Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Magic 30-06 load works again!

I have used this load - 62.5 grains of Superformance pushing a 150 grain Barnes in 5 different rifles it goes about 3,050 FPS and shoots well in every rifle including guns that can’t seem to find a good load. But this morning it takes the cake. My father’s old Ruger 77 tang safety never has shot anything well. I tried every factory & 20 different recipes and a baseball sized group at 100 yards was the norm. It would shoot 1/2 dozen loads into a softball size group but nothing good.

Before sending it off to be rebored by Jess I tried my magic load and it piled 5 shots into less than an inch 2.5 inches above the top center of the bullseye. At 225 yards they were all 3 in the top 1/2 of the 10 ring and at 490 yards smacked my elk rock dead center first shot. No rebore for it now just a different load. Made my week & hope my son kills an elk with it this season.

What primer? Thats sounds like a wonderful load!

I have had the same results with Superformance in my 270 Winchester using 140gr Bullets. Also about the same speed, using a different powder charge.

That IS impressive. But then comes the inevitable question: will that load shoot the same at 20 degrees F as it does at 90 degrees F?

Using Winchester large rifle primers and even though book says plenty of room above 1 more grain shows pressure signs in my TC Venture & grandson’s Savage so careful if you go hotter. I can’t believe how well almost any 06 shoots these loads.

Any certain bullet, or any 140 you've tried?

I was using Accubonds most of the time. But got the same velocity with 140gr Nosler Partitions. I used Norma MRP with 150gr Nosler Partitions, at 3000 FPS

as did RL26, but MRP was more accurate.

With 150gr bullets in the 30-06,I haven't found anything that would give me velocities as high a Ramshot Big Game.58.0grs gave me 3100fps out of a 26" barreled Remington Long Range.My 24" barreled CZ 550 got 3122fps with 59.0grs.I shot a couple of deer with the 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tip.They did OK,but I'd much rather shoot the 165gr or 168gr Nosler Ballistic Tip.My 23" and 24" barrel 30-06's will get 2900fps or so,I have a 28" 30-06 that gets 3043fps with 55.5grs of Ramshot Big Game.

The velocity with the Barnes 150’s is great depending on the rifle it will push 3100 but consistently around 3050 in slower barrels. But that isn’t the attraction of the load - it is the accuracy across the board with both great easy to load for rifles and now the most challenging 06 by far I’ve ever tried to make shoot.

The 30-06 can be difficult sometimes.I have one right now that seems to hate just about everything.I bought some Reloader-16 and it loved it.That powder performed so so in a couple of other rifles, but for some reason this particular rifle will give me tight clovers with it when most other powders I tried struggled to get and inch group.For some reason Reloader-16 gives me about 50fps faster velocity than my other 30-06's with that same load.I need to try the Big Game powder in this rifle to see if I can find a load it likes since now that I know it can group well.

My experience with the 30-06 has been that it is very easy to find a good load for them. In fact, it has been one of the easiest!

There are soooo many good shooting powder and bullet combinations!

Even a caveman could do it. LOL

I think it has more to do with the barrel than anything.I have a couple with custom barrels and they are easy to load for and shoot very well with multiple loads.But then some factory barrels are just real picky.A great shooting 30-06 is a real joy.

I too would like t know how Superformance performs from very cold to very hot temps. I just recently discovered, at least in my limited use, R17 was not phased by freezing to 85 deg, same speeds, same accuracy in several calibers. R26 gave me lightning speeds in the cold/acuracy, but went wonky around 80 deg. Growing up in East Tx, I just worked up loads in the hot summertime. I shot them in the winter, rarel got down in the low 20s, mostly 30s. No issues with IMR 4350/4831 I used there. I love to experiment/try new powders, bullets, etc. But if I work up a load in the 30s-40s out here, I don't fully trust it until I can try it in the hot summertime. I used to separate Winter/Summer loads, but that got to be too much hassle for me. I lean really hard on the older, proven powders and some new Temp Resistant powders. H4350/4831, R15, R23, R17, etc. I'm sure the majority of this Board does too, or very close. I love it! So, long way around to "how does SF do in the temp swings?

I’ve read about temperature sensitivity but never experienced it at least in a hunting setting. I live in Southern CA average temps when sighting in rifles 65-85 degrees F. Hunt in 3rd season NW Colorado average temp 25-45 degrees F. Guns shoot to point of aim out past 500 yards in my experience with IMR 4350, Superformance, H414 at least. How much difference do you guys see in 40-59 degree swings in temperature?

I read somewhere that Superformance powder only changes 1.21 fps for every degree of temperature difference. Overall that's not too bad.

Thanks, Dinny

The inevitable question is does it matter if you don't hunt when it's 90 degrees? One of the worst for temp stability is H414 and I've killed more game with H414 than a lot of people have killed. It's a big deal in a precision rifle used to shoot metal at 1100 yards, not such a big thing in a hunting rifle.

I tried this load and my rifle likes it. 3/4" with it seated .050 off the lands on the first try, I didn't try tweaking it at all. I am going to use it for deer season and then may see if I can tighten it up just a little.

My magic load is 150 Nosler with 59 grains of IMR 4350. Been using it for 45 years.