Load for 30/06 "furniture piece"

30 November 2001, 11:14

LE270

My friend has a older Browning Safari 30/06 rifle with a Mauser action; he bought it used. When he received it he was elated because the stock is so beautiful. But when he tried shooting it he became annoyed because it is, for most bullet weights, not at all accurate. So he began derisively calling it a "shotgun" and a "piece of furniture." We now together refer to it as the "furniture piece."

I tried loads with 125, 150, 180, and 200 grain bullets in it, all with poor accuracy except for the 150 grain ones.

Doing further testing with only 150 grain bullets (Speer boattail), I found an excellent load: 150 gr. Speer boattail, 53 gr. of IMR 4064, Winchester case, WLR primer, cartridge loaded to an overall length of 3.26 inches. Three shots of that load gave me a 100 yard group that measured 0.43 inches.

Some loading books give 52 gr. as the max load with 150 gr. bullets, and some give 53. That load was superb in this rifle, with no signs of excessive pressure.

30 November 2001, 12:08

Major Caliber

4064 is excellent in the 30-06, also try 4895. If you try 46.5 grs of IMR4895 and a 165gr bt, or 168gr hpbt, and it's doesn't shoot great, then something is wrong with the rifle.

30 November 2001, 16:45

LE270

quote:
Originally posted by GSF1200:
4064 is excellent in the 30-06, also try 4895. If you try 46.5 grs of IMR4895 and a 165gr bt, or 168gr hpbt, and it's doesn't shoot great, then something is wrong with the rifle.

165 gr. is one bullet weight I haven't tried in this rifle, nor have I tried either IMR or H 4895 powders.

[This message has been edited by LE270 (edited 11-30-2001).]

01 December 2001, 04:25

R-WEST

LE270-
A load I've had great success with in numerous 30-06's is one that John Barseness recommended in a "Handloader" article some time back. It's 56-58 grains of one of the 4350's, with a 165 grain bullet.

A Rem 700 Classic likes 58 H4350/WLR primer/Fed Gold Medal case/165 Speer flat base/3.24" o'all - gives around 2780 FPS and 1" +/- (I don't seem to shoot as well as many others who post here) groups. A Howa 1500 prefers 57.5 AA4350, same primer and case, with R-P 165 Core-Lokts at 3.21" o'all, with roughly the same results.

BTW, the Gold Medal Match cases are very uniform, cost $24.94/100 from Mid-South, and have given me some very good results in the calibers available (.223; .308; and 30-06, all of which I've tried, and .300 Win. Mag).

Good luck,
R-WEST

01 December 2001, 06:44

<Paladin>

Have him call Browning and complain. He might get a free overhaul out of the call....

01 December 2001, 12:58

LE270

quote:
Originally posted by Paladin:
Have him call Browning and complain. He might get a free overhaul out of the call....

Paladin,
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll tell him about it.

21 December 2001, 14:47

<Reloader66>

Give Rel-15 a try with the 125 gr. Sierra bullet in your 30-06. My 30-06 rifle with a 1 in 10" twist will put them under a quarter at 100 yards with a charge of 54.5 grains. Check your loading manual to be sure that charge is safe.

22 December 2001, 04:35

Pa.Frank

If your browning is an older Belgian Browning with the "third screw" about midway up the forearm that screws into the barrel, then remove it. It is unnessary. Be sure the two trigget guard screws are tight. This should show immediate improvement.

If that doesn't improve things then you may also try floating the barrel and then finally glassing the action.

------------------
Don't tread on me!
Pennsylvania Frank

23 December 2001, 18:57

LE270

quote:
Originally posted by Pa.Frank:
If your browning is an older Belgian Browning with the "third screw" about midway up the forearm that screws into the barrel, then remove it. It is unnessary. Be sure the two trigget guard screws are tight.

No, this rifle doesn't have the "third screw," although it is Belgian made. The trigger guard screws are tight -- the front one took a slight tightening of about 1/6 turn.

Additional loads with 150 gr. Hornady SP (Interlock) bullets and 53 gr. of IMR 4064 also gave excellent accuracy in this rifle -- 0.75 or less at 100 yards. I don't have any 165 gr. bullets right now so I can't test that bullet weight in it.