Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .30-06 Loads

One straightforward procedure is to get some 4895, start conservatively and work up, loading the projectile to approximate the milspec velocity for the weight in use.

Hi Jerry.....

You might find this interesting.

https://m1-garand-rifle.com/gas-pressure.php

Thanks RJ

The info will be helpful for those interested and or using a garand. As I said earlier that I am NOT up on ammo OR loading for the garand.
That's good to know.

Jerry

To All,

First, unless you are an experienced handloader, stick to the JSP/JHP 150 grain "white box" Winchester for your Garand, as that ammo is a clone of the standard Lake City WWII-era government ball ammo & is quite suitable for most any game up to & including moose/elk. = The M1 Garand does NOT take well to HOT loads & those hot loads are unnecessary anyway for any game that the .30-06 is "enough gun" for.

As to the Model 742, it's quite STRONG & in my 2+ decades of shooting the 742 & Model 760, they do FINE with any factory .30-06 ammo and/or any reasonable handload.
(That said, there's some "handloading data" floating around out there that is HAZARDOUS in most any rifle. = BE CAREFUL.)

A PERSONAL NOTE: One of the main reasons that I've become "addicted to" the 760 (& currently have a half-dozen in calibers from .244REM to 9.3x62mm) is that the 760 does very well with reduced loads that may/may not work well in a semi-auto. = I handload a 170 grain GCCB at .30-40 Krag Spanish-American War ballistics for my 760 rifles in .300 SAV & .30-06 that "easy on the shoulder", is an efficient killer on deer/feral hogs & it's downright CHEAP to load.
(WT & hogs just aren't that hard to kill.)

ADDENDA: I also handload a .309 caliber flatnose PBCB of about 130 grains at about 1,000FPS as a small/medium game load that spoils little edible meat. - It just passes through the thorax of a coyote leaving a .30 caliber hole going out the other side. = Easy holes to patch & great practice for WT season.
(During the "BHO .22LR Drought", I shot LOTS of those CBs at rabbits/squirrels for the pot.)

just my opinions, tex

I've got two loads I like.

180gr Hornady RN over 55gr of RL16 and WLR. .02"of the lands gives me a smidgen over 2700fps out of my 20" barrel and nearly .5 MOA. Not a hot load either.

The other is an old 220gr Winchester Power Point RN over 54.5gr IMR 4831 and WLR. 2475fps out of my 20" barrel, this one is loaded pretty hot. This load will probably be replaced by whatever I formulate with my new Ruger 77 in .338RCM.

When I first started handloading it was for .308, all the guys I hunted with were loading 180 grain round nose bullets so I followed suit. I loaded IMR 4895 with a Hornady 180 gr. RN bullet for many years and took my biggest whitetail with this load. Fast forward to the present and I am loading 165 grain bullets with IMR 4064, I am getting good accuracy in .30-06 with 4064 as well as in my .257 Roberts and .35 Whelen. I like to keep handloading simple and powder inventory minimal so using 4064 for all three calibers works for me.

Picked up a new 06 today, Sako L-61. Bofors barrel. I need to order some Talley two piece mounts and a scope. 34000 serial number. We will see how it will shoot.

No more 742s or 7400s left in my family. My father shot a 243 in a 742 and my brother a 7400 in 270 and I had a 7600 pump in 30/06. With 742s I loaded to near book max and never had a jam of any kind. Most of the Remington autos are in the dark recesses of pawn shops around my area. Ever once in a while you see some crusty old guys with them because they still work and they're killed a lot of deer with them back when we used dogs to hunt deer. My limited experience found that the 742 was prone to having the locking lugs of the bolt to get battered and then they could have trouble going into battery. When Remington changed the model number to 7400 they simplified the bolt by having fewer, but larger, lugs. The larger lugs do seem to hold up better than the old style. Just my 2¢
Goat

Goat,

Inasmuch as I've owned & hunted extensively with both the Remington SA & pump rifles since 1966, I suspect that I have as much actual "field experience" with those rifles/carbines as most folks here.

That said, ALL of those firearms that I've seen with "bolt problems" have either NOT been properly maintained and/or fired with HOT reloads that far exceed the SAMMI standards for factory cartridges.
(MOST rifles won't handle SOME of the HOTTEST loads that are on "the Worldwideweird". - There are SOME "published loads" on the WWW that are HOTTER than any safe "proof load".)

yours, tex