30-06- Do They Really Shoot Every Grain Of Bullet

[bubba300]

I have had a few 30-06's over the years and liked them but most of them liked 150-185 grain bullets.
I am always hearing about the wide range of bullets they shoot and that are available for them,I think this is very missleading for someone who is thinking of getting one as I have never had any of mine that liked 100-130 grains or 200 grs., maybe I just never found the right combination and am to fussy about group size.I suppose they will shoot most weight of bullets but not in tight groups.
As for myself I usally shoot the heavier bullets and find a load and stick with it.
Anyone have one that liked everything.

[gitrdun]

It would be difficult for a specific firearm to be in agreement with such a wide range of bullet weights as rifling twist is the primary determining factor.

[mgvande]

They used to sell 220gr I wonder if they stabilized well.

[RobTurbo]

Can they? Yes.

Will factory ammo work well at every weight? No

If you hand load the 30-06 can be made to shoot a wide variety of weights extremely well.

[Dick284]

Typical 30-06 twist rates are 1 turn in 10"(1 in 10)
This twist rate was specific to stabilize 220gr. Round nose bullets et al 30-40 Krag and 30-03. This twist rate is defined by the Greenhill formula.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=DtO...ullets&f=false

It can be said that it is more desirable to overstabilze a given bullet than to under stabilize the same bullet. Albeit over stabilization will induce stability problems more likely related to manufacturing processes and tollerences.

With that in mind a small concentricity issue with say a 125 gr. or 110 gr. bullet in a 1 in 10 twist 30-06 may induce a noticeable "speed wobble" and therefore poor accuracy. A specific batch or run of tighter tollerence bullets of the same weight would also be seen to give better accuracy potential since the over stabilization factor that leads to magnification of poor manufacturing tollerences would become minimized.

Run the same bullets trough a slower twist rate barrel of perhaps 1 in 12 or 1 in 14, and any such flaws may not come into play, and degrade accuracy.

This is why varying reports of accuracy from light bullets in a twist made for heavier bullets are abundant. It may have more to do with the quality of the bullets than say the given rifle.

[qwert]

Originally Posted by Dick284

Typical 30-06 twist rates are 1 turn in 10"(1 in 10)
This twist rate was specific to stabilize 220gr. Round nose bullets et al 30-40 Krag and 30-03. This twist rate is defined by the Greenhill formula.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=DtO...ullets&f=false

It can be said that it is more desirable to overstabilze a given bullet than to under stabilize the same bullet. Albeit over stabilization will induce stability problems more likely related to manufacturing processes and tollerences.

With that in mind a small concentricity issue with say a 125 gr. or 110 gr. bullet in a 1 in 10 twist 30-06 may induce a noticeable "speed wobble" and therefore poor accuracy. A specific batch or run of tighter tollerence bullets of the same weight would also be seen to give better accuracy potential since the over stabilization factor that leads to magnification of poor manufacturing tollerences would become minimized.

Run the same bullets trough a slower twist rate barrel of perhaps 1 in 12 or 1 in 14, and any such flaws may not come into play, and degrade accuracy.

This is why varying reports of accuracy from light bullets in a twist made for heavier bullets are abundant. It may have more to do with the quality of the bullets than say the given rifle.

Thank you for this informative post, and particularly for the link to Hatcher's Notebook. (Too bad it is only a partial Google Books section)

Good Luck, YMMV

[Dick284]

Originally Posted by qwert

Thank you for this informative post, and particularly for the link to Hatcher's Notebook. (Too bad it is only a partial Google Books section)

Good Luck, YMMV

Ya it is unfortunate, my aincent and photocopied version of Hatchers doesn't lend itself to easy copying onto the interweb. But the selected link gets the point accross.

[YoteStopper]

It seems the 150-180 range is most common, although I see factory loads from 125-220 on the shelf.

Will be getting a 30-06 myself, planning on running 165gr pills out of it.

[stob]

Had an old rem semi-auto that my father bought at a garage sale in the day for $50 ... that '06 shot everything into 2" or less at 100M (5-shot groups)... old bushnell 6x fixed ... and was particularly fond of 220gr federals i think it was ( 100's of rounds and zero cleaning / it just would not quit )... i learned a lot about what a slow moving rainbow arching bullet could do from 3' to 250M +/- ... then I became a gun snob and speed freak for awhile ... maybe still a gun snob, but that old rem was reliable 7 unfailing

[Don_Parsons]

I've had good success with 150's and 180's out of my 30/06. Did some Federal factory reduced 125gr ammo as it showed good grouping as well.

My plan was too shoot 150's, but in the end I took on the 178/180gr bullets instead,,, better BC too get them down range.

Play around a bit as you'll find something your rifle will like.

Don

[densa44]

These were the days when men had dinosaurs as pets and only 1 rifle. The advice from old experts at the time was to buy a 30-06. I bought mine to shoot antelope.

As it happened coyotes began eating my chickens. I loaded up some 80 gr. hollow point for the rifle and practiced until I could hit a 2 liter pop bottler at 100 M.

One morning as I looked out my kitchen window a coyote was prancing by in the dead furrow with my last chicken. That was the last straw. Out the back door and up went the rifle, the cross hairs settled right behind his front leg and I touched him off.

The coyote disappeared (chicken too). When I went to see if I'd hit him there he was with the last chicken still in his mouth, I didn't see the entry hole but you could have put a grapefruit in the hole between his shoulder blades.

The moral to this story is, the 06 may shoot all bullets weights but it is far from the best choice.

[elkhunter11]

The simple fact is, that although you can shoot bullets from 110gr to over 220gr from a 30-06, the 30-06 is best with 150 to 180gr bullets. If I wanted to shoot bullets lighter than 150gr, I would go with a smaller caliber cartridge, and If I wanted to shoot bullets heavier than 180gr, I would choose a larger caliber cartridge.

[oldgutpile]

My first '06 was an old P-17 that absolutely thrived on the 220 gr softpoints. I then inherited my fathers Voere (weatherby era) that loved 180 gr sp. My latest '06 (and likely my last) is a blaser R8 and it works amazingly well with 165 gr handloads. The heavier bullets work "OK" but not as well.
So YEAH, to each his own. You just gotta do the homework and find out what is the right recipe for your own shooter.

[gitrdun]

Over the years, I've learned that 165gr is the optimum bullet weight for 30-06. Of course you can always adjust a bit lower or higher within reason and still achieve stellar results. But, don't stray too far away from that 165 mark.

[Mistagin]

My buddy has a Browning A-Bolt that just loves 165 gr bullets. Super accurate. He doesn't reload, just factory loads. I told him if he wants to shoot lighter bullets like 130 gr just get a .270 like mine

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by YoteStopper

It seems the 150-180 range is most common, although I see factory loads from 125-220 on the shelf.

Will be getting a 30-06 myself, planning on running 165gr pills out of it.

Smart choice, all around,

To the OP, load up a few rounds and try it out, ya never know what your rifle will like...that's what makes it fun.