Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Campfire Handload Tests

Yes, long dead thread - but a useful one that may well deserve another life. I tried a couple of JB's .375 H&H loads. Here's one:

.375 H&H: 69.0 Reloder 15, 260-270 grain bullet

The 260 Accubond with 69 gr RL-15 produced 2620 fps and averages about 1.2" at 100 yards, with nothing over 1.5" - from a 24" Ruger Number One.

Does a fine job on black bear at 300 yards too...

I'm headed out tomorrow to test some 150gr .30-06 loads with H4350 - sorry no need for 165's on Texas deer!

Can we get a sticky with JB's recommended loads? Just a listing with some info, not a thread for everyone to post on. Could save JB some time so he wouldn't have to answer repetitive PMs.

That .30-06 load of 58 grains Hunter for 180 grain bullets makes me regret purchasing IMR4350. Thanks, Mule Deer, for speeding up my 180 grain development.

FWIW, cloverleafs today at 100 yards. But only a couple 3-shot groups, so not statistically significant enough to call it just yet. But definitely significant enough to kill deer in 2 weeks in Missouri.

I'd forgotten all about this ancient thread. As it happens, last month I finally chronographed a 4-shot group with the .30-06 load (165 Nos. BT with 58.0/H4350). This is out of my NULA .30-06, same specs as JB's. (I'd thrown the load together because the rifle arrived when I was in the middle of moving, which happened to be at the beginning of my last semester in law school for a double whammy.)

As it turns out, that load averages 2958 fps in my rifle--a good 80 fps above Nosler's published data for 1/2 grain less powder. In fact, I can't find any lab data with any bullet that gets more than 2900 fps with that powder and bullet weight in an '06--so I think it's fair to say this load is a tad hot for my rifle.

This may be partly because the NULA has a very tight chamber. When I checked my brass supply, I had a couple hundred cases I'd fired in a Mark X I recently sold. I tried using them in the NULA, but discovered they couldn't be resized enough in a standard FL die to chamber in the NULA; they had expanded about .003" more in front of the web than new brass fired in the NULA. (I calculated that buying a small-base die was cheaper than buying that much new brass, so they're happy now.)

As for accuracy, that 4-shot group was 1.58", comparable to what I've gotten before. But I've never fiddled with seating depth; since I have a lot of BTs left, that'll be a project for future range trips.

This is one of the best threads I've ever read.

More results for the .30-06/165 from yesterday's disaster epic day at the range.

All in a NULA M24, 24" #2 barrel. Below are average velocities 10' from the muzzle on a Shooting Chrony, plus group size. All averages and sizes are 4-shot groups. Range temperature was about 55 degrees, but felt colder because it's roofed and there was intermittent wind of up to 15 mph or so.

165 Nosler BT:

55.5/H4350: 2826 fps, 1.43"
56.5/H4350: 2880 fps, 0.91"
57.5/H4350: 2928 fps, 1.32"

165 Hornady Spire Point:

57.0/H4350: 2824 fps, 1.01"
58.0/H4350: 2948 fps, 0.67" (!)
59.0/H4350, 1.09" - no chrono reading due to direct sun on the screens, but it would clearly be hot.

All were in new, neck-sorted Remington brass with Federal 210M primers. Once-fired brass would likely have less runout and give even better accuracy.

As JB has noted before, there were no traditional pressure signs of any kind with any of these loads. It would clearly have been possible to reach grossly excessive pressures without knowing it.

For my own future use, I'm going to use 56.5 grains with the Ballistic Tip and 57.5 with the Hornady. I may experiment with seating depth for the Ballistic Tips since I have a lot of them.