30-06 on deer at close range ?

If a soft and fragile bullet is launched at high velocity and then impacts an animal at that high velocity then the bullet might expand too quickly and fail to penetrate deep enough to cause a clean kill.

I would not be worried about that with a 150 gr SP bullet launched from a .30-06, however. A 150 SP gr bullet from a 300 win mag maybe.

kyron4 said:

I've read high powered rifle rounds often fail at close range, leaving a long tracking job or lost deer. Is this true ? Any advice or input. -Thanks

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I'd say not true unless you use plastic bullets or shoot them in the butt.

I think that ever so often weird things happen with a bullet. If it is a very close shot it gets attributed to that, but really had nothing to do with it.

No worries.

Shots under 80 yards are the norm around here and the most common rifle is the .30-06. I have taken many deer at 40 yards and generally the bullet performance and shock of the .30-06 put them down instantly. Of course ammunition has varied.

Shots over 120 yards are rare from my stands. Too many trees in the way.

I would suggest you dial your rifle in with that ammunition and get to the range to get yourself ready. I was there yesterday. My 6.5x55se is ready for its first deer season. I have more work on my other rifles as I dial in the hand loads. My ABolt .30-06 was the second rifle I started on yesterday. I was amazed at the varying point of impact on some old handloads from 2014. Hornady SST 165 gr, Nossler BT 165gr, and Barnes TTSX loads had impact differences of 7-8 inches at 100 yards. They grouped together, just not in the bullseye.

I would not be concerned about the bullet performance, but get to the range with that ammunition and get dialed in.

I think using a to heavyweight bullet in the 06 would more likely cause you to have to track a whitetail or possibly loose the animal. The 150 gr. Softpoint is just about optimal in IMO for east woods whitetails.

Nothing to worry about here. Deer are small animals and don't need a lot of penetration. Most factory loads are going to be pushing that bullet at 2850- 2900 fps at the muzzle. It is possible to get hand loads up to 3000-3100 fps.

There have been cases where 300 magnums firing 150's at 3300-3400 fps have not given adequate penetration on larger game such as elk at close range. But even at magnum speeds you'll get enough penetration on a deer since they are a lot smaller. You'll just ruin a lot of meat with impact speeds over about 3000 fps.

Those same 3300 fps loads work fine out at 200-300 yards where they have slowed below 3000 fps.

Closest thing I have shot with a 30-06 was a 240 lb hog that woke me up from a nap I was having when she rubbed against a deer blind I was in. She was about 8 ft away when I fired and didn't go anywhere except down. I was using 180gn Winchester factory ammunition.

Even if using ballistic tip (not bad now but several years ago they came apart terribly)y CV would be OK but with interlock even if you hit a shoulder bone, or the most demanding on a bullet,q quartering away shot you will have no problem

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Years ago, I shot these two coastal blacktails at fairly close range with my .308 Savage. My ammo that morning was 150 grain Core lokt but the bullets blew up when they impacted the neck vertebrae. No matter because these bucks were dead before they hit the ground. This is the only occurrence I've witnessed of bullet failure with the Core lokt design.

TR

Closest I ever shot a deer with 300wm was 25 yds, 150gr, dRt but MESSY! As jmr said, they'll do the job, you're at lower velocities so you probably won't have as much mess either, but if I were sure to have to take close range shots again with that gun, I'd skip up to a solid bullet or a 220 not because the 150 was inadequate but rather have less mess, even out at 50+ the 150 wouldn't bother me I don't think. Now I generally rely on 180s for everything but not because the 150 left me undergunned, my rifle just likes em better and they buck the wind better. Last year I watched a friend use his 06 with 150 round nose factory loads at 30 and 150 yds. Zero trouble with penetration, and very little mess both times.

I will relate my personal experiences with the .30-06 at close range:

1. Forkhorn, 165 dressed. (They grow big, but with small racks in Central Minnesota.) 65 yards measured, quartering away shot. My handload with 165 gr. Nosler Partition, 46.0 gr. IMR3031, Federal brass, CCI Large Rifle primer.
Bullet entered just behind the right front leg, took the top of the heart off, exited the chest through a rib, went into (Would it be the femur or humerus on a deer?) bone of left leg, shattered it and lodged under the skin on outside of the left leg. Recovered bullet looked just like Nosler's ads. Deer dropped on the spot, did not take another step.

2. Spike buck, 185 dressed. Same handload. Straight right broadside shot, same aiming point. 75 yard shot. This deer, however, had just been chased through a swamp by a hunter, and was in high alert. (The first one was following a doe, with amorous intentions.) Bullet took off top of heart, deer took off like a bolt of lightning, ran 75 yards and hid under a log. Since it was dusk, I didn't find him until the next morning. Bullet had exited through a rib again, but behind the left leg, so was not recovered.

