Reloading The .30-06 Rifle

Left to right:–170 gr FN — 180 gr RN — 220 gr RN — 30-06 with 180 gr RN — 30-06 Military FMJ — 180 gr SP — 150 gr SP – Plus 2 lead 155 gr & 165 gr RNFP for plinking

(FN=Flat Nose, SP= Spire Point, HP= Hollow Point, RN= Round Nose) JHP=
Jacketed Hollow Point, FMJ=Full Metal Jacket)

ads for .30-06 Rifle: * SEE NOTE AT BOTTOM ABOUT TRAIL BOSS FOR REDUCED LOADS

Loads for .30/30 Rifle:

(Note: These are near maximum loads, you should use 10% less to start.)

(See note on Powders below or read all about variousa
Powders.)

Bullet is .308″ diameter. Lead bullets may be .309″ or 3095″ Due to different
barrel lengths, type of bullet, seating depth, primer type and other factors,
you may not get near the FPS charted. It is just a guide and the reason you
should start under these charges and work up.

100 grain Plinker (Cup Jacket with lead nose)

110 grain Plated lead RN bullet

110 grain JSP (Hornady Jacketed Spire Point)

125 grain JSP (Sierra Spitzer Point)

150 grain ( Berry’s Plated RNFP bullet)

150 grain JSP (Spitzer or Spire Point)

Factory MIL OLD FMJ – 2,744 Hi=2819, Lo=2739, ES=80 (some didn’t fire at all)

Factory Greek Mil M-2 ammo Avg. 2,809 Hi=2842, Lo=2758, ES=83 Good stuff from
CMP

155 grain Lead RNFP plain base (plinking loads, reduced velocity)(Bullet
.3095″)

160 grain LEAD FP or RN Plinking (may not cycle an auto-loader)

(use a lead bullet with a Gas Check if you can find one)

(Sometimes extra trail boss near max does not perform as well, even lower
velocities and higher Extreme Spread)

165 grain LEAD FP or RN Plain base Plinking

(you can use up to 17 grains, but these are fine for plinking and not lead the
barrel)

5744 22.6 gr. 1,644 a bit hot with no GC, use hard cast .309″ bullets

165 grain JSP (Spitzer or Spire Point)

170 grain Sierra Jacketed Flat Point (use amounts for 165 gr. bullet)

180 grain JSP (Spitzer or Spire Point) or JRN

200 grain JSP (Spitzer or Spire Point) or JRN

220 Lead cast bullet (reduced velocity)(GC desirable)

200 grain JSP (Spitzer or Spire Point) or JRN

220 grain JSP (Spitzer or Spire Point) or JRN

* use magnum primers

250 grain Barnes JRN (.308″)

* TRAIL BOSS: This is a very bulky powder originally for cowboy shooting, but
it has been found it works pretty darn good in all kinds of reduced velocity
loads for rifles, in plain or jacketed bullets. Above I have printed some of
my early test. More later. But IMR (Hodgdon) says you can fill the case with
trail boss, leaving room for bullet seating, and that’s the Maximum load. Back
off from whatever that weight is by 70% (multiply by .7) and that is your
starting load. For my 155 grain lead bullet that was 18.7 grains for a case
full (very bulky) and thus 70% was 13.0 grains. However, I saw other loads
even lighter, so I started with 10.0 grains with a 155 grain lead bullet. (see
loads above) I was very pleased with the light recoil and consistency and with
11.5 grains there was only a 18 FPS spread of all the shots. Next I will load
and post some jacketed bullets, but so far, this is fantastic plinking and
training kids and wives for a 30-06.

Discussion: IMR 3031 is a faster burning powder than IMR 4895, so you use less
of it for similar volocities. I have listed powders of Hodgdon, Alliant and
Accurate also. Use which ever you have handy. Slow burning powders generally
work better in longer barrels and heavier bullets. 30-06 Cases will stretch,
especially with hot loads, and you definitely need to check each in a case
length guage and trim off excess brass. Of course, discard any cases that show
a split anywhere on the case. For hunting at long distances with an
unobstructed view, you should choose the spire point with a soft lead tip. The
flat nose bullet is used especially in tubular fed magazines to prevent
pressure on the primer in the cartridge above it.

There are a number of other high performance bullets on the market. The
“boattail” is a very good long range target match bullet. It has very good
wind performance. If you are shooting for precision, you should weight each
powder charge and put exactly the same amount in each case. Each case should
be exactly on specs and the bullet should not be crimped into the case. (These
bullets don’t normally have a crimp ring anyhow)

There is still much military ammo on the market, including the red tipped
“Tracer” round. There is a blob of red phosphor on the back end of the bullet
that burns. You can see the red dot heading for the target. A caution: clean
the bore of the gun very good after firing tracer rounds in it. Another
military round is the armor piercing (black tipped) round. It has a hardened
steel core inside the copper jacket, and it will penetrate an engine block or
moderately heavy steel. If you can find an old junk car somewhere, it’s
interesting to see just what parts of the car it will penetrate, and how far
it will go.

Actually ALL 30 cal. bullets are .308 in diameter.

#2400, Reloader 7, 11, 12, and 15 are products of Alliant (formerly Hercules)
Powders. H380, H450 and H4895 are products of Hodgdon Powders. IMR 3031 and
IMR 4895 are products of IMR (formerly DuPont) Powder Company. No. 2, No. 5,
#2230, and #2460 are products of Accurate Arms Company WMR, WSF, WSL, 760,
748, 231 and 540 are products of Winchester, Components Div.

References: Accurate Arms Co. 1996 Reloading booklet – – Alliant Powder Co.
Reloaders’ Guide (1995) – – Hodgdon’s Basic Reloaders Manual (1996) & (2007) –
– Speer Reloading Manual, #12 – – Winchester Reloading Components Manual, 14th
edition – – Lyman Piston & Revolver Reloading Handbook, 2nd edition. – –
VihtaVuori Oy Company, reloading booklet (1995) – – Numerous magazine articles
on reloading special calibers and personal loads where noted.