30-06 CB Deer Loads

[lazyMlazyK]

What bullet style would feed well and work well for whitetail and mule deer in 30-06? I've got a load worked up with a Ranch Dog clone and Unique, but due to the way it feeds from the internal mag, I can only have one round in the mag, and that annoys me. Looking at maybe trying something with a rounder profile, and a bit smaller meplat. Any suggestions?

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[Winger Ed.]

I never got into all the head scratching, hair splitting, worrying, stress, and overthinking that goes on with meplats.
I spend my time on accuracy and shot placement concerns.

I've had good luck with a hard cast 190SP and 170RN in my .30-06 Rem700 and a 03A3,
and the same two boolits in 7.62 for a M1A without needing to do any feed lips or feed ramp polishing.
Yours may be sort of tripping or trying to stick at the feed ramp with that sharp edged flat point.

You might look into a RN. They're well proven. Look at pictures of the African dangerous game ammo.
They're made for dependable reliability and some serious killing. Almost all of them are round nose.

[BJung]

My notes taken from the internet says that the meplate diameter should be about 0.6 x the caliber

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Lyman 311284 (210gn roundnose) over 31gn of 3031 has worked for me on wild hogs for many years.

[trapper9260]

Lyman 311284 (210gn roundnose) over 31gn of 3031 has worked for me on wild hogs for many years.

That boolit works also to take down a loose steer also. Just the shot placement is what matters also.

[kungfustyle]

Get the bullet that shoots the best in your gun from 170 to 200+ grains and get a forster hollow point maker. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012704281?pid=635851 Just my $.02

[ascast]

I would find bullet that feeds properly and go with that. Probably a round nose. They are proven killers

[versa-06]

You have been given some great answers, But with a round nose bullet I would go soft on the alloy, 50/50 W.W. / Pure, mix & touch of tin. Lyman 311041 has been a great one, tapered nose with a small flat meplat. I use the RCBS 30-180, drops from my mold at 202 grs. But it has l large meplat. -06.

[Bigslug]

My Retired Old Man Of Leisure went on a bender of mold design not long ago, and he ended up designing three Accurate molds - all with basically the same nose, but each optimized for .30-30, .30-40 Krag, and .30-06.

The 31-194D is the .30-06 version. We haven't had time to branch out with it into other rifles properly, but the initial scratch load of 36gr H414 shot about 1.5 MOA out of my new 22" Ruger Hawkeye (1800-1900fps), so we cast up and loaded a bunch at that for my pre-season practice ammo (it's gonna hunt with Barnes).

The meplat is dialed back slightly from the hammer face of the Ranch Dogs, but it still does a credible job of turning a milk jug into a fog bank, and runs smoothly out of the Hawkeye's magazine - which is basically a Mauser/M70.

Bedded the rifle earlier in the week and gonna shoot a few later today. Might have photos for you shortly.

[ChristopherO]

From personal experience I like the way a meplat works over a RN or SP, but if a rifle won't feed it, it won't feed it. If it were I, then a RF profile that feeds but still has the desired effect of displacing tissue and moisture as it traverses through the body cavity would give more piece of mind when the trigger is pulled. That, and I am not a hard cast fan when it comes to shooting living things. Some deformation is my goal when casting for the hunt. A spiral point cast that doesn't mushroom is effectively a FMJ. Not a proven design for quick kills. Can they? Yes. Are they a good idea? Not in my humble and experienced opinion.

I've shot small feral critters with 35 caliber RN's out of pistols, which didn't drop them as the moving picture shows would lead us to believe. The lowly 22LR HP (which quickly becomes a FN upon impact) does a much better job dropping small game than does their RN counterparts. Velocity does help out of a CF rifle, though. With that extra speed terminal ballistics of a broad leading edge is head and shoulders over the projectile that pierces the hide with a small tip which stays a small tip, in and out. Take the same small tip, either RN or SP, that has soft lead up front and it is GAME ON.
I wish you well on your journey to find the perfect match and continued one shot kills ahead.

[lazyMlazyK]

From personal experience I like the way a meplat works over a RN or SP, but if a rifle won't feed it, it won't feed it. If it were I, then a RF profile that feeds but still has the desired effect of displacing tissue and moisture as it traverses through the body cavity would give more piece of mind when the trigger is pulled. That, and I am not a hard cast fan when it comes to shooting living things. Some deformation is my goal when casting for the hunt. A spiral point cast that doesn't mushroom is effectively a FMJ. Not a proven design for quick kills. Can they? Yes. Are they a good idea? Not in my humble and experienced opinion.

