Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 30 06 accuracy load not so accurate..now what

So i had picked up an older ( mid 80s) savage 110 a while back. It is chambered in 30 06. Loaded some up with rem brass, 56-58 grains IMR 4350, and 165 grain speer grand slams(new stock). Took it to the range this eve and was not at all impressed. Best group was at 2 inches with the others hanging at 3ish inches at 100 yards. To be honest I really don't like how the rifle feels and shoots. Stock is a birch that feels too big and clunky, and that hard plastic butplate translates all the recoil straight back into the shoulder. Really did not enjoy shooting it. An thinking of selling the barrel and stock for a song and dance, getting a new 280 AI barrel and boyds gunstock with a better recoil pad, and seeing how that does. Or should I keep playing with loads? Maybe it is the speer bullets, or maybe it just won't shoot as an 06

For starters, those bullets aren't what I'd use as an accuracy reference.

Go back to the range after loading up some 165gr Hornady sp interlocks. 56 grains loaded to an OAL of 3.210" is usually the ticket for all of my 30-06 rifles.. I gave up on speer bullets a looooooong time ago. Weigh some of them and see what kind of a variance you get. You'll be surprised..

The Grand Slams are known to be not every rifles favorite. That said why waste your time, toss the stock, order the barrel and stock you want and then start burning powder.

That's exactly how my adventure with Savage rifles started.
A buddy had an '06 that "kicked like a mule and wasn't accurate". A plastic butt plate didn't help so I gave him $150, cleaned the barrel and screwed on a grind to fit recoil pad.
It shot great so I adjusted the trigger and bedded it and it got better so I swapped the stock because it was so easy and then barrels, surely one cartridge would be far better than the others.

Take some time with it and try a couple different bullets before you start swapping barrels...

I learned a bunch with all the playing I did but I boiled it down to,
1) I could have saved a lot of time and money if I'd left it an '06 but what's the fun in that...
2) placing a decent bullet in the proper place matters far more than the delivery system.

Holler if I can help!

Cool!

When I had my shop I could pick up used hunting rifles, mainly bolt guns, for really cheap, sometimes trade-ins, sometimes gun show guys walking around with a rifle for sale. I always checked them thoroughly & test fired them before selling. None ever shot very well. Not a one. Never. I'd say 95% of the time a good bore scrubbing, often over a period of days, would help measurably & some were very good shooters afterwards. There are a few of these still in my closet. This was before cheap bore scopes, back in the Shooter's Choice & Sweets days. The cleaning products today are so much easier & quicker. It's a quick easy place to start. For a 30-06, generally, if it wont shoot 150s with somewhere around 48gr.4895 or 52gr 4064, or 125s with 50 to 52 gr. 3031, there's something wrong with it. (Check your loading manual, that was from memory.)

Generally, a good 165 bullet paired with 58 or 58.5gr of 4350 has been an accuracy standard in the 30-06. I prefer the H4350 due to being less temperature sensative, but the IMR version is very close in burn rate. I'd try a Nosler Ballistic Tip, Sierra Gameking, maybe a Hornady BTSP and see how that does, then re-evaluate based on what you see.

+1 on that load with Sierra Game King, it shoots very accurately in my pre'64 M/70 and kills whitetails like the hammer of Thor.

FWIW my M700 -06 does not like 165's. Don't know why, it's totally weird but I played around with 3 or 4 brands of bullets and 3 or 4 brands of powder at many different charge weights and none of them would shoot under about 2 inches in a rifle that shoots everything else sob MOA.
I agree with the above, clean it first and lose the Grand Slams.

Life is far, far too short to mess with an ugly, ill feeling rifle! ha. Sell it and buy something you like better. I dare say it, the Savage 116 is a better feeling, fitting rifle than that birch stocked 110! "Make do wont do", trust me.

Agree. If one is buying and swapping out stocks and barrels, why not just pick up a desirable rifle to begin with.

IMHO, the fact that you don't really like anything about the rifle might be reason enough to stop where you are. Any time/effort/money put into the gun, and especially if it doesn't help will just make things worse. And, if you do something that turns it into a sub-MOA rifle, would you be willing to carry it?

Every '06 that comes through me gets 57 grains of IMR 4350 and a 165gr bullet to see if it has potential. Pretty much what everyone else is saying. I think it was Jack O'Connor who would joke saying that if a 30/06 won't shoot 57gr of 4350 with a 165, you need an exorcist, not a gunsmith.

As far as the Grand Slam goes, I have exactly one case of experience with the new ones. My 1979 era Ruger M77R in .243 always shot about 1 1/2" to 2" groups for me when I was a kid. It got semi-retired, then I got really good at building accurate loads for just about anything. I took out the old rifle and tried many recipes with Interlocks, Ballistic Tips, Partitions, etc. One to 1 1/2" groups were the norm. One day I dropped in the 100gr. Grand Slam and my groups instantly shrunk. With the same hand-me-down Weaver K4 that was mounted in 1979, I can do 3/4" or better most of the time, and I've watched my son (with apparently better eyes and coordination that me) put 3 shots inside a dime at 100 yards on a couple of occasions. Again, that is a sample of one, but I have been impressed enough with that bullet on paper and game that I bought some for my semi-finicky .270 just to see what happens.

I like many Speer bullets, but the grand slam is not one of them. I'd try some others first.

For accuracy I'd lean toward Sierra and Nosler ballistic Tips. If not worried about money, Barnes TTSX are awesome too, just give them plenty of jump! They say the same thing about Hammer bullets too.

A lot of things make a rifle in-accurate.Hard trigger,bad scope,loose mounts,poor bedding,barrel touching the stock causing unequal pressure,wrong bullet,wrong load,poor shooting technique and sometimes just a bad rifle.I've had good luck with Nosler Ballistic Tips for finding accuracy of my rifles.I usually at least bed the recoil lug on most of my rifles.Most of my barrels are floated.Most of my triggers are between 2.5-3.0lbs.Try common proven powders and loads and you should be able to find some kind of decent accuracy and you can fine tune from there.A good front rest and rear bag helps a lot to keep you steady.

Sometimes it takes several different components to come up with a satisfactory load. Awhile back I took a recently purchased Browning BAR in 30-06 out to find an accurate load. Never owned one before, so really didn't know what to expect. After trying 3 different bullet weights, various powder, and primers, was getting 2.5 -3.5" groups. Gave up for the day, and just figured it is what it is. Took it out again, after a good cleaning,and tried some other combinations of factory and reloads. Finally found the load and target pictured, was extremely happy!

I’d second playing around with Interlocs and Ballistic Tips and looking for an accuracy node between 57-59.5 grains of IMR 4350. I’d start with spec COAL and once you find an accuracy node, play around with seating depth to fine tune things a bit. All this assumes your shooting with a cleaned barrel (with at least one fouling shot). I’ve loaded for a number of 06s and have yet to fine one that wouldn’t shine with this combo. One question: are you shooting with a proven scope that is solidly mounted?

If it won’t group with a 150 Sierra it’s junk. Those rifles kick like a mule. Ed k

There is one more, "works in 'em all" load that doesn't get much press. A good 150 flat base (Sierra Pro Hunter is a good choice) with a case filled to the base of the bullet with a 4831 burn rate class of powder. No need to chase the lands with 2" groups, just go with an oal around the crimp groove. If this and the 4350/165 don't work, you got grief. Although the 52 gr of 4064 is a great load, I wouldn't call it universal.