Varmint loads for 30-06?

[HoCoMDHunter]

Any 30-06 pet loads for varmints? I finally have a good opportunity to do some rockchuck hunting.   I recently purchased a Savage 30-06 and would like to use it for this.   There seem to be plenty of 100 grain hollow points in .308, but not any load data.  Was thinking of using the sabot bullets, but have been discouraged by the reports of diminished accuracy.  Thanks for your help!

[Robert]

Speer 125 gr TNT with 50 grs. of AA 2230, 55 grs Varget,51 grs H 4895, eeetc.  message me if you need any more powders.

[HoCoMDHunter]

Thanks Robert - I was hoping to get a recipe for Varget.  Any idea what the velocity you get from 55 gr?

[oscar669]

I have got a good load for 30 cal sabots in 30-06. It is 57 grains of IMR3031 this is a compressed powder charge.  I use a 55 grain v-max bullet. The sabots I got from EA Brown on the internet. The accuracy secret lies in bullet concentricity with bullet runout <0.005" I get a 1.5" group at 100 yards. Also I purchased a box of Remington Accelerator ammo measured the COL using an 30 cal Ogive gauge and reproduced that in my relaods the COL was 2.684”. I have not measured the velocity but it is supposed to be greater then 4000 fps.

My problem is only about one third of the cartridges I load meet this bullet runout criteria. I need to find a way to make this more consistant.

The rifle I am shooting is a Iterarms Mark X Mauser action.

Another thing is the barrel has to be free of all fouling no lead or copper.

All the information I found on loading sabots in 30-06 I found on the Internet. Search for "30 cal sabots" and you will find all the information that I have.

I also have a good Hornady 125 grain load listed below. This load has given me less then 1 inch groups at 100 yards off the bench.

Caliber:   30-06      
Bullet Type: Spitzer   Bullet Weight: 125 grs
Powder:   IMR 4064   Powder Weight: 54.5 grs
Primer:   WLR   Rifle/Pistol: Rifle
COL: 3.167”/2.675”   Velocity: 3200 fps(measured)

[Robert]

Varget loads with 125 TNT...
51.5 grs./ 2729fps
55.5 grs./ 2993fps
This is the data from the Speer book, one of the Speer shortcomings is OAL is listed the same for everything from 100 gr plinkers, all the way up to 180 round nose and 200 gr softpoints at 3.340".

Personally...I havent had very good luck with the sabots.  They are really fast yeah, but if you cant hit a Coyote size target at 100 yds...what good are they?  1.5 moa   1 out of ten shots.......4 shots  20" moa and the other 5 hitting the target sideways for aa total keyhole, if they even hit the target. Nope.  Been there done that.