30-06 180 grain partitions

[brokenspoke]

I'm trying to work up a load with some 180 gr Partitions in my '06. I'm shooting a Remington 700 with a 24" barrel. I shot a few groups today with 57 grains of H4350 over CCI 200 primers. They didn't shoot too bad but weren't what I'd call great. I'm curious as to how deep everyone is seating this bullet in their rifles. I seated it to where the bottom of the bullet is about even with the bottom of the neck of the case. I didn't know if I should be seatin them out further with this bullet or not. I'm not opposed to trying different powders either. Only other powder I have on hand would be IMR 4831. I'm trying to get a load worked up to head to Canada this fall. Any info would be appreciated.

 

[davewilson]

what are ya hunting and what distances are you anticipating?

 

[britz]

seating depth is going to vary from rifle to rifle, but generally speaking I try to seat as close to the rifleing as possible because none of my rifles will work as repeaters if I am seating to the rifleing. If you seat bullets touching the rifling, you will likely get a little more pressure so be careful. I always had good luck with H4350 in my 3006 but I always shot 165 or 168 grain bullets.

 

[Derek M.]

what are ya hunting and what distances are you anticipating?

My thoughts exactly. When I think of 30.06 and 180 Partitions, I think of big animals that need to be put down and shots will be under a couple hundred yards, and usually much closer.

If in fact this is the case, then accuracy is secondary to power, for me anyway. I still want reasonable accuracy, and for me that is going to be 6" at 200 yards, i.e., no more than a 3" radius from my aim point, if in fact 200 yards will be my max.

Take your rifle, brokenspoke, and load it as hot as it will go safely with reasonable accuracy if my assumption is correct. Just for future reference, the various 4350s are top notch for your rifle bullet combo, but so is IMR4064, Re22, Re19, and probably now, the latest, Re17.

I wouldn't dwell on seating depth if you are getting reasonable accuracy.

So, what are you going to be hunting?

 

[brokenspoke]

Well I don't really know what kind of distances I should really be expecting. I'm guessing no more that 300 yards. If everything goes right I'll be going to British Columbia & hunting black bear, elk & moose. I don't have much experience with loading larger calibers. My whitetail rifle is a .270 & thats about as big as I'm used to loading. I primarily load for varmint rifles and I'm always looking for tiny little bughole groups. I know that I'm not going to get that out of a bigger rifle but I'd like to think I should be able to get them at least under an inch group outside to outside of the holes. I'm also trying to work up a load for my Remington 700 BDL 7mm Mag. I have an older one that has a 24" barrel. I want to shoot 160 grain partitions out of it. I shot a group yesterday with 62 grains of IMR 4831 over a CCI 250 and the first two shots were actually in the same hole but the third one strung about an inch & a half low & left. I'm hoping it was because it was around 90 degrees when I was shooting & it was the second group I shot in a row & my barrel was getting pretty hot. I also shot some groups with H4350 out of the 7mm but they weren't that impressive either. I was loading 58 grains of H4350 and shooting right at 2850 fps. I had seated those bullets fairly deep also not knowing what to expect on pressures. Thanx for all the replies so far.

 

[Derek M.]

May I ask, who are you hunting with (Outfitter)?

I just hunted BC for bear this spring and got 2. I took my 30.06 with 3 different loads that were all the same trajectory to 250. You certainly have opportunities to shoot beyond 300 yards but I wouldn't opt for shooting over 400 with the partition. Not b/c it is not capable, but b/c it can be unpredictable with trajectory. I've seen them print very well out to 300 yards but beyond that they went to hell in a hand basket for unkown reasons.

Moose are plentiful. So are bears. The elk can be tricky. If you go on a combo hunt for the 3 species, then one or even 2 of your tags can be filled incidently, meaning, the outfitter will ask what your primary species is and that is what you will concentrate on. At least that is what I've heard from plenty of references. If you happen upon the other game, then you get lucky if you choose to shoot.

My best, most repeatable one hole group rifle is my 7mag, 24" Shilen, 150 Btips, and 63.0 IMR 4831. But, you should seriously take a look at H1000 and Retumbo for the 160. IMR7828 is also an excellent choice, as is Re22. However, you probably already know that a lot of hunters shy away from the Reloder powders due to a shady reputation regarding temp sensitivity.

 

[brokenspoke]

Derek, I have family up there & I'll be hunting with them. I'm sure they will do all that they can to give me an opportunity to have a shot at everything I buy a tag for. I'll be hunting on the eastern side of BC along the Fraser River. The only Reloader powder I've ever messed with was Reloader 7 in my .221 Fireball. I never was very impressed with it and seemed like that gun was always harder to get clean after shooting that through it. I'm going to shoot some more groups tonight with some different charges. I have been full length resizing my 7mm brass but am going to try some that are just neck sized tonight. I'm going to back off my 30-06 loads a half grain at a time & see what they do also. Does anybody think different primers would affect accuracy enought that it would matter? I used to use Remington 7 1/2BR primers until I had some problems with some of them shooting prairie dogs. I've been shooting CCI every since. Federal primers are about as scarce as hens teeth around here so they are out of the question. I'll have to look but I know I have some Remington 9 1/2 & maybe some Winchester LRM. I'm going to shoot some tonight see what they do. Wish me luck!!

