch' (FMJ) at 1960 ft/sec. The old timers shot everything up to Grizzlies with the new cartridge and thought highly of its lethality and flat trajectory.

 

Jack Oconnor wrote about using 30-30 bullets in his 06 way back when in his Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns for brush use. I loaded 150 grain 30-30 bullets in my daughters 300 Savage when she was younger and they seemed to work better than the standard 30 cal 150 spitzers that everyone thinks are so great. Thought of using the bullet you are using in her 300 Savage which would be at about the same velocity as what you are getting. She shoots a fairly close ranges as compared to some that live out West and have and tend to take a little longer shots. Another good bullet, when they make them, is the Hornady spitzer made for the 300 Savage, loaded to those levels. Basically, you are duplicating that cartridge.

DEP

 

I have not been a big fan of the FTX bullet in the kind of close quarters hunting that I do (30-70 yards). I didn't like the internal "bomb going off" that ruined a lot of meat in the deer killed with my 308MX a few years ago. I went back to regular bullets for my hunting pursuits. The accuracy is stellar with the FTX in my 308MX--no denying that.

 

Gee, that sounds like 30-30 ballistics.

No wonder it works so well...

 

Gee, that sounds like 30-30 ballistics.

No wonder it works so well...

Yep. That was the goal for the young hunter who was going to use my 30-06.

I would love to have a 30-30 in a single shot like an 1885 Low Wall or a Ruger #1.

The 30-30 just plain works!

 

At one time downloaded a 30-06 with a 150 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip to around 2500 fps for a bud, used as woods ranges it was completely satisfactory. In 308 Win/308 MX, long ago settled on 170 gr FP or a 190 gr Hawk FP both near 2300 fps as the deer load, which is effectively a downloaded 308/30-06.

 

You just have to love the old Warhorse Thirty ought Six. Cast bullets rabbit loads, mid-range loads to full power elk loads. It does everything pretty darn well.

 

Ya know, there is just a wealth of experience and information on this site... This thread is a fine example of that.

Guy

 

I bought a box of LE's by accident for my 30-30 that had the cannelure in the wrong place and were made for the 308MX. I had doubts that they were anything else but the same bullet with a different cannelure. Reading the comments about the 308MX using them I have little more doubts. I have shot deer with a 303 British as has my son and also the 300 Savage, as has my daughter. Both are about the same, except taht the bullets for the 303 are made for the 303. The 300 Savage is loaded with bullets made for the 308 and 06. They work

My daughter got this one with her 300 Savage bolt action this las season. She shot it with Speer 150 grain bullets. I had loaded her some Hornady 300 Savage bullets but she just grabbed the older Speer loads. The deer is in a sled and will be enjoyed as steaks and hamburger this year so they worked, but I think a softer bullet would work better.
She ahs been shooting deer since Junior High and is now a licensed nurse working at the local hospital. Shot more deer than some of the guys on this site.
I went into this long spiel because the rifles in between the 06 and the 30-30 work very well on deer. John Barsness, I think. thought the 300 Savage the perfect deer rifle. I do not argue that, and it would be easy to load the 06 down to 300 Savage levels. The load the OP mentioned is a load for the 303 British. Remember the old 303 has taken about everything in the world. They are pleasant cartridges to shoot and are handy out to 250 yards or so.

DEP
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I bought a box of LE's by accident for my 30-30 that had the cannelure in the wrong place and were made for the 308MX. I had doubts that they were anything else but the same bullet with a different cannelure. Reading the comments about the 308MX using them I have little more doubts. I have shot deer with a 303 British as has my son and also the 300 Savage, as has my daughter. Both are about the same, except taht the bullets for the 303 are made for the 303. The 300 Savage is loaded with bullets made for the 308 and 06. They work
View attachment 871501
My daughter got this one with her 300 Savage bolt action this las season. She shot it with Speer 150 grain bullets. I had loaded her some Hornady 300 Savage bullets but she just grabbed the older Speer loads. The deer is in a sled and will be enjoyed as steaks and hamburger this year so they worked, but I think a softer bullet would work better.
She ahs been shooting deer since Junior High and is now a licensed nurse working at the local hospital. Shot more deer than some of the guys on this site.
I went into this long spiel because the rifles in between the 06 and the 30-30 work very well on deer. John Barsness, I think. thought the 300 Savage the perfect deer rifle. I do not argue that, and it would be easy to load the 06 down to 300 Savage levels. The load the OP mentioned is a load for the 303 British. Remember the old 303 has taken about everything in the world. They are pleasant cartridges to shoot and are handy out to 250 yards or so.

