30-06 Ammunition test report

[TheHuntingAgency]

Hi folks, a while back I bought myself a new Howa Lightning in 30-06 with a Preditor * moderator and wanted to find out which ammunition worked best through it.

Quick bit of feedback regarding which ammunition works best through my 30-06 Howa Lighting. Over the last couple of weeks I've been using various different bullet weights and manufacturers and the top four are:

1st Place - 150GR Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertip
2nd Place - 150GR Winchester Super X Power Point
3rd Place - 180GR Sako Super Hammerhead
4th Place - 150GR Federal Power-Shok

I fired all at 25m and 100m at static targets using bench-resting and bi-pods and measured the resulting groups to arrive at the above results - I hope this helps if you have one yourself!

Cheers

Roo

[dylanhutchinson]

thats cool fgerdgdregdrgedrgyrghyht

[TheHuntingAgency]

Hi all, thought I'd post a follow-up piece on my 30-06 Howa Rifle.

OK, so the gun itself is delightfully engineered and the barrel is as accurate as any I've fired, but I had mine screw-cut for a moderator and that's where the problem started. The rifle is fantastic at the range, but when being shot in anger, the added weight of the silencer on the barrel caused the retaining screw on the stock to work loose, and stopping to re-assemble your rifle gets old pretty quick!

So, I had a word with Mark Westall, owner of Top Gun and Rod and a chap I go stalking with, and he came up with a Realtree stock from Edgar Bros as shown in the picture. The original stock by Hogue was soft and flexible - this is ridgid and makes the rifle much more useable - so now I've got the gun I wanted in the first place - excellent!



In this picture = Mark Westall (left) Bill Boyce, an excellent stalker of Roe and Muntjak (centre) and Yours Truely with my rifle (right)

Cheers folks,

Roo
The Hunting Agency

[Hunting Man]

thats an unusual combination that I haven't seen here. One quick question, what does the phrase "but when shot in anger" mean? Is this about dangerous game at close range????

[TheHuntingAgency]

Hi HM, nice to meet you - actually what I meant was when using it for stalking as opposed to just zeroing it at the range.

My Gun Club is mostly comprised of target shooters, great guys, but not hunters, so when I go to the range, it's generally for zeroing or pratting about and plinking, but I take things a lot mor seriously when there's a meal at the other end of it, and that's what I meant.

Sorry for any confusion

Cheers,

Roo

[Hunting Man]

I'm pretty much the same at the range, usually go for a specific reason, sighting in something. Good to hear from you, and safe hunting to you.

[outdoorsms]

what kind of groups did it shoot

[TheHuntingAgency]

Hi OutdoorSMS - well, I was out with Mark Westall stalking about 3 weeks ago and we checked our zero at about 70m before we went out, and at that distance I shot a clover-leaf group with 3 holes touching from a bench rest. That was with 150Gr BST's.

[Karl.Luhr]

Congradulations on the new rifle, it's time to think about reloading your own ammo. Shooting is a lot of fun and I find the time at the reloading bench almost as much fun at the time at the range. Plus the cost is a lot cheaper after you write off the cost of just getting the reloading setup. I was shocked at the price of factory ammo I saw someone shooting a week ago. At these prices reloading will save enough pretty quickly to pay off the price of admission. A big plus is you can experiment with many different bullet manufactures and weights.

Karl

[Hunting Man]

congrats on the rifle and getting the right stock. I was wondering what do you use the moderator for? Is it for silencing the report?