I have a Remington 7600 (pump action) 30-06 and would like to try to work up a good load for varmits; ground hogs and coyotes. I'd like a lightweight flat shooting bullet and am unsure of what powder to use, can you all get me started in the right direction? Recommend a bullet and a powder charge. Thanks.

Use the 125 Nosler BT's or Speer's 125 TNT's...

If you can find Ramshot's "Big Game" powder, you will find the recommended 62 grain charge very accurate.

Otherwise, you might try Nosler's recommended load of 52 grains of RL15... I have no personal experience with this load, but it is their starting load, and considered the most accurate.

Let us know what you decide...

Dan

Speer's 130 grain hollowpoint works real well and is usually accurate. SPLAT!

Before I widened out into real varmint calibers, I had local Columbian Ground Squirrels in terror with my M700 Remington 30-06 using the 130 Speer HP chased by 54 grains of H4895. Turned them into pink mist quite nicely. Very accurate in my rifle and a M670 Winchester of my buddy's. Regards Eagleye.

[ 01-07-2003, 11:01: Message edited by: Eagleye ]

I get just under an inch for three with the 125gr Sierra's and 54.5gr IMR 4064. It's a fun load to shoot for cheap practice. I haven't shot anything with it yet though, but would think there'd be any problems.

I've had good luck with 125 grain Ballistic Tips and H335. I don't remember the charge but it was listed in "Metallic Cartridge Reloading" by M.L. McPhereson. Very accurate load and ran out at around 3200fps.

NoCAL

I have used the Sierra 110HP's before and they work pretty good.

Before you get your hope up, what is the twist of your barrel, and you are aware that the 7600 is not the most accurate rifle on the market...

Twist is 1:10, I'm aware that's fast but am not concerned. A top quality concentric bullet will do fine. What negative experience have you had with the 7600 to cause you to believe it's an inaccurate rifle? They have a free floated barrel and are quite solid.

speer 130gr,over a good load of blc-2,always worked for me.

Yopur 1:10 twist is designed to stabilize a bullet of a diameter of 0.308" and a length of 1.423".

I doubt very seriously that you are going to find any "varmint" bullets in .308 with that length.

As for the accuracy of your 7600, it is common knowledge that lever, slide and most semi-auto firearms will not reach the same potential of accuracy as a bolt action.

1.423" is the *maximum* bullet length that can be stabilized in my barrel (according to Greenhill formula which I assume you used). Shorter, i.e., lighter (varmit) bullets will also be stabilized but will be spun faster than necessary. As I stated earlier, a concentric bullet is key. I shoot 55 grain bullets out of my 1:8 twist AR15 barrel with great results. Faster than necessary twist will bring out the worst in a light weight poorly manufactured bullet as you surely know. I've experienced this with my AR using cheap military surplus 55 grain bullets.

I'll not dispute that bolt action is tops in the accuracy department, however, I think the difference is slight. I think the worst trait of the 7600 rifle is its looks. It looks like a thinner version of my 870 12 gauge, but like an 870, it handles great in the field.

The 7600 does have one advantage in its fully floating barrel. I've seen a few that would shoot MOA groups, surprisingly...

Dan

I've had good luck with sierra 110 jhp and 51 gr of H4895, as well as sierra 125 sp and 48 gr of H4895. I believe these are starting loads or less, but you should check before using them.

I got groups around 1.5" with both these loads - good enough for small varmits to 200 yards and bigger ones a little farther. They're not the flattest shooting, but they happened to match my big game load of 180 gr Partitions out to about 250 yards.

The 125 gr BT is a fabulous .30 cal bullet for light hunting, it shoots well in both my 110 Savage 30-06 and my model 99 LA. Nearly any suitable powder should produce adequate results with it.

Hello guys,

I just wanted to say that my 1st deer rifle was a Remington 760 in 30-06, and with handloads that my father concocted for his rifle, I would shoot 3 shots under a nickle at 100 yds. We didn't have PC's( Personal Chrony's ) back then, but my guess was that the load was not a hot load, but it was accurate. I must say that most owners of Remington Pump Rifles who I have talked to at the rifle-range have gotten very good accuracy from them. Maybe not as accurate as a bolt action, but damned close. Nothing that I would worry about. Have fun.

Since your rifle is pump action design you must take care that your reloads are kept in the mid range in pressure. You can stretch the action with hot loads in a pump action rifle. You should get good results with REL-15, IMR-4064. I have fired the 125 or 130 grain SP or HP bullet in my 30-06 1 in 10" twist bore using REL-15 powder with very good resilts. Three shot 1/2" to 3/4" groups at 100 yards are very good with those two bullets from my 30-06 bolt action rifle. I tried the 110 grain bullet but had no luck with that bullet in the accuracy department.

Amazingly good performance from 110-gr Sierra JHP over either 57.5-gr. IMR4064 (3265mv/22-in. bbl) or 63.3-gr. WW760 (3185mv). The 4064 load has worked best for me, but two other rifles like the 760 load. Found these loads in the 1984 book, Popular Sporting Rifle Cartridges - by Clay Harvey....if you happen upon that book, pick it up. Don't know what happened to Mr. Harvey, but, in my view he had a good handle on the subject of cartridges and loads, without being pretentious.

I like a soft kicking load for varmints, so I tried a load that seems great. 31g. IMR 4198 behind a Rem 125sp. Worked for me.