Building 30-06 light varmint round

[tankBrady]

Hey everyone. Long time hunter, first time reloader. Using my old man's equipment and experience (he reloaded mainly 270 and 22 hornet for years). Have an 06 die, plenty of primers, and plenty of imr 4064 and 4350.

Going to be developing a round for coyotes and groundhogs for the 06. Mainly will be taking them from 50-350 yds, but a couple farms will give me shot opportunities around 450-500 yds.

Was looking at Speer 130 gr hp for the bullets. A guy my dad reloaded 06 with had a lot of long range success with that load on varmint, but I don't have access to his load data.

Currently shooting a browning a bolt medallion in 30-06 with a 22" barrel and 1:10" twist rate.

Any load/ bullet suggestions given what I have on hand? Willing to buy bullets around but preferably under the 40 dollar per hundred mark for the time being. Eventually may get more expensive bullets and different powders, but for right now will be using either 4064 or 4350.

Side note: I am aware that 06 is more than enough gun given the game I will be building a load for. However, it's what I have and it's strictly varmint population control as my family's land, as well as many friends' farms are having issues with out of control skittish coyote and groundhogs populations. Don't care for skinning coyotes, especially when fur is worth next to nothing right now. So pelt damage is a non-issue. Looking for accuracy and decent trajectories in a varmint or hp bullet. I have tons of experience with hold over and turret adjustments from my younger years hunting pests with 22 lr and air rifles on farms.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

PS: I will be buying and building a dedicated varmint rifle platform in the next 5 years, probably in the 6mm or 6.5 mm family of cartridges. However, don't have the time or funds to invest in a new gun, scope, ammo, and die right now. I have a very accurate gun, and a varmint problem on a lot of land that needs dealt with. All I need are the bullets and a load to tweak to fit my gun. Eventually a 243 or maybe 6.5 creed or something will fill the hole between 06 and 22lr, but not anytime soon. So while I appreciate "buy a different gun and it'll be better all around for this application" type responses, I cannot and will not be doing that any time soon. Cheers gentlemen

 

[Gary in MD]

If I was going to load my ‘06 for varmints like you are planning, I would try the 125 grain Sierra or the 125 grain Nosler ballistic tips.
The 4064 and 4350 that you have will work fine if not the best.
Good luck
Gary

 

[ebb]

For my light 30-06 load I started with Nosler 125 BTs i have no access to my load data right now as I have been installing new flooring in the room a reload in. My friends went to this light load to hunt with knowing that they have no place to make a shoot over 250yds. My reasoning was the shorter Mauser magazine. i messed with charge weight till it shot pretty good, and hoped that recoil would me mild enough to enjoy plinking with it. That is not the case.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Hodgdon reloading data center has a load for that bullet in the 30-06 with IMR 4064. I would use the starting load for less recoil and it’s still going 3000 FPS.

 

[jmkasza]

Years ago, probably 20-25, I loaded up some Speer 125gr TNT for my 30-06 with IMR 4064 to have at the ready for coyotes. I don't recall it diminishing recoil very much, but accuracy was acceptable for coyote size targets. Not sure how they compare with the 130gr Speer, but either should work with the powder you have.

 

[Jeff Porter]

My Varmint loads for 30-06 were 110gr Vmax and 125 Speer TNT. IMR4064 at a max load shot real well in my Model 70.

Longest kill with the 06 was 462 yards.

 

[DGP4]

Nosler 110grain Varmageddon would work fine as a varmint round in 30.06. Accuracy load in Nosler loading info says accuracy load is 58 grains of RL15 with a velocity of 3,299 fps.

 

[SVT_Tactical]

125gr speer TNTs would get my vote as well. Used in 308, 300 blackout, and some testing in a 300 WM with fair success. Should be cheap enough and accurate enough to do what you're looking to do with the powder you have.

 

[5spd]

110g jhp, 125g jhp....those will destroy coyote. Not fur friendly though

 

[jsn]

MidwayUSA has both Speer 125gr TNT and 130gr HP in stock for under .25/each.

Load data for both with IMR4064, but IMR4350 doesn't usually start with published data until 150gr bullets.

 

[hunter67]

Just look up Speer data online

 

[AckleymanII]

Speer tnt for the win!

Some loads on this site, reported by shooters, verify loads against loading manuals(typos)

Reload Data Search Results

 

[0.1 Aggregate]

I’ve used both the old Speer 130 HP and the newer 125 TNT. The former gave great accuracy and terminal performance, in my barrel slightly better than the TNT did. They may be the opposite in the OP’s rifle, but the TNT has a much better ballistic coefficient for long range shooting. I’ve gotten aggregates under 0.7 moa with the 130s. I used 53.0 grains IMR4064 with both bullets, a fine and accurate load.




.

 

[Kurz]

Nosler 110grain Varmageddon would work fine as a varmint round in 30.06. Accuracy load in Nosler loading info says accuracy load is 58 grains of RL15 with a velocity of 3,299 fps.

SPS has the Varmageddon bullets as 'blems' for about $23.00/100

 

[snert]

Do not overlook the Sierra 130 grain bullet with the crown point. It is designed for the 300AAC BK but I run it slow (for a 308) and it absolutely destroys groundhogs and I think would seriously spank any coyote. I found it to run best in the mid range velocity for its design. Really light recoil, great terminal performance, cheap bullet too. I cannot offer al oad as I shoot it in a 308, but I got my info from Sierra directly, and basicaly they said not to exceed a certain MV (I do not recall) and to use powder loads for 150 grain sierra SP, and go up a grain or two. A quick call will yield appropriate start and end loads for 06.

This bullet is totally overlooked and it's sad because it really is a niche bullet that yields impressive accuracy and performance when you think outside the box.

 

[sw282]

Remington used to load a 55gr 22cal soft point in 30-06 @4000fps. Twas called the ''Accelerator''. lt
used a 30 cal Plastic Sabot to hold the 55gr sp. l think they were also available for 30-30s. l remember
reading the accuracy was adequate for hunting. A great idea for someone needing an instant
''Varmint'' gun. l dont know why they were discontinued. They were a bit pricey. Possibly the Govt
made Remington take them off the market in order to ''protect us'' from bullets that didnt leave any
ballistic marks. l think thats what happened to Federals' NyClad handgun bullets