Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles lets play with 180's in .30 caliber

Hornady ELDX (However that would be a 178gr but close enough.)

Running that 178 ELD X in my 300 Win Mag. Haven't shot a game animal yet but they sure shoot like a house on fire.

Yep, my buddy is using them exclusively in his 300wsm and 308 winchester. They are damn accurate.

Amen Brother! Love that load!

Any idea what powder and charge he's using in that .300wsm?

7stw, your recipe?

I am a fan of the 180 gr Partition, particularly the Protected Point version. Muledeer once noted that he realized great accuracy with this bullet, and my experience agrees. I have been loading them over 76 gr of RL22.

No prob.

178 ELD X
Once fired Federal brass
Fed 215m primer
C.O.A.L 3.460
73gr Reloader 22 Most accurate and consistent powder charge for my rifle

In the rifle with marginal accuracy. Try a flat base bullet. Speer hotcore 180gr comes to mind. Sometimes wasting money on expensive bullets, is just that. A waste of $. In the 30-06 fill the case with 4831 set a 180hc to factory oal then crimp it with a lee crimp die. You might be surprise how people really over think reloading

I've loaded 52.0 grains of IMR 4250 behind 180 eTip with great accuracy out of my '06. BUT I will also say, I do not hunt with that load. Its amazing the drop difference at 100 yards between that bullet and my 150 grain bullets ( I think they were SGK's iirc). So why not hunt with that load? I did it probably for the same reason you are looking for a load, just to have one. I could be wrong on your reason and if I am I apologize. The eTip mono metal is a very tough bullet and I think for what I hunt for, that would be too much bullet. Now if I were hunting Bison, I would use the 3000 RUM or 338 Win Mag. If I have to use my 30-06 as a back up for that hunt, then I would probably load up the 180 and keep my shots within 300 yards. YMMV.

Good luck. I hope you find your load!!!

HaYen

Hornady 180gr SST's and 54.5gr of H4350 are very accurate out of my 06 but.........I have not had good luck with them holding together on several deer and elk. So I have gone back to the good old 180gr Interlocks. I don't shoot over 1/4 mile and they work good as anything I have ever tried under that (and the are cheap).

I used to use 180g Partitions for everything in my 30-06. 56g of IMR 4350 was a very accurate load. In the 300 H&H I used 180g Hornady Interlock SP under 67.7g of IMR 4350. Another accurate load.

Is there any other load for a bolt action '06? I've heard rumors, but never believed them.

Bought a bunch of 180g Partition blems from SPS a while back. Couldn't get them to shoot in my 300H&H with either 4350 or 4831. I tried R17(300wsm load) and that worked great, thanks Mule Deer. I also have a 300wsm and it likes IMR4831 with that bullet.

Killed my biggest buck in 1974 with a .308 handload consisting of a Hornady 180 gr. RN over a moderate charge of IMR 4895. I now shoot a .30-06 with 165 gr. Sierra or Nosler bullets over IMR 4064 or IMR 4350. I have tried RL-15 and Varget but the other powders work better in my rifle.

Correction IMR 4350 not 4250 since that powder does not exists. Damn FAT fingers.

I use 180 Ballistictips and 180 Accubonds in my 300 WSM Kimber over what on paper sounds like a mild load of H4350. 61 grains is barely over the starting loads in most books but the velocity comes in at a tad under 3000 fps. In what might be pure chance 165 ballistic tips shoot to the same POI and match the 180s all the way out to 500, or at least good enough that they both track the B&C reticle.

Sounds like some of you are having some fun. Good for you.

Take care

I've had good accuracy with the 178 ELD-x in both 308 and 30-06.



Most any high BC 180 gr bullet fired from a 308 is faster than a 180 gr RN fired from a 300 WM at 175 yards. When fired from a 30-06 the high BC bullets makes up the difference in speed in under 75 yards.

I've used lighter 150 and 165 gr bullets most of my life with no complaints. But recently have experimented with heavier bullets up to 200 gr in both 308 and 30-06. There doesn't seem to be any real downside.

Running the numbers on the Sierra 180gr RN with a BC of .240 at 3100fps from the 300WM vs the 180gr SGK with a BC of .501at 2600fps from the 308Win, the RN from the 300WM is still 100fps faster than the 308Win at 200yds. The other consideration is the toughness of the bullet at 308Win speeds.

You don't hunt moose and elk?


If so...why use 150 grain?