I've been shooting loads with 4198, RL 7 and 3031 for years now... plenty good out to 200 yds plus... depending on your zero.
We're talking 06s here...
have said for years in my old age wisdom, why does one need a 500 yd, elk load to drop a 110 pound black tail at 200 yds or less?
I can still shoot full power 06 loads with no problem.... but what for? it doesn't kill deer any faster than the same caliber with slower velocity.
plus it makes shot placement easier....a slow bullet in the right spot is better than a fast bullet in the wrong spot.
in 30 cal, a ballistic tip or a 30-30 style bullet are my first choices....a 150 gr FN is actually a pretty decent slayer at 2400 fps or so...
has worked for kids I've loaded for, right out to 200 yds or more...
I sure do miss SR 4759 a lot for these types of applications....
Hodgdon quit making it due to it not being as glittzy as other 'more modern' powders....
its beauty was that IT WORKED! but consumers think they need something greater, faster and with more power than what worked last season...
The 30 pounds or so of SR 4759 I still have on hand will last me thru my last deer season, when ever that may be.
Ditto on your observations re: 4759. If that stuff were still available all discussions regarding reduced '06 loads would begin and end right there. I too have a pretty significant stash of the stuff for '06, .30-40, and .30-30 reduced loadings (mainly with cast bullets though) - not as much as you, but close.
An analogy can be drawn between reduced loads in the '06 and owning/driving a Ferrari: you wouldn't drive the car at its top speed everywhere you go, rather 99% of your wheel time would be at "normal" slow speeds. In 50+ years of messing with this stuff I never understood the attitude a lot of guys have toward pushing the envelope upwards and every single shot they fire being the max they can get away with. Is it a macho/ego thing or what?
I'm drawn to extreme flexibility in my chamberings/loadings. In that instance the .30-06 is a champion, being wonderful for mouse fart loads to bear whackers, and everything in between.
