I've just taken a shooting course and have spent two days learniing the trajectory of my .30-06 rifle with Federal match 168 grain loads. Does anyone know of a hunting bullet/load combination that comes close to matching the trajectory of the Federal Match loads?

Try some of the 165gr hunting loads. Federal loads with Sierra bullets or any of the factory loads with the 165 Ballistic tip will also be close. If you desire a stronger bullet loads with the 165 Nosler Partition, Swift A-Frame or Trophy Bonded Bearclaws will also work.
If you do not reload I would test several defferent factory loads to see which one shoots best. Many people choose a 180grain bullet for all-round use in the 30-06.
How far out did you shoot in the school?

The target shooters' answer to this question is to use Sierra game king bullets of the same or similar weight -- in this case the 165 grain game king. It would be pretty close in trajectory.

I think that is less than optimum. There are a lot better hunting bullets than the Sierras, and the trajectory with a good 165 grain hunting bullet will be close to your target load. Point of impact may be a little different, but that is easy to fix.

A Nosler 165 grain Partition or a Failsafe 165 should give close enough trajectory and much more reliable performance on game, especially if you hit a shoulder bone going in.

[ 06-25-2003, 22:46: Message edited by: KLN ]

If you are going to reload, IMR4350 is a good powder to start with. A 165 or 180 Nosler Partition is a very good bullet. For a more economical bullet for practice and use on game under elk size the Sierra 165HPBT Gameking has given me excellent service. Since it is a hollow point you can easily tell it from your Partition loads.

N. E. 450,

We shot out to 500 yds. We were supposed to go to 600 but we ran out of time. It was an eye opening experience! The instructor had us shooting grapefruit sized groups at 400 yds.. Prior to this class I would not have thought my rifle or I were capable of this.

Aha, so that old raggedy gun was better than you thought, huh. Glad to hear it, sounds like you had a good time.

Citori, step number one has to be for you to chronograph that superb factory load. Once you get an idea of what that load is doing, any reasonable hunting bullet of 165-168 grains should do the trick at similar velocity. Depending upon what you are hunting, you could use bullets from the 168-grain Barnes X to the 165-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip (my personal favourite bullet for DEER hunting with the .30-06).

You might be surprised and find that the superb factory load is actually sending that 168-grain match bullet out at .308 velocity, which is nothing to worry about. Just tailor your handloads to match it.

No matter what you come up with, you are going to have to go out and shoot it at the same ranges you intend to use it at. Just to confirm everything.
That said, develop a good, accurate load with a decent hunting bullet of the same or nearly same weight. Don't worry about velocity. I think you will be pleasantly surprised how close it shoots.

165 Sierra BT or Nosler BT
VARGET @ 47.0
Lapua Brass
CCI BR-2 Primers
30-06

The most accurate load I have used in my 30-06.

citori3

Sounds like an interesting class. May I ask where it was held? I'm in your neck of the woods and might be interested in it.
Thanks

[ 06-27-2003, 15:49: Message edited by: Borealis Bob ]

Borealis bob,

The class is held at "The Site" training center between Freeport and Galena. Web site is "shoot at the site >com". Nice folks, great facility. We shot at 100,200,300,400,500 yards prone, then practised field positions at 100 and 250 yards including shooting from a tower. I went through about 150 rounds in two days.