Not sure if this should go somewhere else. Not reloading and figured 30-06 is about as common a hunting rifle load as there is....

I went to the range today and thought I’d finally break out my magnetospeed v3.

Put it on my M70 30-06, 24” bartlein barrel, and ran 5 rounds from a variety of factory loads through it.

Shot my standard factory round – Barnes Vor-tx 168 grain. I have had great success with this round and it is consistently accurate for me. Per the box, its 2900, what I got was an average of 2820 and a max spread of 33 fps.

Next up was DT hunter (doubletap) with the barnes 168 TSX. Interesting that the brass was marked PPU, and primers seemed different than other ammo (looked cheaper, but functioned fine). Box says 2900, my average was 2832 with a max spread of 31.

Then I shot some federal Gold Medal Match 168 grain. Sierra matchking bullet. Average speed was 2721 with a max spread of 36.

Last up was the surprise. Buffalo Bore 168 grain Barnes TSX. First shot felt different, more stout and when I looked at the magneto speed, it said 2982. About 150fps more than the doubletap or barnes. I was not shooting for accuracy, but thought I had found a real contender to the barnes, shot off two rounds that were almost touching at 100 yards. Then the strange stuff, found I could not close the bolt on one round, had to apply too much pressure to close on another round. Relative to my chamber, this ammo was about 50% good. I went back and ran rounds from the other boxes through with no problem. Weird thing. Average across the shots was 2974 with a max spread of 36.

Any other factory rounds with the 168 barnes I could try?

Elevation was about 1600 and temp was around 65.

Couple of things.

I know this is a very, very small amount of data. Not drawing any conclusions or even trying to make a point, just sharing what I saw today with my rifle.

I loved the magneto speed – adds a very fun dimension to my shooting, looking forward to trying it on other rifles and loads.

I’ve been meaning to shoot with black electrical tape over the muzzle as I’ve heard it does not affect accuracy and is a small amount of insurance when out in the field in case I stumble, rain, etc. Net was that I shot about 10 rounds with the barnes, very accurate and the the three shots with a double layer of electrical tape were in the same bunch of holes, I’m going to tape my muzzle when out in the future.