Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 30-06 survey - Too much gun?

Just a few thoughts on .30-06, light bullets and efficiency....

It is true that light bullets reduce recoil. It is also true that they have lower sectional density and ballistic coefficients. All of which is meaningless unless given some decisional parameters.

Frankly, the idea of a .22 Accelerator load in a .30-06 has always intrigued me. For light varminting of just plain fun, what is wrong with a 55g V-MAX cranking along at 4200fps MV? In a standard weight .30-06 that is about 11.5 ft-lbs recoil and MPBR zeroed for a 6" diameter target, the bullet is down only about 5.5" at 400 yards. At 300 yards retained velocity and energy are in the neighborhood of 2942fps and 1057fpe. Compare that to 150g Winchester .30-30 ammo that runs closer to 1400fps and 651fpe at that range. Granted that accuracy may suffer, accelerators still sound like a lot of fun. Great elk load? Probably not, but who cares?

Don't like Accelerators? How about a 110g Hornady V-MAX or Barnes TAC-TX at 3400fps? Should be good for up to deer-sized game to about 400 yards where a 6" MPBR results in a drop of about 12" with retention in the neighborhood of 2175fps and 1150fpe. And with recoil under 15 ft-lbs. Sounds to me like a good pair of loads with lots of practical uses, including light varminting, antelope and deer.

Hunting elk? Bump it up to a 130g or 150g TTSX at 3200fps and 3000fps respectively. Feeling undergunned? Why, when you're basically talking the same velocity and energy at 400 yards as a .30-30 delivers at 50?

Low efficiency? As defined by and compared to what, exactly - and even then, who cares? The last thing I worry about when buying factory ammo is "efficiency". As a handloader, I judge a load by its accuracy more than anything else. An increase in "efficiency" might mean more loads per pound of powder but that is only important to me when I'm building plinking loads - and lots of them. For example, 13.5g HS-6 under a 300g or 350g hardcast bullet makes for a fine and inexpensive .45-70 plinking load. "Efficiency" matters not at all for my hunting loads.