Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Going back to my (ouch!) roots: .30-06 reloading adventure

So I decided to see what all the fuss was about regarding the Berger VLD Hunting. I already worked up a sub-MOA load for my Tikka T3 Superlite 7mm-08 using the 140 gr VLD Hunting but I wanted to move up to the 185 grain in .30-06.

So it was time to move up. I bought some 185 VLD Hunting to try in my Weatherby Vanguard Back Country .30-06.

First, I established the max OAL at 3.428". I found this figure using the highly technical Sharpie method. Next, I loaded 6 rounds each, starting at 3.428" and reducing the OAL by 0.04" each time, for a total of 4 different OAL (24 total rounds). I used once-fired Remington brass, WLRM primers, and 58.0 grains Hunter. Disclaimer, this load is safe in my rifle, start lower and go slow.

Today was Range Day. I took my .223 and 7mm-08 to shoot while the barrel cooled on the BC. Very, very windy and hot.

I started with the shortest rounds, figuring that if I got crazy accuracy I could resize the longer shells. One three-shot group later dashed that hope.



It wasn't a group, it was a pattern. And did I mention the recoil? Holy Hannah, I think I sprained something.

After a welcome respite shooting clay pigeon fragments at 200 yards with the .223 and 50 gr TTSX, it was back to work.

A much better group this time, not much over the Magic Inch:



But boy howdy, once you get used to the 7mm-08 with a Limbsaver its hard to go back to a hot .30-06 load from a light rifle, Pachmayr or not.

I shot more fragments, this time with the Mighty -08, then I faced the music yet again.

Hmmm, I may be on to something. Just for fun I fired four shots, not three:



By that time the Fun Meter was winding down, so I didn't even try the longest load. The wind had really picked up and I had some Keystone Light in the reefer so I called it a day.

I'll be interested to see what kind of numbers pop up when I plug a .558 ballistic coefficient, 185 grains, and 2845 fps MV into the program.




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