Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Has anyone pushed 200 ABs in a 30/06

What powder and charge are you using to get that velocity in an '06? Sounds a little optimistic to me; Nosler's fastest with the 165 Partition is right at 3000fps.

not a 30-06 load. 300 wsm load off the hogdon site.... 72.0 superperformance 165 nosler partition. 3273 fps. that is more than the 300 win mag gets.

tarheel- the bear load is for defense? you are not hunting them on the same trip right... for dall sheep? with a 30-06 i would shoot what ever grouped the best at distance. probably a 168cbt.

RL17 works well for me with the 200 gr Accubond in a Steyr which has a barrel close to 24"

It would take a lot of effort to build a gunas nice as and for the same money as a tikka .30-06. And there is plenty of them around. I have one in .300wm and it is perfect for my needs.

Correct. Either way, I plan to use the 200 PT/AB load for the hunt as well. They perform fine on paper out to 500-600 yards which is plenty. I'll likely work up a 165 AB/TTSX load to have as well for future use.

I have a 5# jug. That is on my list. I'd be happy with ~2700ish.

I agree. They will probably be my next purchase. I wish I had a sportmans warehouse near me. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking a LW SAVGE WSM would just be a money sink. I'd end up with $1300 min. I can get a superlite for $700, or I can just live with my normal weight savage 30/06.

How does recoil compare with the heavies in the /06? The more I look at the 30/06, the more I think I don't even need to worry about an additional gun.

Looking at a straight deer/sheep load, I was considering a 168 Berger at around 3000 FPS. When I run the numbers, recoil looks like this:


Load One Load Two
Bullet weight in grains 168 200
Velocity in fps 3002 2688
Powder charge in grains 63 58
Weight of firearm in lbs 9 9

Recoil Impulse in (lbs sec) 3.36 3.41
Velocity of recoiling firearm (fps) 12.01 12.22
Free recoil energy in (ft/lbs) 20.14 20.85


That seems pretty much identical to me. Is that the reality? I always thought the 200 PT would be noticeably stouter that a 165 class bullet?

my handloads with a 168 are 2825 fps from a 22" , 6.25 lb rem 700 mtn rifle. with a 2.5-8x36 the rifle is very light. recoil is noticeable. i have shot the 200's at 2625. recoil with a 200 partition is quite a bit more. also it is very hard to get decent groups with the partition . it is my favorite hunting bullet. for moose and bear accuracy of the 200 partition good enough. maybe a 200 ab is the answer.

Thanks for the input. I'm paper it looks close, but reality is much stouter it seems like I thought.

not that many 30-06 loads get 3002 fps with a 168 gr bullet. that has to kick quite a bit too. at least in my mtn rifle.

If bears are even remotely a concern (or any other defensive issue), I want no ammo which is not utterly reliable. That includes rounds which might be sized “slightly snug”, bullets seated to “kiss”, loads which don’t readily drop free when extracting. Those would be my focus (along with getting the load to shoot as well as you want it to for the intended quarry.)