I've shot small feral critters with 35 caliber RN's out of pistols, which didn't drop them as the moving picture shows would lead us to believe. The lowly 22LR HP (which quickly becomes a FN upon impact) does a much better job dropping small game than does their RN counterparts. Velocity does help out of a CF rifle, though. With that extra speed terminal ballistics of a broad leading edge is head and shoulders over the projectile that pierces the hide with a small tip which stays a small tip, in and out. Take the same small tip, either RN or SP, that has soft lead up front and it is GAME ON.
I wish you well on your journey to find the perfect match and continued one shot kills ahead.

Well said! I'm still relatively new to the cast boolit game, learning more and more. Can you explain what RF means? I guess I'm looking for suggestions for a mostly round-nose bullet with a small meplat to try out.

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[Winger Ed.]

I guess I'm looking for suggestions for a mostly round-nose bullet with a small meplat to try out.

At this stage of the game, I'd get a two hole Lee 180RN to start with and try out.
If you like it, and want a fancier mold, there's a few Iron molds in the same or close design.

If ya don't like it, you haven't really lost much of an investment as if you'd started off with a custom mold and didn't like the design.

[ChristopherO]

My apologies, RN = Round Nose, RF = Round Flat Nose (round nose for easier feeding but a small flat meplat for better terminal performance in game), HP = Hollow Point, FN = Flat Nose, SP = Spiral Point.



I was given these 30 caliber RN boolits many years ago but have never loaded them. They aren't all that pretty, but there are examples of RN and RF profiles amongst them. Someone else can share exactly what mold they were dropped from, as I don't know. As they are already sized to .309" I strongly suspect that the RN examples were sized with the correct nose punch, whereas the RF's are from the same batch of boolits with a flat nose punch utilized to ram them into the sizing die. Thus the inconsistencies of the flat nose diameters. You are welcome to this little pile of 15 to play with if you want to send me a PM with your address. I've benefited by the generosity from other members on this board and gladly will send these on their way for you to experiment to see if both nose profiles will cycle in your action. If you don't have any boolit lube I can smear some WLL 2500+ into the grooves, or tumble lube them in some BLL, as this appears to be a TL Lee Mold, now that I think about it.
I'll add more along but they are not sized, lubed or gas checked and I don't think I have any gas checks (GC) to slip on them. Hmm, I could just powder coat a batch of those unsized, un GC'd boolits to include. Some folks speak highly of PC'd (Powder Coated) boolits fired without GC's. I've not gone down that road yet, but you could experiment.

[Bigslug]

OK. . .fun range day!



Mainly went to the range to work out grouping/bedding issues with the Hawkeye I plan to hunt with this year. Got through that with the Barnes load and got in some quality play time with the cast practice load.

Incorrect scribble on the target - primers used for that load are actually WLR's. Working through a minor issue with the H414 - - having a very slight, flintlock-like delay in ignition on about 2-3 out of 5 shots that wasn't experienced on the initial load test. Gonna burn up the existing stash and see if a different primer solves the issue, but an adequately accurate fun load in spite of the click-bang.



Satisfactorily displaces water a a hundred yards.

[Ford SD]

3006 Because of velocity limitations and a 1/10 twist barrel

Go Heavy 311299 (around 205-7g) gas checked air cooled OAL +- 3.234

IMR OR H4895 Work up to a max of 38g with a tuff of dacron

when groups open up you have reached your max velocity so stop there, where groups are good

the Dacron will improve ignition and keep the ES & SD lower

[Texas by God]

Bigslug, I’ve experienced that same phenomenon with 760/H414 in the 25-06.
Switching to magnum primers cured it.
It may be related to case capacity because I never had a problem in 22-250 with regular LR primers.


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[Rich/WIS]

Experienced the delay with Win 748 and BlC2 in 243 and 30/06 with standard LR primers. Assume it was the difference in ignition characteristics between stick powders versus ball powders. Switching to mag primers fixed the issue.

[farmbif]

as a matter of habit I always use mag primers with ball powder
like ford said the 311299 is good candidate. ive never used Dacron but 311299 has a long history of working well in 30-06

[Good Cheer]

What bullet style would feed well and work well for whitetail and mule deer in 30-06? I've got a load worked up with a Ranch Dog clone and Unique, but due to the way it feeds from the internal mag, I can only have one round in the mag, and that annoys me. Looking at maybe trying something with a rounder profile, and a bit smaller meplat. Any suggestions?

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I'd have a very heavy very flat nose and take advantage of that fast twist and huge powder capacity that the cartridge offers.

https://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet...bullet=31-246J

Probably want to tweak the bore riding and groove diameter parts to suit your piece.

[GregLaROCHE]

I used to hunt a lot with a 30.06. It was before I started casting, but I found that 180 grains were the best compromise. Enough energy without much bullet drop. 30.06 is plenty of gun for white tale and mule deer. I would concentrate on a flatter shooting boolit rather than one with the most knock down power.