 

[davewilson]

the 180 partition will work well with your setup and distance of 300 yards. i'm tuning my 30-06 with 168 TTSX and H414 powder for hunting Elk this fall. one advantage of the triple shock bullets is they tend to like some jump to the lands and can usually be loaded to fit in the magazine and still have their best or very good accuracy, not to mention a little more speed because they're not real close or into the lands.

 

[Derek M.]

the 180 partition will work well with your setup and distance of 300 yards. i'm tuning my 30-06 with 168 TTSX and H414 powder for hunting Elk this fall. one advantage of the triple shock bullets is they tend to like some jump to the lands and can usually be loaded to fit in the magazine and still have their best or very good accuracy, not to mention a little more speed because they're not real close or into the lands.

Dave, just an observation: I narrowed my choices with the 168 TTSX in my .06 to Re19 and H414. Both worked very well, but the Re19 held the very slight edge for me. 59.0 grains of Reloder 19, WW brass, Fed 210M primers seated .020 off the lands. The H414 was also a tack driver, but I had about 1/3 of a pound left and 6 pounds of Re19, hence my choice. I think in my rifle, the velocity was better with the Re19 also as the bullets hit higher at 300 yards than those loaded with 56.0 gr H414.

My second bear in BC was taken with this combo. The guide was very happy with shot placement and internal damage. It wasn't far, just under 100 yards, but I purposely placed the bullet square in the shoulder. The exit hole was about 3cm in diameter maybe.

 

[davewilson]

my last test was with 62 gr of 414. shoots around 2950 and 3-4" at 300 yards. i understand with the 6 verses 1/3!

 

[Derek M.]

my last test was with 62 gr of 414. shoots around 2950 and 3-4" at 300 yards. i understand with the 6 verses 1/3!

Wow, you got a lot more powder than I did. Barnes listed max was 55.0 grains. My max was 57.7. 56.0 was sweet spot. My group at 300 yards was 2", me prone, using a bipod and a really dirty barrel. Since the Re19 was doing so well, I stopped messing with the H414.

 

[brokenspoke]

Well I've shot a few groups the last few nights & it seemed like seating the bullets out to the lands did the trick. It pulled the group size down about a half inch. The groups are staying right at an inch outside to outside of the holes which suits me just fine on these bigger calibers. My load ended up being 57 grains of H4350 over a CCI 200 primes in a Remington case that was full lenght resized, trimmed to lenght, chamfered & deburred, and of course primer pockets cleaned & deburred. I have a stoney point gauge & measured the overall length I needed with the 180 & seated my bullets to just barely touch the lands & has no interference with the bolt closing. These are shooting at an average of 2770 fps with not much deviation. Thanks for all the replies. You guys are a great bunch & so full of knowledge & experience.

Meanwhile I'm still having fits with my 7mm & the 160 Partitions. I've switched to IMR4831 just because it seems to be a little more consistent than the H4350 was. I've been loading them in the 2900 fps second range but I'm going to try slowing them down until I get down to 2800 & see how they like the slower speeds. I may try some Retumbo or H1000 if I dont have any luck slowing them down with the IMR4831. I'm not really concerned about how fast they are shooting as long as I can hit what I'm aiming at. I'd like to be shooting faster speeds but I know it doesn't matter how fast it gets there if it doesn't go where it's meant to. So off to load I go......

 

[davewilson]

Derek, can't say i've found a sweet spot, i've been putting more powder in and the speed goes up and acceptable accuracy stays about the same. i keep shooting more powder until i get a sticky bolt, then you have too much. 2 gr below this would normally be my max load. the manuals are very conservative to put it mildly.

i tested these bullets at 30 and 540 yards to see how they mushroom. at 30 yards, i place a piece of 7/16" particle board, gallon jug, 2nd board and then 6 more jugs, with water of course. found the bullet inside the 6th jug with a perfect 4 pedal mushroom. at 540 yards, i just lined up jugs without any boards. i wanted to see if the bullet would open up. it completely penetrated 5 jugs and was against the 6st jug. again with a perfect 4 pedal mushroom. i wish i could post a picture showing the 2 bullets, they look exactly the same.

 

[Derek M.]

i wish i could post a picture showing the 2 bullets, they look exactly the same.

Why can't you?

I sent an email to Barnes back in 2003 stating that a TSX with a plastic tip would be a near perfect bullet and asked if it was even on the drawing table. At that time, it apparently was not. With the random issue of the smaller diameter TSX bullets not expanding, the addition of a tip seemed to be the next step.

Personally, I have had no negative experiences with any TSX bullet at any range, unless you consider death a negative experience. I suppose it was for the animal.

I have a LOT of TTSX on my shelf as I think their price will rise substantially in the next 5 years. At the present time, I would say I have enough to last a lifetime. They shoot very well for me. I also have a few Etips.