No more deer with that load, but I did shoot a coyote that came into my bear bait with it; 20 yards, chest shot, lungs were jellified, bullet not recovered. DRT.

I think using a to heavyweight bullet in the 06 would more likely cause you to have to track a whitetail or possibly loose the animal. The 150 gr. Softpoint is just about optimal in IMO for east woods whitetails.

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I had a friend who used nothing but 220 gr. round nose in his Winchester 100 .308, and never had to track more than 100 yards. He swore by them, only load he used.

Most quality hunting bullets are made to expand within the common operating velocities of the caliber for the game they are intended. I'd bet the majority of whitetails taken in this country with 30-06s are under 100 yards when shot.

As for claiming heavier bullets giving to a longer trail and higher probability of a lost animal, those folks have never shot a whitetail deer with a 220 gr bullet outta a 30-06.

The last mulie I shot with my '06 was about 25 yards away. He'd been snoozing in tall grass. Only available target was his neck. That was more than enough.

Just another in a long sequence of bang-flops.

I carried a Model 70 in .30-'06 for years here in Penn's Woods where a 100 yard shot can be considered a long one.
I shot 180 grain Remington Core-Loks with no problem.
I liked the bullet weight and the round nose which, by the way is no longer available to reloaders.

"...using a to heavyweight bullet in the 06 would..." Depends on the bullet. Shot a ground hog with a 220 Silvertip(an old Winchester semi-jacketed with an Al cap) that literally blew the off side to mush. Didn't think it would expand that fast on a wee beast.
With a 150 grain SP, you have to know where it shoots at that 30 to 50 yards, but it'll expand nicely. Friggin' thing starts at 2910 fps.

Shot around 65 or 70 deer with either 150 gr speer at 2800 or 7mm 139 hornady interlock at the same speed. Range was any where from 30 feet to 150 yards. Most were between 30 and 75 yards. At extreme close range expansion is explosive. Never had one fail to do the trick with broadside shots passing thru. Between the wife and I speer 100 gr hot cor and sierra pro hunter have dropped another 25 or so. All just plain old cup and core bullets that perform well on deer sized game . Doesn't take much to down an average white tail.

Zeke/PA said:

I carried a Model 70 in .30-'06 for years here in Penn's Woods where a 100 yard shot can be considered a long one.
I shot 180 grain Remington Core-Loks with no problem.
I liked the bullet weight and the round nose which, by the way is no longer available to reloaders.

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You can still get 180 rn from other places, hornady and Norma make em

I have a very close and personal experience from when I was about 17. I went into the woods half asleep and rather than go to my stand I found a big oak along a game trail and just plopped down. Feet still in the edge of the trail...pretty lazy and dumb. About 30 minutes later a spike entered the clearing and browsed around then headed my way to hit the trail. He was snorting, pawing etc at 5 yards acting like he was gonna charge at me, so the .270 hit him in the chest. Upward angle into the breast plate at 5 yards with a 130 gr silver tip was ugly. He never even twitched, but there was essentially no salvageable meat. Shoulders were junk from bruising, tenderloins were shredded, back straps partially shredded but full of nastiness and bullet fragments. I had hindquarters to eat...that was it. The bullet path was essentially a hollowed out cylinder about the size of a golf ball straight up to the spine where it obviously fragmented both bullet and bone.

After that day I have not hunted with a rifle unless I had a sidearm. That sidearm (usually 357 mag, last year 10mm) has been used to take 3 deer inside of 20 yards with no meat loss. If you are hunting an area where your concerned about blowing up a bullet, get proficient with a sidearm and use it for its purpose. In some states that's not legal though, so in those states I would encourage a man limited to 1 firearm to seriously consider any of the traditional lever action rifle calibers.

I haven't read of a true bullet failure yet in this post. Any deer shot with any of the loads discussed above in the locations discussed is a dead deer. Any animal shot as described has 10-20 seconds to live after any of those hits.

The difference is in the individual animal and what they decide to do during those last few seconds of life. Some choose to lie down and die. Others make a mad dash and can cover a lot of ground in a short time. In thick woods they can be difficult to find.

Read enough, talk to enough hunters and you'll find someone that wasn't happy with how fast their deer died with any bullet and caliber ever made. But I've seen and read enough to be convinced that lots of impact speed and rapid expansion convinces deer to lie down and quietly die better than heavy slow bullets. As long as you get enough penetration. That has not always been the case, but modern bullets are much better. The heavy slow bullets are more certain of getting good penetration, but often results in longer, but easier to follow blood trails. Pick your poison.

horsey300 said:

You can still get 180 rn from other places, hornady and Norma make em

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Yes , I know.
I've been using the Hornady's of late.

Slow it down a bit then by going heavier

150 grain o6 is devastating on close range whitetails.

If you don't shoot Bambi in the eating part, devastation is irrelevant.

I've never aimed at a deer. I've always aimed at a particular place on a deer.