DEP
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Enjoyed your post. I too think the 300 Savage is just about a perfect deer killer. I have a 16” 308 that my hand loads are designed to mimick the Savage. When creating the load in the original post, my original idea was for it to fall between the 30-30 and 300 Savage. How in the world could that be wrong. I just had no idea that they would be so accurate.

 

Rifles for the 300 Savage and another similar one the 30-40 Krag are not made anymore because "more is better". Friend of mine wanted a 257 Roberts but ended up with a 25-06 because more is better. He sold the 25-06 because it was a little too much where I believe the milder 257 R might have suited him. He bought factory loads. Same for the 308 and 06. While they can be loaded down, very few will do that, while the cartridge tends to force the issue. I had a 270 and finally got rid of it because at the ranges I used it, it was a bit destructive. With a 22" barrel the muzzle flash would darn near blind you if shot close to dark. While it had less recoil than an 06, it was still more than i liked. I easily could have kept and loaded it down and probably should have. In my neck of the woods a long shot is 200 yards. My one SIL was pretty impressed when I shot a deer last fall with a 6.5CM at 220 yards according to my range finder. In some areas that is a common shot. I admit that I could have bought the daughter a 308 and loaded it down like the OP has done. But then she would be dependent on my hand loading. At the price of 300 Savage ammo she still is.
In some respects its a matter of range. A 200 yard shot with a 30-30 is about like a 250 yard shot with a 300 Savage or so and a 300-350 yard shot with an 06. If you don't get shots at the longer ranges and the critters are not that big then the lighter ones are more pleasant to shoot.

DEP

 

100%. Agreed. What’s nice about the load I mentioned is the trajectory is +2 / -2” out to 200 yards. In my area it really encompasses 98% of my shooting. With the addition of a 1-4-20 Leupold on my Remington 7600 (when I am not shooting it with a peep sight), 135 yards has me realistically covered.

 

In my mind the various Speer soft point boat tails, designed for expansion at longer ranges, are the among the softest bullets common cup and core bullets out there, if not the softest, and perfect bullet for downloading if a pointed bullet is desired, not to mention a very high BC. Also a perfect bullet for smaller cases in a given caliber. It is also a good choice if looking for a heavier bullet in a medium capacity case that still offers fairly long range, have a full velocity 308 Win load with the 180 Speer BTSP that is a keeper.

 

When I mentioned the 257R and the 25-06 thing, the 257R is hard to get in a reasonably priced new rifle or even a used one. 30-06 has an advantage over some of the other cartridges in that it has a longer neck, which facilitates both boat tail and cast bullet loadings. A large number of shooters that load down the 06 do so with cast. I have played a lot with cast bullets and find them effective. Most cast bullets are designed around either the 06 or 30-30. The 311284, which is a 220 grain bullet and was designed for the 30-40 Krag is also great in the 06. My first cast bullet deer was taken with a 303 Brit and a bullet weighing 208 grains. I was very impressed. 30-30 is a good cast bullet cartridge (taken deer with it and cast also) and a 30-40 Krag would be ideal. I cast my own as they are much better than the hard cast commercial ones you see.
The boat tails are not recommended for the 300 Savage due to its short neck but would be fine in an 06. The OP's choice of bullet, the LEs, work well for him. I am a pretty fussy on bullet selection.

DEP

 

I really like this information, I may apply it towards .308win load development for deer and boar here in the Florida panhandle.

 

I have a 16” Remington Model Seven in 308 and I loaded this bullet with 32.3 grains of Buffalo Rifle / 5744 for a VERY soft shooting (aka less muzzle blast from that 16” barrel). I have not chronographed the load but I am guessing 2250-2300. I have not taken any game with it yet but it is enjoyable and pretty accurate. It can do an inch every once in a while (or I can. The little rifle is more difficult from the bench) but can always keep it at an inch and a half at 100. Other powders may work much better for you.

 

I’m late to the party on this one, but I found the thread so here goes.. I don't mean to revive a dead thread so apologies if I broke etiquette.

