Browning BAR 30-06 Ammo Question

J

Jackpine Rob

New member
I have come into possession of a very nice Browning BAR in 30-06, and am contemplating using it for my moose hunt this fall.

It is one of the older Belgian-made guns, and sports a 22" barrel. Mechanically it is sound. Trigger feels adequate.

Any suggestions for factory loads out of this beast? I've been looking at various 180 grain loads from Remington, Winchester, Federal and Hornady - and wonder if anyone has suggestions. Maybe its unavoidable, but I hate thinking of buying tons of ammo trying to find a good shooting load, and then basically having 6 or 7 boxes of shells that don't give me acceptable accuracy...
 
Jackpine Rob,
I've got one of those, a minty grade 11 in 30-06.It belonged to my father inlaw until his death, and will go to my son soon.
You may not have a choice other than to try a lot of different types. On the other hand, you may get lucky on the first try. Keep in mind that it isn't a prairie dog rig. There is no need to have 6 or 7 boxes of mixed ammunition laying around though, there is a perfectly good use for it. Chances are that it will hit close enough to point of aim for offhand practice. Practicing is not a waste of ammo or money, and 120-140 rounds is not a lot of practice. Sadly it is about 120 more than a lot of hunters take.
One thing that I noticed with my own, is that it would shoot the first 3 or 4 (Handloads, 165 Hornady Interlocks with IMR 4895)into 3/4-1", if it was perfectly cold. Clean doesn't hurt either. After that if I continue shooting it will throw random fliers, opening groups up to somewhere between poor and embarrassing. Cooled right down, it grouped like a bolt gun again. Once that was established, it isn't a problem for a hunting rifle since they will always be cold for the first shot, and never will be fired enough to get hot in the field.
I don't take mine hunting, since I have so many rifles that I like more. This one is being saved so my son can go out with his late grandfather's weapon, that's reason enough.
Dogleg
 
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best accuracy I've seen so far from a Bar is with fed 150gr ballistic tips. but you said it'll be for moose so If I'd was you I'd take a look at the 180gr accubonds instead. don't underestimate the accubond just because it's a polymer tip instead of a soft point. old technology would say that the poly tip wouldn't have great penetration+expansion and that the soft points would be a better choice, but nowadays the bonded core polymer tips would hold the edge due to better b.c's, better accuracy and will consistantly expand at a wider range of velocities
 
Thanks fellas. Dogleg, your point about practice is well-taken. Like many, I am guilty of not getting in enough range time. All too often I pop a few rounds through to check my zero prior to season and call it good.

In shopping around and purchasing some ammo, I was astounded at the cost of the some of the "premium" rounds put out. Holy smokes, some of that stuff goes for $35 for a box of 20. Choked a bit, then bought up 6 different loads of 180 grain ammo. I'll test them out next week.
 
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