In the past, we've used various reduced loads for a variety of reasons in our 30-06's. The loads are listed below.. Everything was loaded to the cannelure. I don't remember not seeing an exit wound and the internals were liquified. I think 110 yards was the longest shot taken with any of them however and most were within 50. We hunt Central Farmland Zone 2 in a Wisconsin woods/swamp. It's a target-rich environment, last year I think we got 3 doe tags included when we purchased our gun deer license.

Loads are… (obviously check for yourself with resources that you feel are trustworthy, not some guy who never posted before)

H4895 powder
37.5gr 125 sst (still beats the velocity of the 300 blackout at least in the rifles we used)

40gr 125 sst
40gr 150 Sierra FP
40gr 150 Hornady interlock RN
40gr 150 Hornady Interlock SPire point
40gr 165 SST

We used 52.5 of IMR 4350 with the following bullets. (These are all above what Sierra’s online app lists as the minimum)


150 Hornady interlock RN
150 Hornady Interlock SPire point


All the rounds were accurate (2moa) in every rifle, not bench rest but certainly enough for hunting at 100 yards. The rifles we used them in…

Marlin xl7
Tikka t3x-lite stainless
Remington Bone Collector XCR
Winchester XPR
The Rifleman’s rifle


On a side note, when I take various kids out, (I do this at a range near Holy Hill in Wisconsin) decades back someone gave me the hint to double them up on ear protection. I still can't prove this, but I'm leaning towards people being more "shy" (for lack of a better word) due to noise than the actual recoil force of the shot. I asked them how certain rounds felt and sometimes they felt the bullet with more powder actually felt significantly less than the same bullet with less powder when they had plugs and muffs on... I’m guessing there’s a limit with some cartridges (shoulder bruisers) where it doesn’t matter how much ear protection you have. But for the 30-06, it seems to hold true that doubling up one ears makes a full throttle 165gr partition seem less stout.. Just something anecdotal.

 

I’m late to the party on this one, but I found the thread so here goes.. I don't mean to revive a dead thread so apologies if I broke etiquette.

In the past, we've used various reduced loads for a variety of reasons in our 30-06's. The loads are listed below.. Everything was loaded to the cannelure. I don't remember not seeing an exit wound and the internals were liquified. I think 110 yards was the longest shot taken with any of them however and most were within 50. We hunt Central Farmland Zone 2 in a Wisconsin woods/swamp. It's a target-rich environment, last year I think we got 3 doe tags included when we purchased our gun deer license.

Loads are… (obviously check for yourself with resources that you feel are trustworthy, not some guy who never posted before)

H4895 powder
37.5gr 125 sst (still beats the velocity of the 300 blackout at least in the rifles we used)

40gr 125 sst
40gr 150 Sierra FP
40gr 150 Hornady interlock RN
40gr 150 Hornady Interlock SPire point
40gr 165 SST

We used 52.5 of IMR 4350 with the following bullets. (These are all above what Sierra’s online app lists as the minimum)

125 sst
150 Hornady interlock RN
150 Hornady Interlock SPire point


All the rounds were accurate (2moa) in every rifle, not bench rest but certainly enough for hunting at 100 yards. The rifles we used them in…

Marlin xl7
Tikka t3x-lite stainless
Remington Bone Collector XCR
Winchester XPR
The Rifleman’s rifle


On a side note, when I take various kids out, (I do this at a range near Holy Hill in Wisconsin) decades back someone gave me the hint to double them up on ear protection. I still can't prove this, but I'm leaning towards people being more "shy" (for lack of a better word) due to noise than the actual recoil force of the shot. I asked them how certain rounds felt and sometimes they felt the bullet with more powder actually felt significantly less than the same bullet with less powder when they had plugs and muffs on... I’m guessing there’s a limit with some cartridges (shoulder bruisers) where it doesn’t matter how much ear protection you have. But for the 30-06, it seems to hold true that doubling up one ears makes a full throttle 165gr partition seem less stout.. Just something anecdotal.

Sorry I missed your reply. Thanks for the info. You mention muzzle blast and I cannot agree more. The muzzle blast on the load that started this thread is minimal and I think that is what creates a much more enjoyable experience for the new shooter. Especially in my Ruger American that I cut the barrel back to 18”. It is super handy in the field or stand but the BLAST is impressive.

Thanks again for the post.

 

What you have there is essentially a good .30-30 load coming out of a .30-06. Nothing wrong with that.